Creating Flow with OmniFocus 3

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Kourosh Dini

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword Welcome 12 Versions & Applications 15 Other OmniFocus Resources 16 Beyond Creating Flow 18 A Note on Getting Things Done (GTD) 20

A Trusted System Building Trust 22 Setting The Omni Sync Server 23 OmniFocus Backup Exercise 27

Aligning Preferences Outlining 31 Setting Quick Entry Preferences 33 Setting Clean up preferences 34

Groceries Example Setting The Same View 36 Use The Quick Entry Window To Enter A Task 38 Create An Additional Project 41 Organizing By Tag 43

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The Mind & Task Management What Do We Want A Task Manager To Do? 46 The Core Principle of Task Management 49

Today & Study Diving In 55 A Quick Today View 60 Applying Flags 61 A First Study Project 64

Last Introductory Notes Learn Key Commands 71 A Note on Simplicity 73 One More Project 74

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Table of Contents

General Layout View Modes And Layout 10 Layout Overview In Project Mode 16 Four Columns 18 Navigating Selections Between Panes 20

Outlining - Part 1 - Projects & Tasks The Importance Of Understanding Project Anatomy 22 A Routine Project 23 Defining Projects & Actions 25 Creating a Project 26 Naming And Re-Naming 28 Project Anatomy 29 Special Comment On The Note Field 35 Project States 36 Task Anatomy 38 Simplifying the View 47 Developing the Routine Project 49 Preferences going forward 53

Storage, Reference, and other Files The Note Field 56 Managing Documents 57 Using iCloud files 59 Adjunctive Programs 61

Writing & Completing Tasks Practice Writing Strong Tasks 67

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Breaking Down Tasks 71 Marking A Task As Complete 73 Caution When Marking Complete 75 Mind Mapping & OmniFocus 78

A Settled System - Part 1 Settling the System - Part 1 84

Outlining - Part 2 - Filters Keeping Tasks From View 90 Creating Sub-Tasks 91 Creating a List 93 Other Methods For Grouping Tasks 98 Types Of Tasks 101 Filtering Tasks 105 Next Action And Simple Prioritization 108 Ordering Tasks 109 Filters And Completing Tasks 112

Clean Up Clean Up 115 A Brief Note On Undo 118 Complete with last action 121 Completing A Project 123 Moving on ... 125

Time Overview 127 Introduction 128 Defer Dates 129 A Simple Due Date 132 Estimated Duration 134 Time & Reminder Preferences 135 Notifications on the phone 138 Additional apps 147 The Forecast Perspective 148 Cautions with Reminders 154

Calendar Integration Time Blocking 158

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From Calendar to OmniFocus 164

A Settled System - Part 2 Settling the System - Part 2 166

Repeats, Routines, and Buffers Repetition is Key to Flow 170 Duties of Change 173 Repeats and Routines 174 Outlier Repeats 182 Flags and Repeats 183 Task Groups and Projects 185 Cautions With Repeat 189 Clearing Clutter & Reviewing Buckets 190

Folders & Horizons Of Focus Introduced Overview 195 Creating Folders 196 Organization, Areas Of Responsibility, & Horizons Of Focus 198 My Folders & Projects 201 Hotkeys and Folders 207 Sorting Projects in Folders 208

Search Quick Open Access 212

Tags & The Tags Perspective Overview Of Chapter 216 Tags In OmniFocus 217 On Tags 218 Creating Tags 220 Auto-Complete 222 Multi-selected Tasks 223 Multiple Tags 226 Introducing The Tag Perspective 227 Creating a New Tag 230 Assigning Tags by Drag and Drop 231 Reordering Tasks 234 Show In Tags/Show In Projects 235 Re-Ordering And Sub-Tags 237

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Sub-Tag Creation From Entry Field 239 Setting A Tag On Hold 240 Tags, Mobile Devices, and Locations 242 The Forecast Tag 248 Tag Conventions 252 Choosing A Set Of Tags 253 A Suggested Set Of Initial Tags 254 General Tag Sets 255 A Note on Today Tags 261

Tags As Priorities My Tags 264 Default Tags for Projects 269 Following up and Organizing 272 Clients and Projects 273 Cautions 275 Cautions with Adding Tags 276 Cautions with Multiple Tags 277 Special Cases 282 An Aside: Completing Groups From The Tags Perspective 283 Changing Tags for sequential work 287 List Hygiene 288 Approaching Lists 289 Flow Lists 291 Simple Adjustments 295 An Exercise of Ordered Completion 297 Storage Tanks & The Export Function 299 Cautions When Working From Tags 301 Focus mode 303 Diving Into a Project - Part 1- Focus 308 Evolution Of Tags 311

A Settled System - Part 3 Settling the System - Part 3 316

The Inbox Introduction 319 The Inbox 320 Inbox Hygiene 322 Inbox Clean Up Preference Settings 324

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Recently Changed Tasks 327 Quick & Other Means of Entry 329 The Quick Entry Window & Its Preferences 330 Quick Entry Cautions 333 Set a Clipping Command 334 Entry by Sharing Menu - macOS 339 Entry by Sharing Menu - iOS 342 iOS Inbox by Force Press 345 From Bookmark Bar 346 Away From OmniFocus 351 Multiple Ideas on iOS 352 Simple Use 353 A Step Before Processing the Inbox 354 Inbox Processing 355 On The Presence Of Short Tasks 357 Next Actions & Quick Open 358 Dragging from the Inbox 360 Mindful Processing 363 Avoid “Miscellaneous” When Possible 365 Integrating "Today" items 366 The Inbox Considered 368

Reviewing Your System Part I: Built-In Review

Overview 371 The Importance of Review 372 Questions to Consider When Developing a Project 373 A Therapeutic Process 375 Time for Review 377 Built-In Review 378 Notification Preferences 382 Review Process 384 Setting Frequency for Reviews 387 Review Scheduling 389 Adjusting Review While Inbox Processing 390

A Settled System - Part 4 Settling the System - Part 4 394

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Table of Contents

Moving Forward 5

Launch Tasks & Ticklers The Need to Consolidate 7 Regular Links To Tags 15 Carving Channels 18 Tickler For Projects 20 Linking To Default Perspectives 22 Tickler File 24 Activating a Tag 27 Copy as Link & Safari Integration 28 Using An AppleScript and Keyboard Maestro For Quick Link Access 31 Copy as Link Key Command 33 Rivers, Branches, & Cautions 34 An Overview of Branching 36 A Note on Settings 37

A Settled System - Part 5 Refining Settling 39

Support Lists Simple Support Lists 46 Communications Support List 50 Calls 51 Emails 56 Waiting For & Time Stamps 59 Enhancing Time Stamps With TextExpander 61

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Following Up With TextExpander 63 Exceptions & Calls At Certain Times 67 Dealing With Agendas 68 A Regular Agenda 71 Considered Tasks and Support 72 The Considered Task 73 Where To Place Considered tasks 77 Cautions Of The Considered Task 79 Advantages 81

Building Routine - Part 3 of 3 My Routine Project 86 Ordering & A Secondary Routine Project 91

Navigation - A Central System Overview 94 Engaged Projects 96 An Alternate Method of Theming 102 Parked Projects 105 Upcoming Projects & Lead times 110 Using the Activations Project 113 Leveraging the Forecast Perspective 115 Another Activation Example 117 Adding Major Routines 121 Adding "Everything Else" and a Recipe of Habits 123 A Tool Against Procrastination 125 Streamlining Longterm Focus 126 Considerations & Variations 127 Handling Deadlines and Multiple Projects with OmniFocus and MindNode 130 An Example of Creating a Flow List 139

A Settled System - Part 6 Settling with Navigation 151

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Kourosh Dini

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction 8

A First Custom Perspective - Today Overview 10 Today by Flag 11 Today by Tag 18 A Combination - Tag and Flag 19 Perspective as Tool - Decisions and Transitions 24

Custom Perspectives In Depth An Overview 31 My list of perspectives 32 Custom Perspective Anatomy 35 Deleting a Perspective 53 Refining Perspectives 54 Updating A Perspective 55 Refining The Today Perspective For Location 60 Only vs Any Perspectives 67 Example Of A Day’s Flow Of Perspectives 69 Accessing Perspectives 71 A Navigation Perspective 85 A Navigation Perspective 86 AppleScript to Add to Navigation 93 Single Tag Perspectives 96 Listen/Watch 99

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A Communications Perspective 100 A Someday/Maybe Perspective 103 Overview Perspectives 105 Active Projects 106 Next Actions 108 Due 111 Inactive 113 Stalled 114 Treading Water 116 Future 118 Completed Projects 120 Recently Added Projects 121

Depth Perspectives Custom Depth Perspectives 123 Creating a Depth Perspective - Added 126 Creating a Depth Perspective - Due 132 Other Depth Perspectives 135 Layered Perspectives 139 A "Scratch" Perspective 145 Perspectives Reviewed 146

Templates & Habits Using Templates 148 Templates Make Things Easier 149 Creating a Template - An Example with Vacations 150 Other Example Templates 152 From Routine to Templates & Habits 155 Using OmniFocus to Build Habits 156 Retiring A Repeating Task 162 Other Methods of Using Templates 163 The “If-Then” Project 164 An External Outliner 166 Compiling Outliner Templates 171 Using Editorial & TaskPaper 174

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On Template Use 180 Conventions 181 From Templates To Guides 182 Modular Work 185 Example: Modular Work With Dragging And Dropping Templates 186 An Example Of Modular Work In Action 188

Reviewing Your System Part II: Fine-tuning

The Need For Additional Methods Of Review 192 An Example Review Project 195 Additional Review Tasks To Consider 207 A Dedicated Review Perspective 209 Making Adjustments 211 Create a link to review 212 Flow List Considerations 213

Prioritization & Horizons Thoughts On Prioritizing 215 Prioritization At The Runway 217 Overview 218 Method 1: Tag View Settings 219 Method 2: Manual arrangements 220 Method 3: Adding a Flag 221 Method 4: Order of Projects 222 Method 5: Order of Tags 223 Method 6: The Sorting Filter 224 Method 7: Tag Selection - Location-Specific Today Perspectives 225 Method 8: Tag Selection - Only vs Any 226 Method 9: Ordering Perspective Tabs 227 Method 10: Depth Perspectives 228 Method 11: Time Estimates 229

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Method 12: Name Changes in the Sorting Filter 233 Prioritization at 10,000 and 20,000 feet 235 Method 1: Ordering Projects & Folders 236 Method 2: Placing Projects On Hold 238 Method 3: Intuition 239 Higher Horizons 240 A Need For Higher Horizons Of Focus 241 Method 1: Daily Review 242 Method 2: Rolling Defer Dates 246 Method 3: External Outline 249 Method 4: A Navigation folder 251 Attention & Meaning 252 "Vision" & Meaning 253 An Anatomy Of Attention 255 Layers Of Attention In Practice 259

Procrastination, Problems, & Suggested Solutions Overview 263 Problem: I Forget to Look at OmniFocus 264 Problem: I Feel Scattered 265 Problem: I Have to Find Something 269 Problem: Task Appears Too Large 270 Problem: Over-Crafting The Context 272 Problem: Placing Tasks In Unused Or Over-Filled Lists 273 Problem: “I Forgot” Or “I’m Lazy” 274 Problem: I'm Procrastinating 276 Problem: I'm Procrastinating by Organizing 281 Problem: “Falling Off The Wagon” Of OmniFocus 283 Problem: Difficulty clearing the Inbox 284 Problem: "My System Is A Mess" 287 Problem: New Ideas Come To Mind On How To Use Omnifocus While Doing A Project 290 Problem: Entering A Task Through The Inbox Does Not Integrate As Desired Into The Project 291

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Problem: Feeling Overwhelmed 292 Problem: Sudden Large Projects 296 Problem: "Kicking The Can”/”Hitting Snooze" 297 Problem: Assigning A Next Action To An Untrusted List or Tag 299 Problem: I Don’t See OmniFocus During the Day 301 Handling "Energy" Level 302

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Table of Contents

Introduction 5

Creative Work & Conditions Play & Work 7 Concrete vs. Creative Tasks 8 Guiding Play 9 Address Time 12 Throttling Pressure & Supporting Work 13 Using OmniFocus While Doing A Creative Task 15 Useful Terminology for Creative Tasks 16 Four Techniques for Creative Work 17 Overview 18 Touch The Keys Technique 19 Pomodoro Technique 20 On Integrating The Pomodoro Technique 22 Considering The Pomodoro Technique 26 Closing Technique 29 Aim To Simmer Technique 32 Patience - The Fifth Technique 34 Cautions With Due Dates 35 An Example With Music 36

Managing School and Other Clear Scale Work Introduction 38 Creating the Project - Example: Student Project 40

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Four Focus Areas for Mastery 44 An Alternate Example 49 Repeats and external systems 50 In Action 51

Managing Creative and Other Unclear Scale Work Growing Projects 55 Adjusting Scale 57 An Example 58

Bringing it All Together & Mastering Productivity Defining Success 67 Mastering Productivity 72

Appendices Appendix A: Questions to Hone Your Lists 76 Appendix B: Processing Email 80 Appendix C: Set Up TextExpander Snippets On The iPhone 83 Appendix D: Keyboard Maestro & OmniFocus 84 Setting Up Keyboard Maestro and DEVONthink 85 Quick Access To Project States 87 Using Keyboard Maestro & Moom To Adjust View 92 Appendix E: Thoughts On Mind Mapping 95 Appendix F : Odds & Ends 97 About the Author 98 Other Books and Courses By Kourosh Dini, MD 99 Feedback, Comments, Corrections? 102

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