A to-do list for the thing you’re scared to start
You’re not lazy. You’re scared to start.
Big things are frightening. You might do them badly, you don’t know where to begin, and starting makes them real. Most to-do apps just remind you they exist. Tatask breaks them down until the next step is too small to be scary.
30 days free · then $5/month · no free plan, on purpose
🏡 Garden refresh
3Redesign patio area
2 3Schedule task
RecurringNovember 2026
Your to-do app has misdiagnosed you.
How a scary thing stops being scary
Nobody is scared of “open a blank note.”
Fear lives at the top of the list, where things are big and vague. Any task in Tatask opens into its own list, so you keep going down until the next step is too small to be frightening. Star it. Starred steps from anywhere land in Today, and Today is the only list you look at.
Fear can’t hide in a five-minute task.
It needs something big and vague to hide in: “launch the business”, “write the book”, “sort the garden”. Break it down far enough and there’s nowhere left for it to go.
Three moves. That’s it.
- 01
Write down the scary one.
Not “admin.” The thing you’d be a bit embarrassed to admit you still haven’t started.
- 02
Shrink it until it isn’t scary.
Any task opens into its own list, as deep as you need. Progress rings fill on the parents as the small stuff gets ticked.
- 03
Star three. Ignore the rest.
Star a step from anywhere and it lands in Today. On your phone it’s a short swipe.
Web · iPhone · Android · one subscription · works fully offline · due dates & repeats · tags · ⌘K search · archive · dark mode
Please don’t buy Tatask if…
- You want it free. It’s $5 a month. A free app has to make its money from someone. This one makes it from you, so you’re the only person it has to please.
- You want to be nagged into it. Guilt makes a scary thing louder, not smaller. There are plenty of apps that will shout at you. This one shrinks the step instead.
- You want an AI to plan your day. Breaking a thing down yourself is what takes the fear out of it. Hand that to a robot and you still have to face the first step alone.
- Nothing scares you. If you start big things the moment you think of them, congratulations, honestly. You don’t need us.
Still here? Then it’s probably for you.
Things people say about Tatask.
“It’s just nested lists.”
Yes. A to-do app that does less is the whole idea.
“Five dollars a month for a to-do list?”
For the one that finally gets you to start the thing you’ve been dreading since spring, yes. It’s less than a coffee.
“Workflowy already does this.”
Workflowy is an outliner for thinking. Tatask is a list for starting. Different jobs.
And the love letters
As a to do list person, this app has taken things to the next level for me. I love that I can create lists within lists, and break down the massive daunting scary tasks into manageable actions that are way less scary. Thank you Tatask!
Ditching Trello for Tatask has paid off big time. Gone are the endless scattered boards and now I have a natural structure for everything I'm working on. It's as simple as Trello but 10x more powerful. Highly recommend!
Things I believe about starting.
Written by the one person who builds Tatask, at more length than a landing page should allow.
- A task you can’t start isn’t a task. It’s a project wearing a fake moustache.
- You haven’t forgotten the big thing. You think about it in the shower, on the Tube and at 2am. You’re scared of it. That’s different, and it needs a different tool.
- Procrastination is fear, not laziness. Lazy people don’t lie awake worrying about the thing they haven’t started.
- Fear needs somewhere big and vague to hide. So shrink the task, not yourself.
- Breaking it down is the brave bit. It’s where you find out what the thing actually is, and that’s exactly why nobody else can do it for you.
- Guilt doesn’t help scared people. Nagging makes a frightening thing louder. A smaller step makes it quieter.
- Today should fit on a Post-it. If your Today list scrolls, it isn’t a plan. It’s a confession.
- Starting one scary thing beats organising a hundred easy ones. Nobody remembers the year they had a tidy inbox.
- Every feature is a tax on attention. Each board, view and integration I don’t build is one less thing between you and the next step.
- Software you pay for works for you. That’s why there’s no free plan, and why there never will be one.
- If you email me, I answer. Me, not a support team. There is no support team. There is no team.
Max Girkins · the only person who works here
One plan. Not free.
No tiers to compare, no “Pro” to upsell you into, no features held back to annoy you into paying.
- 30 days free, with everything
- Web, iPhone and Android on one subscription
- Works fully offline, syncs when you’re back
- Card required. Commitment is sort of the point.