So if you’re into OF, the resource that made everything click for me is Creating Flow with OmniFocus by Kourosh Dini. It’s a huge book but it’s the best resource I came across to make OF mine (and the only one I ever truly needed). It takes you gently from the basics to a very complete system, also adding very valuable psychological and mental considerations about flow and task management (he’s a psychiatrist). Can’t recommend it enough.
My advice, start with the habit not the system. Once you build your habit of actually consistently applying GTD approach to tasks, you can work on fine tuning the system. GTD app is useless without the habit. As for specific apps:
Things - personal usage/simple projects
OF - complex projects
Todoist - multi-platform and teams
Obsidian/The Brain - keeps tasks in the same ecosystem as your work so the tasks completion is more natural and distraction free.
My favorite for starting habits is the Due app. I use Siri to set one-off alarms and my wake up alarm but I use the Due app for nagging reminders to get me to start on a habit.
I have a daily alarm at 4:30 pm to start my end of day GTD review and pick my 3-5 tasks for tomorrow. I have a weekly alarm for Friday afternoon to perform my weekly review. Then I have a few other nagging reminders for some other critical tasks. The nagging is set to every 20-45 minutes and it’ll stay on me until I mark it as done or dismiss it.
I tried the Streaks app but I couldn’t get habits to stick. But I might give it a go for other habits.
Hello,
I’ve been a user of Todoist since late 2016 when I moved from Wunderlist. Mainly I liked the cross platform functionality of Todoist.
It has some power and a little complexity that I could easily get used to but with the cross compatibility between differing operating systems it lead to becoming tempted to check on personal things at work and work things in my personal life.
I have decided recently to keep a separate as possible.
Due to and account issue I’m actually getting Todoist for £5.78 per year instead of the normal business account rate which even Todoist support themselves admitted was incorrect!
So I’m continuing to pay for Todoist just in case I decide to go back. I actually have made the switch and cleared out all of my Todoist items disassociated my Google Sync and have started using things 3 on my phone for personal items and since are use windows at work I on occasion add tasks to Microsoft to do.
My main complaint really is that at home I personally use both windows and maybe 80% of my web use is using a Linux laptop so my complication comes in where things 3 for personal use isn’t really ideal but I am able to add things via email if I need to or a quick glance with my phone which is on me a lot of the time even around the home.
Another thing is I’ve used the link between my Google calendars and things even though I can view items in things it just means I can separate out the things that are actual appointments and things that are just simply todos.
Funny you say that. I’m currently working my way through his book on DEVONthink, which is fantastic. I’d already seen the book on OF, and earmarked it for my next purchase as soon as I’ve finished the DEVONthink one.
I was really impressed that the DEVONthink purchase came with a suite of Keyboard Maestro macros. I haven’t even started to make my way through those yet, but look forward to at some point.
Glad you like the DT book! In my opinion, the OF one is even better. It’s on its third edition and boy, is there a lot to chew on. If you like his work, you’ll love the other one and you’ll be set.
I have this and have started it, I need to keep going though. He writes so well and it draws you in. Thanks for the reminder. (just re-opened it… 1,023 pages! )
Is this a book that’s electronic or paper?
Electronic, but comes with a variety of formats and the PDFs are a delight to read on iPad.
(Homer Simpson uses OmniFocus?! I’ll be damned.)
Just another OF user but wanted to add that MacSparky, of course, has a great Field Guide for OmniFocus 3. It’s more geared towards beginners than Creating Flow with OF3, which I also own. If you wanted to “start small” and work up, MacSparky’s Field Guide is great and relatively inexpensive. Once you have a bit of experience managing basic OF, then get @Kourosh’s book and go from there.
I’m still working my way through his book(s) and video course. EXCELLENT stuff, some of the best I’ve found.
This is actually quite the understatement. When you get to “navigation projects”…
I plan to buy everything @Kourosh produces in the future, without hesitation. I wish he produced content for everything I do (statistics, etc.). I really like his gentle style, and the way he gives you the context, the why you’d want to do something, not just that there’s a menu option and a shortcut key.
I’d also like him to narrate every book I want to read! C’mon, @Kourosh, you have a future as an audiobook actor!
There’s a quiz at the bottom of a blog post from The Sweet Setup that you can take…
Interestingly enough, I ran through it and it said I should use 2Do. I’m firmly entrenched in the OmniFocus world so I’m gonna stay there.
I don’t even want to read that, I dare not read that! I just switched back to OF.
TSS has really leaned on the casual side of things for years now. I’m not trusting them anymore with power user recommendations. Their insistence on recommending Things and Ulysses makes me roll eyes as both tools are fine for medium workloads, but cannot scale to any true heavy workflow (choose OmniFocus and Scrivener instead).
Got to help Mr Burns keep the plant running
I have as well! Great minds … ?
I got Microsoft ToDo and I’m pretty sure my combination of answers should’ve given me OF + OF for Web. I’d like to see what the decision tree looks like.