For several years, I have used my Routines list in Reminders to track recurring professional and administrative repeating tasks. I have found this to be effective in keeping me from dropping balls while keeping Reminders clean of unnecessary and distracting clutter. Using sections and toggling the disclosure triangles in the list makes classifying and navigating those tasks easy.
I’m just passing this along with the thought it may be helpful to someone.
I like this, A LOT. You’ve inspired me to implement something similar in OmniFocus via a “Routines” project with sub-projects for each that require routine work. Nice!
In GTD parlance, @Bmosbacker, do you use this like a single action list? Or more as way to park recurring tasks that may repeat?
I’m glad it is helpful!
Yes and no. I use the default Reminders list for the one-off tasks I need to be reminded of. So, I have the “single action list” in the default list and my routines in the Routines list.
I have my most important lists pinned.
Is that what you are asking?
This may not be relevant, but I also use tags for my direct reports so that when I meet with them, I can click the task and have a list of what I need from them.
I do this as well to great effect and have been doing so for over a decade. It’s amazing how few balls, if any, get dropped when you track open tasks and especially the ones that have been delegated.
I also have “agenda” tags for recurring meetings I attend and run. This allows me to remind myself to bring up discussion topics or decisions that need to be made related to my active projects in the right meeting.
One feature that the Reminders app has that most apps don’t have is the ability to set location as well as date and time. So when I get near Ace Hardware and it’s three months after I placed the water filter in the sink, it will let me know I need to get another one when I get there.
I have a recurring list for all of my monthly bills. It’s also nice because you can set some bills every three months like “sales taxes to the state”, or every half year like the newspaper.
@Bmosbacker I remember seeing this on one of your screenshots a few months ago and have been doing the same with recurring routine reminders ever since. It’s stuck and helped to make the rest of reminders more streamlined. Thanks for this!
I’m glad it was helpful!
Perhaps an unrelated question, but as you are a Reminders power user: do you do a weekly review? If so how do you find it in Reminders? Doing so in Obsidian Tasks has become unwieldy for me and I have been impressed by Apple Intelligence so contemplating a shift.
I can’t figure out how this works. Could you give a few examples of repeating reminders in these Routines? 
Yes and no. I do not strictly follow the suggested GTD method. I find that I don’t need a weekly review. I only review Reminders when I’m not clear on important current and upcoming projects and tasks. When I decide to conduct a review, I am able to click on the Main Work folder. When I do this, all of the lists under Work show up along with each list’s sections. I can quickly and easily go through each list and section without needing to change lists. I can open and close the disclosure triangles to get a bird’s-eye or closer view as needed. Each section has a list of tasks.
I supplement Reminders with Apple Notes to keep major projects and immediate tasks always in view.
I use Reminders tags to track projects/tasks assigned to of my senior leaders, my EA, and a few others.
The result is that I don’t drop balls 
and I’m able to hold everyone accountable, including me.
I can’t imagine forgetting to prepare my morning coffee, but I admire how thorough your routine lists are 
I always to make sure that I have it preset to brew at 4am, which is when I get up. 
I keep a similar list and for me, it’s something like a tickler file for repeating tasks that are part of day-to-day life.
Ok, I understand now. These are literally repeating tasks. For some reason, I thought you were placing non-repeating tasks in the repeating tasks lists. (Or perhaps you are, for a few items.) TY for sharing!
This is the tension that I’ve been trying to balance. Are the to-dos in your project notes duplicated in Reminders? Or how do you decide what goes in reminders and what goes in the project notes
Project notes are kept exclusively in Apple Notes. Project tasks, reminders, including routine reminders, are kept in Reminders. I only use “This Week” and “2026-2027 Major Projects” to give me a quick bird’s-eye view of things for this week and to keep my annual goals front and center. There is only minor redundancy with “This Week” in Apple Notes and tasks in Reminders.
Can you update me on how you are getting the Apple note link into reminders. Has there been any change in ios27 to this? Previously there was the >> then change the link. I see the option now to “copy link” and then not anyone else to the shared note, and on iPhone dragging and dropping.
I have been using the “copy link” and allow all to view so I can also add it to calendar appointments and my wife can see it (even if I didn’t manually add her to the note), but I kind of hate the way it shows in reminders (don’t get the pretty Apple note icon).
With iOS27 I select the Share menu, select Reminders. You get the small Notes icon in the Reminder.
in macOS27 I do the same thing, but instead of the Note icon I get an iCloud link???
There are a few approaches for connecting information in Notes or sharing it with Reminders.
I’m not sure I’m answering your question. Let me know if I can clarity anything.
