As you have probably heard/read, Reminders is getting another big update in iOS 16–it will be even more powerful.
You also probably already know this but in Mail, you can select the subject line and then click share, then Reminders. The email is sent to Reminders with a link back to the mail. I’d prefer a share sheet but this works fine.
I’d love to see a bit more on how you are using Notes and Reminders for projects. Would you be willing to share a redacted example? I have corresponding - matching folders (Notes) and Lists (Reminders) for each project. In Notes I keep reference material and meeting notes. The follow-up items in Notes are copied to Reminders to track, as shown below, which creates a link back to the note.
If you want a soft pencil that holds a point, you want a Blackwing.
I bought my first Mac a very long time ago so that I could run my stationery website I no longer have that, but I remain a fan of stationery. (No-one has surpassed the Blackwing pencil. They have the price tag to match this.)
Those are the very pencils I use and I agree they are unsurpassed! However, they don’t really hold a point for me, at least not the sharpness that I’m after.
It’s hard to tell from your comment whether you stumbled on the TWSBI or knew what you were looking for, but in case it’s the former I wanted to +1 your comment and say that they have some of the best fountain pen nibs on the market and outperform many of their more expensive counterparts. Anyone looking for a mid-range fountain pen should be looking at TWSBI. If you’re looking at premium fountain pens: you’re wrong, and should look at TWSBI (don’t waste your money!), but if you insist you can look at Sailor or Platinum. And if you want a cheap fountain pen you want a Lamy, or a Preppy if you need <10$.
I love it when my passions collide, and could not resist a bit of fountain pen talk
I got sidetracked indulging in my love of stationery discussions, but to go back to the original topic, my set up this minute (it’s very “fluid” at the moment) is everything in Reminders except work, which is in Todoist. By doing this, I’ve managed to cut my Todoist “projects” down to 5, and will let my subscription lapse in autumn and switch to the free plan. My 5 projects however are my areas of work, rather than actual projects. There were 2 reasons for me to keep Todoist:
Reminders has no Zapier integration and I have zaps that transfer messages from Slack and Trello to my lists. I haven’t figured out a way to seamlessly mimic this another way yet.
I find I quite like the “board view” that Todoist offers. I like arranging my tasks in columns and making more use of my landscape “real estate” in my monitor (I use this on iPad too, which I usually use in landscape mode).
I tried Amazing Marvin a few weeks ago. I love it, but I do not love the subscription or the lack of iOS support. The latter was a deal-breaker for me. I think I would’ve justified the cost if the app was identical across MacOS and iOS.
I’m still not happy with my set-up - I don’t like having my to-do lists split across 2 apps, even if the split is clearly defined. Also, I broke my Zapier connection for 2 days last week and it made me realise how vulnerable my system is to something external going down (their customer support is excellent though!).
I’ve not seen it mentioned in here, but I’m also making more use of iCalendar for tasks that do have a specific time. It keeps them out my task manager and I can see on my calendar view that they need doing. For silly little lists (shopping, a few quick chores I need to do, etc.) I’m using Apple Notes (I just create a note for that list and delete it after). I have actually done this with Apple Notes for years, but I’m being more committed to it now, and kind of thinking “does this need a specific task in my to-do lists or is just a ‘post-it’ type memo that is better as a note?”
+1 for TickTick. I use the paid version, but the free version works very well too. It works on the iPhone/iPad/Mac/Watch/Windows. There is also a Chrome extension for it that works well.
For tasks that require my attention, I use Due since it nags you until you complete or reschedule the task.
Sure Bmosbacker! I know you’ve invested a lot of time into these so definitely open to your feedback!
I just duplicated and removed everything to give you a ‘template’ style.
The long and short is I try and run a bit of an ‘essentialist’ approach. Minimal NOISE - MAXIMUM focus!
I was diagnosed with ADHD only last year (at 34 years young!) so for me reducing any distraction is BIG. I try to only do what is 100% necessary as I can easily go deep down rabbit holes!
So basically I have a master tracker, then the projects beneath that.
MASTER TRACKER
It lists all the projects currently UNDERWAY (not ideas or future - I keep these locked away until I am ready for them).
You’ll see in the example it’s fairly simple. I am trialling running what I call EEA… Excitement, Essential, Alignment… I feel these are good ‘check-ins’ for me to make sure it’s not just my hyperfocus getting fixated. I assess these EVERY week to make sure they are still all 3x GREEN’s (I don’t use yellow or red, too negative, lol!).
In my weekly review I jump into the project note, and transfer the tasks I will do that week to reminders!
PROJECT NOTE
Pretty simple, it just contains ALL my thoughts, ideas, plans etc/. relating to a project.
At the top it has a list of the tasks in order of priority with parent tasks, child-tasks etc/,.
That is great, thanks. I particularly like the project list. I’ve tended to keep those as a list of folders or notes in AN as shown below but I like your approach. I may still parts of it for my workflow.
I was using Todoist for Tasks and ClickUp for managing writing blog posts etc but I am now going for the all-in approach with Obsidian. The tasks plugin can easily handle my recurring tasks that are not linked to any other information (filling pill boxes each week for example). The Kanban plugin can help me organise my blog publication but the real value is having one place to look for everything. All my media consumption comes into Obsidian and my note-taking can then link to ideas for blog posts, it all interconnects and I have Davaview filters to pick up any loose ends. If I need to do a task related to my content it gets entered there and then in the place, it emerged. My daily notes look at upcoming tasks for the following 2 weeks. It all syncs up across my three devices.
After only three months of using Obsidian, I can’t imagine going back to different apps.
My biggest frustration with smart lists was not being able to clear my ‘inbox’ so I’ve left everything as standard lists except a single ‘today’ list.
The only option I’ve considered (if I made everything a smart list) was to have an ‘archive’ (standard list) where I move the reminder after I move it to the smart list.
The reason I haven’t done it is because I don’t know if smart lists for ‘lists’ containing reminders without due dates, really adds any value - but I’d love to be proven wrong!
I use Smart list sparingly, though with iOS 16 I may add a few more. Presently, I only have two Smart lists: “Week” and “Waiting”. The Week list shows everything due within the next seven days. The Waiting list has any tasks that I’ve tagged with the Waiting tag–meaning, I’m waiting for a response from someone. Otherwise, all of my lists are standard project lists.
I process the default Reminders list daily and move anything in it to the appropriate list. I also have what I call Single Personal and Single Work lists–these lists contain one-off todos that are not part of a project, e.g., in the Single Personal list I have things like “log breakfast”, “log lunch”, etc. (I track my exercises and meals). In the Single Work I have things like “In DT, convert rich text files of HoS communications from EA to plain text and save in my research folder for access with Obsidian”.
The result is that nearly everything is in a project list or one of the “Single” item lists. My Smart Lists only contain a few items.
I hope I’m answering your question; if not, let me know and I’ll try again.
OK thanks snelly and Bmosbacker. Yes now I see it. This is good to know. Earlier I was trying to right click not on the main window header but from the list view area. Also I was in classic view - (now using regular view)
I do but it is simple. In addition to the “Waiting” tag, I have tags for each of my senior leadership team member (SLT) direct reports, my EA and a few others. When I meet with one of them, I select his or her tag and everything I need to cover during the meeting is in front of me. I have a few other tags—e.g., one called “HoSReport” for items I want to include in my report to the board. An example for this tag would be a task called “update board on enhanced cybersecurity protocols”, which I’d tag with the “HOSReport” tag. When I’m ready to prepare my report, I select that tag and everything I need to cover is in front of me. I do not use tags for “energy”, “time”, other contexts as I don’t find those useful. Too many tags is one more thing to manage, what I’d call “operational overhead”; time that could be better spent doing the work.
One other tip you may not be aware of, you can create a task and treat it like a heading, similar to what one can do in Things. I do this by making them all caps. This “heading task” can be collapsed (note the collapsible arrows) and moved and everything under it will move with it. This is a great way to organize bigger tasks with several subtasks, all within a single Reminders list.
I no longer have that, but I remain a fan of stationery. (No-one has surpassed the Blackwing pencil. They have the price tag to match this.)
