Old habits are hard to break. Perhaps some of them shouldn’t be broken.

Sometimes I just want the digital world to mimic the analog world. Exactly. It’s rare, but there are times that I don’t want an “vast improvement.” And I don’t want innovation. I just want to continue doing what I’ve always done, without having to change my behavior. I just want to do the same thing, only digitally. And this is the hope I have for the iPad for one specific task – my to do lists.

I have tried to migrate my paper to do lists to a digital format for years. It never works for me. Things begin to fall through the cracks and before I know it, I’m back to pen and paper. I’ve been keeping paper lists on and off since the early 80′s. I have files filled with old to do lists. They’ve come in handy when I want to remember a detail about a transaction. And, they work for me.

Every digital solution I’ve tried has failed. And it’s not really their fault. I simply have not been able to make the changes necessary to adopt the new methods of creating and managing to do list. So, the question I always end up asking is, “if my old way works, why change?”

Enter the iPad.

I’ve really enjoyed reading Russ Leseberg’s “Countdown To iPad” series. His use cases have sometimes been genius and sometimes humorous. They all make you think a bit. And almost from the moment I saw Steve Job’s initial presentation, the notion of creating an iPad application that exactly duplicated how I use my paper to do list has been on my mind. And why not? I can’t be the only person in the world who’s having a hard time giving up the paper to do list. What I’d like to do is keep the feel and mimic the process while adding some digital functionality.

There’s no reason why my process can’t be replicated exactly. Part of the reason my process works for ME is that when a page get’s full, I move the unfinished items to a new page and save the old list. The process of looking at all of my unfinished tasks spurs me to finish more of them. I also like the look of a page with a lot of items crossed off. Yeah, I’m a bit mental. But it works.

The iPad version of my to do list will give me the benefit of typing the to do item in, but the pleasure of swiping my finger across it to mark it as done. I like that feeling. And since I like seeing that I’ve actually finished something, I’ll be able to  leave the finished items visible. Of course, I could still opt to have them removed the moment I swipe, if I wanted. The beauty of an app is preferences. Finished items would be saved and I would have the ability to search them. Only I wouldn’t have to go through my pile of papers. When I fill the page, I can start a new page and move my unfinished items in mass, or choose which ones to move forward one by one, as punishment for not finishing. If I want to change the order, I’ll just drag an item to the top of the list. Simple. Easy.  It should feel just like a paper to do list. And I think Zeek should build it and sell it for a buck.

Anyone else want a to do list app that just works like a paper to do list? Raise your hand.

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