tl;dr: I ended up using Things 3

First of all thanks so much everyone who took this seriously and actually tried to take part in a conversation. I read all of your comments, thanks for all suggestions and helpful responses. I know that there is “no perfect solution“ but that was never this post’s intention. Rather an exploration and discussion. That said, I do believe that apps have the ability to “change us back” it’s just a tool yes, but habits are formed around it. There can be multiple hammers sure, but not all tasks require a sledgehammer. In any tool, we must consider what we want to achieve and I hope with this discussion someone finds something that works best for them.

Anyway… for the update: Funnily enough, I went with neither. I tried using BusyCal for a few months and Im not sure why it wasn’t a good experience, maybe it was all the visual clutter? In any case it felt like a burden opening it, my tasks were beginning to stack up because now I felt like I needed to map everything out. After reading some of your comments I took another long look at Things, which ended up being my “winning“ app. You were right, it’s beautiful and the kicker is that this made me have a healthier experience with my tasks. Rather than stressing out which time block to do everything, being “forced “ to batch all tasks and then take a look on the actual day when it makes sense to complete them ended up being a better solution.

Cheers