I would add to also create, use and delete contexts or tags as often as needed. I frequently have “temporary” contexts that I set up for somehting that get used then go away
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If you are using Omnifocus and use the review functions you have to either set review times or play all sorts of games to keep them out of your weekly review. it is easier now under rev 3 but under rev 1 and 2 it was painful and the clutter of possible future tasks made it impossible for me to concentrate on what I am doing now.
Once I moved them into a different location somehow the whole mess became clearer. Just the separation of using a different software tool changed my mindset and I was better able to sort, evaluate and triage the someday/maybe items into something that is almost doable in each season. I still overbook my time and energy but not nearly as badly as before I changed how I handle someday/maybe items.
Ah, that’s the difference between how we work, something doesn’t become a project for me until it’s active. While it’s a Someday/Maybe it’s just an action.
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For me that would be worse, my mind cannot handle things that I know are multistep things sitting as single actions in my system or I spend too much time trying to fill them out into the projects they really are when the real answer is I don’t have time or this is the wrong season for that particular thing.
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By the same token, I don’t like spending time on things which may never see the light of day. 
Agree, which is why moving them OUT of Omnifocus was the best place for me. That way al I have to do to "handle"them is read them 4 times a year. Sometimes I can even just delete them before they go any further.
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Things 3 plus Due app.
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I have similar struggles you mention here. Omnifocus can lead to overwhelm, and just doesn’t work for me to have as my running list for the day.
I used to use a paper notebook ala Shawn Blanc. Omnifocus is the “brain”, and the notebook is the “Boss”. I had pretty good success with this, because I could digest the simplicity of a handwritten daily list. But the paper was frustrating. It was hard to review, it didn’t fit well on my standing desk, took time to fill out, had to make sure I took it with me if i went somewhere else, hard to timeblock and adjust things, and on days where I wasn’t doing “work”, but still had a few tasks to accomplish, I didn’t want to carry it around or have to constantly refer to it.
then, I found NotePlan. Almost all the advantages of a paper notebook without any of the disadvantages. Plaintext is so easy, can have timeblocking built in with simple markdown, templates for all kinds of notes (like weekly/daily plans that I was writing out in my paper journal).
I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and things have gotten way better for me. I pull stuff out of omnifocus into my weekly tasks, and honestly at this point, simpler short-term stuff doesn’t even make it into OF. It’s also available through setapp and the iOS app is great. Can do all the bullet journaling stuff (that I don’t really do much of) as well.
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I do this a lot. Simple things that get added during the day just go straight to my Daily Driver notebook. If I don’t need to keep a record of completing it, it doesn’t go into OmniFocus.
If it’s something I have to process later or it’s something that needs to have a record of completion, I’ll put it into OmniFocus.
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I find that it’s not remembering the tasks as much as it is committing the time to do them. I started time blocking aggressively 6 months ago and haven’t looked back.
I’m using reclaim to handle my calendar.
It allows me to create personal work and job work time windows, enter in habits I want to stick to and it reshuffles tasks when things don’t go according to plan. Super powerful.
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Not formally diagnosed, but edging towards assessment (at 45). I’ve been watching this thread with interest.
I’ve been through a number of apps/platforms/tools (anyone remember Kinkless GTD pre-Omnifocus?), but GoodTask is what’s stuck for me. Actually, a combination of Drafts, GoodTask and iThoughts. GoodTask is where the actionable items are managed, and I like the fact that it allows me to view my task-load in a few different ways (simple list, kanban by date, kanban by tag etc).
Without getting into the specifics of that app, the thing that really makes it work is regular review. When I’m in a good place, I capture all the things. When I’m in a not-so-good place, that list of captured things becomes an insurmountable wall that I can’t even begin to get started on. Which then turns into “don’t even bother opening the app”. Which never ends well.
So I:
- …keep the number of different lists I maintain relatively low; main ones currently being Projects, Tasks, The Week Ahead (rolling seven-day Kanban board, a column for each day, showing everything with a due date alongside my calendar items, where the final column contains items without due dates that meet specific conditions— things I haven’t yet assigned to a day but will want to attend to soon).
- …review twice a day and once a week. Daily reviews for triage: what do I plan to do today (start-up), what do I need to push to tomorrow or rethink entirely (shut down). Weekly: be ruthless about what doesn’t need to be in my task list, and be aware of what’s upcoming (capture appropriate tasks to make sure I’m prepared).
- …compartmentalise: GoodTask is a front end for Reminders, but allows you to decide which Reminders lists you can see in the app; on a weekly basis, I’m whittling down my task list and either deleting things or pushing them to that someday/maybe list. Having them stored somewhere within the system appeases the collector part of my brain (“don’t lose track of all the things!!!”); having them out of my operational view allows me to function.
- …try to keep reviews as speedy as possible. In my system, reviews aren’t for doing work– reviews are for filing things as quickly as possible and setting myself up for later action. I have a tendency to want to work the small items (“this will only take a few minutes to do…”), but those few minutes add up. For me, review is not reflection. That’s a useful but separate activity.
- …try to remember to be realistic about what I can do in a day. When I’m return to a good place after a period of overwhelm, I have this tendency to attempt to do everything immediately. “Let’s clear this whole list, darn it!!” Those days rarely (if ever) live up to the ambition. I’m better when I map a realistic bunch of tasks to the week ahead, spread out over the days.
Also, there’s a way in which the formalising of things doesn’t really help me. When I’m consciously aware that I’m “doing a Review™” the practice is more fragile. That conscious awareness feels like I’m setting myself up to fail. When it becomes intuitive, less performative, more functional, I can keep up the practice for much longer, and it’s easier to get back on the wagon when I (inevitably) fall off.
As has been said by others, this is just what’s working for me. Always, YMMV.
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Can you recommend some good resources to learn Noteplan? I’m checking it out for the second time in six months. I’ve watched some YouTube videos, but I’m looking for something more comprehensive. I have a feeling there’s a lot I’m missing.
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Their NotePlan knowledge base is a good starting place.
I’m not usually fond of Discord, but NotePlan’s is full of very helpful people who often respond quickly.
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Similar to the comments in one of the earlier posts, the strategy that works for me is using two tools for two different kinds of planning. I use the Things3 app for all my lists by areas of my life (urgent, non-urgent and someday tasks and projects, including recurring tasks and routines). I like having one place to put things and one place to look for things. My second tool is time blocking (following the method of Cal Newport at timeblockplanner.com). This gives me a more focused list for my day, reflecting what’s important, what I can reasonably get done, and when I can do it. I started out with a paper list but now keep my list digitally in Apple Notes. I certainly adjust it as the day goes on. (In fact, in looking at my time block list for today, I’m supposed to be doing something else right now! Oops, time to get back on track.)
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Thank you. I will check out both of those.
Hey @jmayhugh ,
I actually just posted something very similar on The Automator’s forum recently (it was referenced above!).
Thanks for being so open!
I too was recently diagnosed with ADHD (I’m 34). While I don’t love ‘labels’ (and the identity that comes with them), the diagnosis for me was almost a bit freeing. For so long I wondered why I struggled with certain things in life that seemed to not even be an issue for others.
Understanding I do have ADHD has helped me to understand me even more, be less critical on myself (hopefully), and almost rocket me forward (as I am figuring out ways to do things that work for ME, which may be different to everyone else).
I touched on it in the automators post, but what I really struggle with is ‘getting carried away’. When I want to focus on something, it almost gives me blinders to everything, which can be good and challenging. The challenging part is a sense of overwhelm where I want to focus on so many different things (normally around optimising systems), but don’t have the time or capacity to do so.
What this has led to for me are a number of realisations in my ‘Life Operating System’ that make it easier to stick with for the long run (like you I feel like I’ve tried everything - I’m very new to Mac so Omnifocus isn’t one of them! Lol!).
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Realising it will never be completed. It will always evolve into something else as my needs, my life and technology changes. That’s ok, if I am accomplishing what I want and need to, then it’s a working system. When it breaks next (which it will, like you, give it 6 months), I’ll fix it.
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Freedom in a system is a double edged sword. I think part of the reason software hasn’t worked for me in the past is because I am somewhat ‘stuck’ with an experience and UI that has been developed for anyone (not me specifically). For example I used to use ClickUp (which was amazing BTW), but hated the way it handled statuses and views. This meant everyday multiple times a day I had to enter a UI which never ‘felt right’. It’s easy to say, just ignore it, but I’m sure you know being a fellow ADHD’r, this is not a simple task (lol).
Instead I opt for a solution I can design from the ground up, MY WAY, showing only what I want it to show… Enter CODA (more below). Everyday I enter a single dashboard which has everything I want and links externally to everything else I need.
The only issue with this solution… it’s like a fixer upper home. You can live it in, you love it, but you constantly see things that can be improved. I just have to have some boundaries in place to ‘assess’ before going down these rabbit holes.
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Constant assessment is needed. Tony Robbins (a big mentor for me) says, “Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” In the above point when I said ‘assess’, I’m learning to put these barriers in place, where I STOP and actually ask myself a number of questions about what I’m trying to achieve. I currently use time blocks - with an outcome (which nighttime Danny comes up with - not Jerk morning Danny as David puts it!) and a Pomodoro timer. The block might be 2-4 pomodoros so whenever a pomodoro finishes, it’s an opportunity to reset and re-assess to make sure I’m on the right track.
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Make your digital life as enjoyable as the rest of your life. I like my aesthetics, lol. Everything on my desk has a place, so does everything digitally. I like certain colours and fonts, so try and use these as much as possible.
I am sure there are way more things (I should probably journal on this journey!) but for now I really hope this helps.
My current system and something you might consider trying (IF you truly believe there is a benefit to making a change! There’s the assessment part haha).
- CODA - like Notion but more powerful.
I originally switched from Notion a couple of years ago when the Notion API kept getting pushed back.
This houses my life / business planning (Life Operating System) and anything I want in a database (I also use Coda as a basis for a lot of business database management).
My dashboard looks complex, but it’s basically just.
- High level life goals (like a vision board)
- Quarterly business goals (ranked based on importance)
- Projects linked to these goals (ranked based on importance)
- A general task list (not associated with a project. I.e. general life admin)
The night before I time block projects in Coda which creates a calendar event (this is my notification tool).
And then a separate page which is an Inbox (think GTD). >>> I capture in Todoist which Integromat pushes to Coda. Todoist was the best option as it has simple integrations with Gmail, ios, shortcuts (and Siri), which makes capturing ideas normally a click away.
- Obsidian
I don’t do any project planning in Coda - why? Because I don’t like it for that. It feels like it doesn’t have enough freedom for me to be creative in my plans. It’s amazing for tables, dashboards and lookups, but for plain text writing it’s not for me.
So I do all my project and daily planning in Obsidian which gives me this freedom. I love just being able to freely write, quickly put in headers and checklists, take notes and backlink.
I use the daily note plugin, plus a google calendar ics plugin which brings in the time blocks (and any events I have that day) into the daily note, including the backlinks direct to the projects.
Projects are linked to Obsidian from Coda using a keyboard maestro macro.
Obsidian stays open all day. I typically close Coda after I’ve checked it in the morning as everything I need for the day (without distraction) will now be in Obsidian. At the end of the day I update the project tracker in coda if it’s needed (I.e. if I’m stuck on something, or it’s finished, or the importance increased).
I’m pretty new to using Obsidian but so far I’ve never felt so at home using another note taking tool.
- A blank Apple note
This sits on my desktop and just acts as a place for ideas or thoughts (rather than Todoist which is for tasks). I triage this at the end of each day.
There is a heap more to it than that and I’ve probably just gotten carried away with this post (it’s a Friday night here in Aus so that’s ok!), but I hope it helps you even in some small way.
You’re not alone - there are others of us out there that feel the same pains!
Reach out if you have any questions.
Danny
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Danny, thanks for your very detailed thoughts – I enjoyed reading this.
I, too, took a summer and dove into the DIY planner arena – my tool was Notion. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that you noted of not being able to maintain the system.
I do think that the disconnection from higher level goals may be one of the issues I’m having in terms of long term success. 100% agree on the aesthetics point you brought up. If the UI makes me cringe, I will subconsciously find a way to avoid it.
I couldn’t find the link to the automators thread you mentioned, but I’m sure a search for ADHD will allow it to turn up.
Thanks again for all the tips and encouraging words.
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I’ve had a extremely similar (and frustrating) task management journey and diagnosis in my late 40’s.
I’ll make this brief and if anything interests you, let me know. I can provide more details.
I really clicked with the bullet journal concept, but (like you) got bogged down with all the time commitments with re-writing things and the frustration dealing with complex projects.
(BTW my workflow takes parts from Franklin Planner, GTD, and Bujo)
I use Craft as my digital bujo for daily affirmations, accomplishments, tasks, and project tracking (among other things)
I have a note for every day with a pre made template. I have a master task page, a someday page, and 1 page for each project I work on. The daily note template has back links to all the pages described.
I use shortcuts on my Home Screen and in a widget to make almost everything 1 click.
Since Craft isn’t a task app, it doesn’t have reminders, so I have alarms set for 9, 12, and 3 to check today’s list
I use reminders or calendar for time or date specific things (with links back to Craft for reference material if needed)
I use Drafts for rapid logging and adding new tasks, that puts everything into Craft. Open, type, and hit a button. It’s really nice to quickly dump my brain before I forget what I was going to write!
I have 1 more alarm at 9 pm to make tomorrow’s note, swipe and move any incomplete tasks to tomorrow, my master list, or a project page.
I can perform all functions on iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Jeez sorry this was not brief. If any of this remotely interests you let me know.
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Yes! Above and Beyond! My favourite back in those days was EccoPro! Way ahead of it’s time!
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I find this video very hard to watch.
From what I gleaned, dynamic scheduling is a way to shift tasks around to fill time available.
If so, you might look into Sorted3, which has auto-scheduling that schedules and changes tasks scheduled based on your time available. E.g. if a meeting runs long, it might change your next task before lunch to a thirty-minute task, rather than the sixty-minute task you previously scheduled.
This has a familiar ring to it:
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