I’m looking for recs for apps that let me list tasks by priority and also lets me divide each big task into smaller tasks. Is there something like this out there?

I think the part that stands out here is the difference between tasks that are truly time-sensitive and tasks that are more directional or aspirational. A lot of apps handle subtasks well enough, but they’re weaker at helping those two types of tasks live together without everything ending up on the same flat list. Breaking bigger things down definitely helps, but only if the system still makes it easy to see what matters now versus what just matters overall. For you what's the bigger issue: prioritizing, or larger tasks feel too vague until they’re broken down?

That makes sense. A lot of the time the problem isn’t priority, it’s that the task is still mentally “too large to touch.” Big tasks often stay overwhelming until they stop being “finish the assignment” and become something like “open the doc,” “write the rough outline,” or “draft the first paragraph without editing.” The interesting part is that direction usually comes after the first smaller move, not before it. Once it gets reduced to the smallest useful next step, it usually feels a lot less like avoidance and a lot more like traction.

I was going to say this, but couldn’t remember the name

If you add it to the inbox you type your task then hit the continue button. It may pull up suggestions for windows but ignore them and hit continue. Then when you are filling out the task dont put anything for "when." Just put how long color and details and in details you can use sub tasks. Then it should go undated into the the inbox list. If you pay for it, it will also let you integrate other list apps and it puts them in inbox automatically so thats abother way to do it too.

I'd plus this. Just break it down enough to start working on it.

Todoist would work for this, but I’d set it up as projects + next actions, not just one big priority list. “Return library books” can be a dated task. “Organize bathroom” should probably be a project with small subtasks like trash expired stuff, group hair products, measure space, buy bins, etc. The key is keeping urgent tasks and desirable projects from living on the exact same flat list.

Todoist

Structured ia good if you like it in agenda form but if you dont mind paying Things is so clutch and you can even make projects too and the widgets are so good. It also lets ypu distiguish a day to do it and a deadline as two seperate things. Google tasks sort of lets you do this but you cant date subtasks like in Things.

Goblin tools

Shovel does pretty well with this. No priorities, but you can get around that with due dates (or maybe by using the class functionality). Super easy to create subtasks. I highly recommend it, it's been a life saver for me

Workflowy, if you use # for your priorities

Amazing Marvin, but it’s a learning curve because it’s so customizable

Maybe more of a work tool but I find Asana works amazing for my personal tasks too. You can prioritise tasks, set deadline and have subtasks. It’s easy to set up and the free version has pretty much all you need! You can also email tasks, great if you want to remember to answer an email or have all the info ready for something later.

Every app on the market would allow you to break things down into subtasks. Similarly, they'd all allow you to sort by urgency and importance. The trouble is not about that, it's more that things like "organizing the hair products and skincare in an optimal way" are really never important nor urgent. So if strictly following the typical ordering, these tasks kind of never end up competing with truly important or urgent things. But as you point out, they could potentially make a big difference in mood and even productivity. So, use a label/tag for items in this outlying category of beneficial things. In your word 'Desirable.' Could also be 'High Impact.'

NewTwos app It has a daily list, and an eventual list, and you can make more. Anything not done on the daily list, auto-adds to the next day’s list. You can add bullet points under each entry for the sub-tasks

Sounds like you need two things: a way to separate 'must happen now' from 'someday/optional,' and a way to break big vague tasks into small concrete steps. Todoist and TickTick both let you set priority flags while nesting subtasks under a parent project, so 'organize bathroom' becomes a project with checkboxes instead of one intimidating line. The breakdown trick that's helped me most: don't plan the whole thing up front, just write the very next physical action (e.g. open cabinet, pull out expired stuff) - the rest usually follows once you're moving.

I do this exact thing with TodoIst

I was using Todoist to note down things I can do today or tomorrow. But slowly my todos accumulated and started becoming more of a scheduling tool. I'd get overwhelmed looking at the pending todos and I've stopped opening the app for a while. Might be good to do a spring cleaning so I can start using it again. I think what helps is just breaking down the the first few steps. Don't get caught up trying to plan the whole project up ahead.

I’d separate the problem into two decisions: First, give every item one home: dated, next, or someday. A real deadline like returning library books belongs in dated; something useful but flexible like organizing the bathroom can sit in someday until you deliberately choose it. Then, only break down the item you’re actually starting. For the bathroom, that might be “discard expired products” and “group the hair products.” You don’t need to design the entire project before taking the first useful step. A huge subtask tree can become another overwhelming list, so I’d keep only the next two or three actions visible.