As I’ve thought about whether I need to upgrade to Omnifocus 4, I started thinking bigger picture.
One thing though is that I really like to minimize the tools I use. I (think) I’m ok with maybe using an app like OF to do more than it should so I have one place to look versus multiple.
One thing I’ve been doing lately is writing weekly goals down (which includes starting some habits), many of which are tasks. That coincided with me starting up with DayOne. It’s an ok solution but I’m wondering what other people here use to track their weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual goals?
Here are some details on weekly goals (which I check off):
Finish taxes
Book flight
Stretch
Stretch
Stretch
Read book
Read book
Read book
Some of those don’t have hard due dates (like having to finish taxes this week) and some are just so that I start to form a habit (e.g. reading 3x this week).
I also create a daily journal entry that includes the 3 main tasks I have to do outside of the tasks that are due for that day.
So I find myself having to look at both OF and DayOne. I don’t think there is a way to do it all in OF. The nice think about using something like DayOne is that I can look back at the week and see how I did.
It’s not the worst solution but again, what I don’t love about it is needing to look at 2 different apps during the day to make sure I’m doing what I said I wanted to do.
I’m not sure if you’re looking for suggestions for a new app or a way to do it all in one of the two you mentioned, but I’m a big fan of NotePlan. One of the first features that I appreciated was the daily note, which just exists without having to create it. I have recently started making use of the weekly and monthly notes as well, which exist as their own thing and in which I capture tasks or other goals that don’t go with a particular day. I think this is exactly what you’re looking for. The weekly note collapses out of the way at the top of my daily note, but I can click the disclosure symbol and it drops open right in place. Strong recommendation all around for me!
I create a weekly plan in a Markdown file in Obsidian. I create a section which I call metrics. One of my metrics is to workout 4 days a week. So the plan starts out with a section like this:
Exercise 4 days a week
Day
Day
Day
Day
and as the week goes on, I replace those empty days with the details of when and where I worked out.
Thank you for this suggestion. I actually used NotePlan for maybe 4-6 months a couple of years ago. But I didn’t use it to its full capabilities, mainly because I feel I’m locked into OmniFocus. But reading your comments and looking at their site, it is intriguing. That would be a big jump for me to do that. But I want to keep mind open.
Much to unpack in your posting. I’ll comment on the above.
Do not fall for the “one app to rule them all” mantra at the expense of two apps that you can rule with ease to handle what ultimately is two competing needs … task management and project/life management.
For reference: I am an avid user of OmniFocus. But only for my task management. I am an avid user of Kanban style boards. But only for my project management. I do not intend to find one app to do both.
Maybe … just maybe … you are trying to shoehorn DayOne (a JOURNALING APP) into being a project management app.
Maybe … just maybe … your frustration is not about looking at two different apps, rather it is about looking at two different apps and seeing essentially the same thing because one of the apps (DayOne) is not designed to do what you truly need.
said plus you can link to various apps for a dashboard like control point which would function like a central hub.