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Creating Flow With

OmniFocus

Mastering Productivity

By Kourosh Dini, MD

Creating Flow with OmniFocus - Kourosh Dini, MD UsingOmniFocus.com 2

Creating Flow with OmniFocus

Mastering Productivity

© 2009, 2010 Kourosh Dini

All rights reserved. This document may be printed for personal use by the owner of the digital file. Otherwise,

no part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Kourosh Dini.

The Dini Group, Ltd.

Chicago, IL 60602

Cover design by Matt Strieby of New Leaf Design.

OmniFocus™ is a registered trademark and is used under license by the Omni Group. For more information

on The Omni Group’s products the user may visit their website at www.omnigroup.com. For OmniFocus,

please visit http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus.

This product uses or is based on Getting Things Done® or GTD® Principles. It is not affiliated with, approved

or endorsed by David Allen or the David Allen Company, which is the creator of the Getting Things Done®

system for personal productivity. GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of the David

Allen Company For more information on the David Allen Company’s products the user may visit their website

at www.davidco.com.

Apple, Mac, Mac OS, iPad, Multi-Touch and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc. Other company and

product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

It is not the purpose of this book to cover the full range of information that is otherwise available on this topic,

but instead to complement, amplify, and supplement other texts. You are urged to read all available material

and tailor the information to your individual needs.

Every effort has been made to make this book as accurate as possible. However, there may be mistakes,

and with all the rapid changes online, some details may be inaccurate by the time you read this. Therefore,

this text should be used only as a general guide and not as the ultimate source of information on the topic.

The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to

any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information

contained in this book.


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“... create an oasis, where your mind can come out to play.”

- John Cleese1


1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGt3-fxOvug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGt3-fxOvug


Foreword

John Cleese describes, in a fascinating talk, about giving creativity the time and space

needed to come out and play. These are really the very same conditions for any state of

flow. But giving projects that time and space requires the work of prioritizing and crafting

the day’s tasks and responsibilities.

The Getting Things Done® methodology, around which OmniFocus™ is at least partially

built, helps to get these responsibilities off the mind and bring projects into reality by

optimizing a system of planning and doing them. By addressing these projects and needs,

distractions that can invade the flow of play or work are minimized.

The aim of this text then is not just in using the productivity and task management

program OmniFocus, but also in getting to the creative space wherever that may be found.

The hope is in getting to those things you want to do and enjoy while maintaining the

responsibilities that inevitably accrue in life. Be it in work, play, or with family, we are aiming

for a relaxed depth of focus and flow.

There is some tendency towards being overwhelmed when first looking at a program such

as OmniFocus. While the program itself has a lot of power towards finely detailing the

tasks and projects that one has to learn, there is also the mirror that it holds up to our own

understanding and organization of our lives that can be rather daunting.

Filling it with only things that one “has” to do and avoiding those things that are enjoyable

associates the entire enterprise with misery. Rather than lists and laptops as being culprits

against flow as Cleese may suggest, it may be more the filling of the day with concrete

tasks of unenjoyable dreck that ruins the process. If I can give one piece of advice towards

finding use from the program it would be to make sure to include enjoyable projects and

tasks.

What I hope to do with this book, is provide a method towards using OmniFocus that

helps you to look forward to your projects, rather than dread them.




A task management system guides attention. Using these guides, the system directs

several aspects of one’s workflow:

1. In optimizing the placement of simple concrete tasks

2. In deciding or planning on what to do next

3. In designing the contexts in which one can achieve a flow

4. In practicing a workflow with a goal of working it into intrinsic memory

The first workflow, is much of what Getting Things Done® is about. It helps to free “psychic

RAM” in the words of Getting Things Done® author, David Allen, so that you can focus on

the things you would like to do. If you know, for instance, that the work you need to do is

listed somewhere it will be relevant, you can relax about having to remember or remind

yourself of the task.

The second workflow is about prioritization. Knowing where you wish to devote your

energy with the limited resources of time and attention is an important part of devoting

yourself to a project fully.

Both of the above workflows help to minimize internal distractions from interrupting flow.

They are ways of creating internal boundaries of sorts by providing methods of dealing

with thoughts as they come to mind.

The third workflow is about further creating the conditions for creativity and/or productivity.

Work and play are not only about the tasks themselves. They are also about designing the

contexts in which they happen. Practicing the piano happens at the context of “piano”.

Practicing is even better when it is in a quiet spot, with responsibilities met or placed into a

trusted system, with the kids at school, etc.

The fourth workflow is about learning. Later in this text, we will create a project towards

baking chocolate chip cookies. Afterwards, we will adjust this project into a template so

that it can be activated for future baking sessions. Once such a project is done often

enough, OmniFocus is no longer or only minimally necessary. At that point, when the


process is internalized, one can now harness the more powerful nature of the mind

towards doing the project. The same is true for maintenance tasks, creative endeavors, or

otherwise.

While I do step you through the program with various projects and uses, I encourage you

to put the guide down from time to time and fiddle around with the program’s controls. The

best way to learn anything is to play around with it and see what happens. OmniFocus is

extremely customizable and you will more than likely find some way of using it that is not in

these pages. If you feel the system does not work for you, then you will likely deviate from

it. You will know when you are using it well, when you are adapting it to your whims and

not the other way around. The demonstrations biased towards my own workflow can be

examples from which you can pick and choose.

While I will, of course, address the tools and nature of the program and some of its

integration with the Getting Things Done® methodology, I will also touch on concepts

outside of the program itself. Since we are dealing with all of the projects in our lives, we

are dealing with not only a program. We are also dealing with desires, fears, and how our

minds work in handling those.

These methodologies are about learning to guide your own attention towards flow.

Ultimately, attention is our primary tool, resource, and property. Our minds are the most

sought after and even, fought after, real estate in the world. Learning how to guide yourself

through your day and life is quite the challenge. But, ultimately, that is the challenge worth

taking.

With flow in mind, this book will ask and, hopefully, answer the following:

• Where is my attention?

• Where do I want my attention?

• How can I reliably get it there?

The learning curve to OmniFocus is not just in learning the program, but also in learning

how the program adapts to how you think. To make matters more complex, how you think

evolves. When a good level of understanding is attained, building a work flow unique to

yourself becomes a more natural process. With progress, it becomes less about the

instrument itself and more about what it can help to create.


Introduction


The Book’s Layout

Creating Flow with OmniFocus is organized to bring the reader from being able to create

small lists, to larger projects, all the way up to organizing and running major life goals and

projects. The beginning involves the more basic components of the program while the

latter half describes organizing larger systems.

There are several main areas:

• Sections 1-3 introduce the book, its layout and provide a Quick Start.

• Sections 4-38 describe the basic concepts, structure, and practice of

OmniFocus.

• Sections 39-55 begin with perspectives and create the building blocks of an overall

working system.

• Sections 56-60 describe fundamentals of plans, play, and creativity.

• Sections 61-73 build a core system and describe communication workflows.

• Sections 74-77 discuss prioritization and horizons of focus up to 30,000 ft.

• Sections 78-81 highlight the importance of attention and touch on the higher

altitudes of focus.

• Sections 82-90 offer suggested solutions for common problems, such as

procrastination, that one may encounter throughout the day.

• Finally, the appendices list settings for suggested perspectives, a list of resources, a

reproduction of the post series combining the Pomodoro Technique, Getting Things

Done®, and OmniFocus, and various other odds and ends.

For those just getting started with OmniFocus, I would suggest reading from the

beginning. For those with some knowledge such as being able to get around projects,

contexts, planning and context modes, consider beginning with the section on


perspectives. Even with an understanding of perspectives, this would still be a good place

to start as the rest of the book builds upon some of the example perspectives built there.

In one sense, much of the book builds towards creating a core system and establishing

priorities from that point.

Throughout, tips and tricks will also be introduced. This text is neither a re-hash of the

manual nor a replacement for the screencasts and tutorials that already exist. The Omni

Group provides an excellent manual and introductory set of screencasts.

• A manual is provided with OmniFocus and is included in the help section of

OmniFocus’ menu bar.

• Screencast tutorials, including some by Don McAllister from ScreenCasts Online, are

located at http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/videos/ . The link is also

provided in the default Welcome Projects included when first starting the program.

• The Getting Things Done® book itself is also an excellent resource for the entire self-

titled methodology, also known as “GTD®”.

• Finally, a white-paper pdf, OmniFocus, GTD, and You, is available online to get

started in putting both GTD® and OmniFocus together.

Though OmniFocus can be used in other ways, it has largely been designed with GTD® in

mind. While Creating Flow with OmniFocus is more about getting to flow and creativity, it

still does go through much of the basics of the program and methodology. At each step I

try to build upon only what has been already presented in the text. There are points where

ideas can be expanded by topics provided later in the text at which point a link is provided

to get there. For the most part, the text provides information in a building path, with

diversions along the way to fill in some gaps.

Also, note that many of the steps, especially towards the beginning of the book, will not be

necessary in the actual flow of practice. They are there to illustrate how OmniFocus

maintains, sorts, and presents information.


http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/videos/

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Table of Contents

Foreword! 14

I. Introduction! 171. The Book’s Layout! 18

2. A Trusted System! 20

3. The Quick Start! 22

II. Basic Principles - Part I! 30

Projects and Tasks! 30

4. View Modes And Layout! 31

5. Project Anatomy! 35

6. Drafting A Simple Project! 44

7. Creating And Using Groups Of Tasks! 46

On Writing and Hiding Tasks! 54


8. Practice Writing Strong Tasks! 55

9. Keeping Tasks From View! 56

Filters, Clean Up, Inspector, & Preferences Introduced! 57

10. Filters Introduced! 58

11. Clean Up! 66

12. A Brief Note On Undo! 69

13. The Inspector And Preferences Introduced! 70

Contexts! 76

14. Contexts Introduced! 77

15. Context Mode! 86

16. Other Methods Of Accessing Contexts! 94

The Inbox! 103

17. The Inbox! 104

18. The Quick Entry And Its Preferences! 110

III. Basic Principles - Part II! 114

Doing Projects: The Notes Field & Other Practicalities! 114

19. The Notes Field! 115

20. Outlining The Project! 124

21. Moving Through The Project! 133

22. Project Focus! 138

23. Using Quick Entry! 143


Templates and Moving Projects! 153

24. Creating Templates! 154

25. On Using Templates! 162

Filters, Time, and Repeat! 171

26. A Closer Look At Filters! 172

27. Groups And Projects In Context Mode! 183

28. Introducing Time! 187

29. Repeat, The Inspector, And Time Estimates! 197

Horizons, Review, and Maintenance Introduced! 206

30. Folders, Projects, And Horizons Of Focus Introduced! 207

31. Review Part I! 213

32. Repeats And Maintenance Tasks! 223

33. The Dependent Maintenance Group! 232

34. Clearing Clutter And Reviewing Buckets! 237

35. Combining Routine Maintenance And Templates! 239

36. On The Nature Of Routine Maintenance! 241

37. Archiving Older OmniFocus Data! 242

38. Reviewing The OmniFocus Attachment List! 244

IV. Intermediate Principles! 245

Perspectives - Part I: Introduction! 245

39. Perspectives Introduced! 246


40. Creating A Perspective: “Waiting For ...”! 247

41. Perspective Settings Examined! 251

42. “Waiting For ...” Perspective Design Continued! 255

43. Retrieving A Perspective! 258

44. Perspectives Snapshot Feature! 263

Perspectives - Part II: Examples! 265

45. The Due Perspective! 267

46. A Default “Nothing” Perspective! 269

47. “What I Did Today” Perspective! 275

48. Location-Based Perspectives! 277

49. The Routine Maintenance Perspective! 284

50. The Full Day Maintenance Perspective! 290

Using Multiple Clients! 294

51. The Portable Inbox! 295

52. Syncing Computers And Mobile Devices! 299

53. Sharing Files Across Computers! 304

Perspectives - Part III: iPhone and Templates! 306

54. Perspectives On The IPhone! 307

55. Perspectives And Templates Together: An Extreme Example! 311

V. Interlude! 324

On the Nature of Tasks and Contexts! 325


56. Concrete Vs. Creative Tasks! 326

57. Crafting Contexts! 330

On the Nature of Plans, Play, and Work! 336

58. The Order Of Completing Tasks! 337

59. Plans Change! 340

60. Play And Work In The Crafted Context! 351

VI. Advanced Principles - Part I! 356

Core Designs! 356

61. Core Design I: By Start Date! 359

62. Core Design II: By Flag! 367

63. Advantages And Disadvantages! 379

The Spoke and Feedback system! 380

64. An Integration! 381

65. Handling “Today” And Immediate Entries! 382

66. Tickler File! 384

67. The Daily Calendar Review! 387

68. Perspective Links And The “Waiting For ...” Perspective! 390

69. Review Part II: Fine-tuning! 399

70. Addressing Due Dates! 407

Communication Workflows! 413

71. Voicemail Workflow Example! 414


72. Email Workflow! 418

73. Dealing With Calls And Agendas! 423

VII. Advanced Principles - Part II! 425

Prioritization & Horizons to 30,000 ft! 425

74. Prioritization! 426

75. Prioritization At The Runway! 428

76. Prioritization At 10,000 And 20,000 Feet! 445

77. Prioritization From 10,000 To 30,000 Feet! 449

Bringing it All Together! 474

78. The Anatomy Of Attention! 475

79. Layers Of Attention In Practice! 479

80. Defining Success! 482

81. Mastering Productivity! 487

Procrastination, Problems, and Suggested Solutions! 490

82. Problem: Task Appears Too Large! 492

83. Problem: Over-Crafting The Context! 493

84. Problem: Placing Tasks In Unused Or Over-Filled Contexts! 494

85. Problem: “I Forgot” Or “I’m Lazy”! 495

86. Problem: “Falling Off The Wagon” Of OmniFocus! 496

87. Problem: Stale Tasks And Projects! 497

88. Problem: New Ideas Come To Mind On How To Use OmniFocus While Doing A Project! 499


89. Problem: Entering A Task Through The Inbox Does Not Integrate As De-sired Into The Project! 500

90. Problem: Feeling Scattered! 501

VIII. Appendices! 50791. Appendix A: Search And Using Tags! 508

92. Appendix B: Template Examples! 511

93. Appendix C: Key Commands! 518

94. Appendix D: Perspectives Settings! 520

95. Appendix E: External Resources! 527

96. Appendix F: GTD®, OmniFocus, And The Pomodoro Technique! 529

About the Author! 545

Feedback, Comments, Corrections?! 546


Review Part I

The Review process can be one of the more difficult aspects of the Getting Things Done®

method, though it does not need to be. It is also extremely important as the fourth of the

five workflow stages and, as such, deserves special attention.

In this section we will examine:

• The importance of review

• The default review system

• A process of review

• Scheduling reviews

• Setting review frequency

The Importance Of Review

OmniFocus, or any task management solution based on the GTD® method, invites getting

things off the mind. Whenever an idea appears, there is a welcoming inbox or "bucket"

ready to catch it. Assignments of place and time come afterwards as project, context,

start/due dates, etc are added.

Being able to enter an idea immediately means that it can be entered without the intention

of processing it immediately. The process lifts the burdening compulsion to complete a

task as soon as it comes to mind. There is no need to do it right then and there with the

fear that the thought and inspiration will leave or be forgotten. Tasks and projects that

begin as whims, desires and thoughts can be captured.

The later processing and review stages are where these tasks and projects are gradually

developed into manageable tasks and perhaps even become realized. There is a relief

associated with writing down thoughts when overwhelmed with things to do. Here, the

process is taken a few steps further by reducing projects and tasks into bite size and

doable pieces. Gradually, releasing an album or writing a book no longer feels impossible.


Review is a key process in actualizing the things we want to do. If something hasn't

happened yet, we ask ourselves "Why not?":

• Do the tasks need further breakdown?

• Does the next task make sense in the project at this point?

• Have I established a reasonable next action?

• Are the tasks well written?

• Are the tasks specific enough?

• Are the tasks an actual action?

• Is there something that needs to happen before a presently active task?

• Is what I am waiting for a task or project in itself?

• What will this project look like when it is done?

• Are contexts well described?

• What next action can I write to realistically get this off my mind?

Review occurs at a micro level in the very first moments of associating the context and

projects with a task. The review process continues every time we pay attention to the

projects and think about what needs to happen to bring the project closer to completion.

Inbox entry is akin to writing down some fancied destination (e.g. learn a new language) or

avoiding something anxiety provoking (e.g., work on retirement finances). Review keeps us

on course by clearing the path to get to those places. As such, reviewing your projects is a

very important part of the GTD® process. How one feels about various projects inevitably

changes. Task wording may need improvement. Some projects stall and hide away. In

order to actually feel on top of work, projects need active and regular consideration.

The robust nature of a review stems from the nature of GTD® itself: when done well it

involves a trusted system that carries all of the tasks and projects that would otherwise be

on the mind. Review is a major part of the process in asking what it will take to get these

projects and tasks off the mind.

These thoughts and desires are encoded in the powerful symbols of words. In one sense,

this is obvious. But consider that in the process of a review, all the tasks and projects

written are specifically designed to grab the attention of something in mind nearly


simultaneously. Seen this way, It becomes more apparent why the whole review endeavor

is so daunting.

For a moment, let us look at a therapeutic process. I will describe its relation to review

shortly.

There is a sentiment that we hide things in an unconscious and that we have to go digging

around finding them. By some magical means, when hidden thoughts are turned into

words, we feel better.

In actuality, while there are often ideas and processes that are repressed and avoided, it is

not finding these that are always the stuff of therapy. Rather it is the careful consideration

of what is preventing them from appearing that moves a person forward.

Working on projects, especially those that have the most meaning, reveals them as fraught

with anxieties and worries. Some of these are “realistic” and some of these are hold-over

ways of avoiding them from younger days.

How does this relate to review?

Rather than brute force through a project that is not moving forward, one can instead ask

the subtly but significantly different question:

“What is preventing this project from moving forward?”

Many times it has nothing to do with internal conflicts. But sometimes it does. Even by way

of a system as adept as OmniFocus, the mind can find methods for procrastination. For

example, one may notice a constant prioritization of other projects over one particular

anxiety-provoking project. Similarly, even assigning a due date can avoid consideration

with a barely thought “oh, I don’t have to worry about this until that orange or red number

shows up” without acknowledging that the number may be swamped in other due tasks or

that the time needed to act is longer than the warning given by the program.


For these reasons, review is more than just a simple procedure. Meanwhile, these tools, at

least, display the projects at regular intervals where they can be actively considered rather

than buried away.

There are two main variants of Review one can use in OmniFocus. These are:

1. The built-in review system

2. A scheduled review designed by the user

When put together, they offer good grounding. The built-in system will be reviewed in the

next section. A user-built review system to round out the edges will be discussed later in

the text when other OmniFocus functionality has been covered.

Built-In Review

The simplest method for entering Review mode is to select the Review Perspective from

the Perspectives menu:

• Go to Menu > Perspectives > Review:


To view the filters involved:

• Go to Planning Mode (Command-1).

• Open the filter settings (Shift-Option-v) or select the spectacles view icon from the

toolbar:

Under the columns, note the following settings:

• Project Filter: Remaining

• Grouping: Next Review

• Sorting: Unsorted

• Availability: Remaining

• Status Filter: Any Status

• Estimated: Any Duration

With these settings, projects are now grouped under their next dates for review. Projects

can now be reviewed where tasks may be changed as seen fit.

The Project Filter set to “Remaining” means that any projects that are Active, Stalled,

Pending, or On Hold will all be included. Stalled projects are those without a next available

action. Pending projects are those set to start in the future.

The Grouping column presents the projects in order of when a next review is scheduled.

The sooner or more overdue a review session is, the higher it appears.


Consider setting the Availability filter to “Any Status” to include completed items as well.

While tasks may be archived, one may also prefer the option of deleting older tasks when

no longer necessary.

What exactly entails a review may be dependent upon the person. However, an excellent

rule of thumb suggested by David Allen is “whatever it takes to get it off of your mind.”

Whenever we make a commitment to ourselves via some trusted system, be it a piece of

paper or a complex program, there are at least several important points to consider to help

keep it off the mind:

• The system must feel genuinely trustworthy.

• Next Actions should be considered doable and set in an appropriate context.

• That context list should be one that we would normally see when the time is

appropriate.

• It can be very beneficial to have an idea of what the project will look like when it is

complete.

• The project should be seen as regularly as needed.


Review Process

Turning these into questions - ask:

1. Is this system trustworthy? If not, why not? Do I need to make better backups?

If the system itself is untrustworthy, it will become immediately apparent as psychic RAM

will quickly be filled.

2. Is there a next actionable task? Can it actually be readily done?

This is the art of strong task writing. The review process helps to hone this skill.

3. When do I anticipate looking at this next action’s context?

Much of the core system to be developed in the latter sections of this book addresses this

question.

4. What will this project look like when it is done?

Writing an answer to this in the note field of a project can be helpful in imagining it to

completion. It is a nice exercise that can help realize a change or addition needed in the

tasks of the project.

5. When do I think I’ll need to see this project again?


The default review schedule is once per week. However, this may be changed in the

preferences. In addition, a specific review schedule may be assigned to each project.

Scheduling for reviews is discussed below.

Keep in mind, answering the above questions is not about developing a project from start

to finish. Depending upon a project (e.g. plan CD release), one can spend a lot of time

tracing the ins and outs of the folders, projects, tasks and their dependencies.

Fully mapping a project, then, can be a long task in itself. For example,

! “R&D album release” — Context: R&D”

As long as I am confident that there is a time when I will be in R&D mode at some point

during the week, then this can work well.

When a project is sufficiently reviewed and the answers to the above questions seem

settled:

1. Select either the project or a task within the project.

2. Type Shift-Command-r to mark it reviewed.

The project will be marked as reviewed and its review date automatically advanced forward

by its assigned review schedule.


Review Scheduling

Review may be set for a specific time every week or at any time the program is visited. The

built-in review system allows an individual review schedule for each project.

Whether or not one style is better than another is personal preference. If you find yourself

annoyed with having to check daily if there are reviews to do or forgetting to do a periodic

review, then setting aside the weekly time may be more prudent.

Personally, I began with the former method of reviewing whenever I could, but later

changed to a dependable weekly scheduled review.

Note On The iPad Review

With the iPad version of OmniFocus, I will occasionally do a review outside of the weekly

schedule. The iPad offers a more focused view of the individual project and can therefore

offer a more suited environment to its detailed review.

Setting Frequency For ReviewsTake special note that reviews do not have to be done once per week. In the information

pane of any project, there is the option of adjusting the frequency of review. As projects

accumulate, it is easier to look at things only as often as necessary and avoid reviewing a

task too often.


Having the information pane open during review allows a review of the review frequency

itself. For example, my project “Books to Read” does not necessarily need frequent review

so it is set to once per month.

Though, it would seem that simply hitting Reviewed (Shift-Command-r) every week would

be easy for such a task, there is a subtle but significant grab for attention that can be

avoided. Looking at a list of 30 projects, even if most are simple, is more harrowing than

looking at 5 that are known to require some real attention.

Though the 30 project scenario may contain just as many projects requiring significant

attention and a bunch of others that can simply be stamped “Reviewed”, which 5 of those

30 requiring particular care are not clear until examined. Each of those 30 would ask for

the limited resource of attention and would require at least some mental processing prior

to being considered reviewed.

Consider each review of a task as a grab for attention, and keep the frequency as low as is

reasonable, but high enough that it is still off the mind when not seen.

In the example above, a project that lists leisure readings may not need to be very high,

e.g. once per month. It is low enough that it does not have to be seen too often, but high

enough that it will be seen with enough frequency to be useful.

The Need For Additional Methods Of ReviewA disadvantage to the OmniFocus method of review is that the projects presented are not

easily seen as part of their respective folders. In the right pane of the Project View, the

project’s title is visible but not the folder in which it exists.

This means that a project’s position in the various folders and areas of responsibility is

unclear. In addition, the hierarchy of folders themselves is not apparent. As such, these

very important aspects of the review process risk being overlooked.

This issue will be addressed in Review Part II after several other topics such as

perspectives and the core system have been covered.


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creating flow with omnifocus … · creating flow with omnifocus mastering productivity by kourosh...

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