I’m sitting here in my office prepping this blog post on a snowy Colorado afternoon. As I looked down the list of apps I’ve created for this series, I got to thinking about the one that would really help as we turn the corner to a new year. That one is OmniFocus, available separately for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Before I get into the details of the app, understand that I buy into the Getting Things Done (GTD) philosophy of productivity:
- Capture: Get everything out of your head and into a trusted system,
- Clarify: Process what it means,
- Organize: Put it where it belongs and where you’ll see it when you can do it,
- Reflect: Review frequently, and
- Engage: Do what there is to do.
This set of simple steps is very difficult to actually do consistently. There is so much demand on our time these days, with the ubiquitous Internet, always-on communications, and ever-faster pace of innovation and work. Yet, it is the only way I have discovered to know what is “on my list,” what is “off my list,” what is “waiting for something or someone outside my direct control,” and so on. It doesn’t mean you’ll get everything done. It does mean that you’ll get more of the most important things done.
So, what about OmniFocus?
While there are a number of “to do list” apps, some of which are less costly (including some which are free), OmniFocus is the one I’ve chosen to use consistently because it allows me to best set up my life in alignment with GTD.
While OmniGroup describes OmniFocus on their web site, I approach it differently. Specifically, I look at how it enables each of the steps of GTD:
- The OmniFocus Inbox is the capture point. Whenever I come up with a new idea or an item appears that I need to address, I put it into the Inbox. That’s my capture spot. I even put emails into the Inbox if they represent an action I need to take. This means there is only one place for my actions. OmniFocus does a good job of providing links back to the mail items, so I can file them in my Archive at the time I capture them.
- I review the Inbox during breaks in my day, and ask the GTD questions about each item. Based on what the item is, I take the appropriate action, whether addressing it right then, putting it as an action step into a project, or otherwise filing it. These are the Clarify and Organize steps.
- I perform a Weekly Review, checking all of the “still to do” items in OmniFocus and adjusting them as appropriate.
- I use Contexts (the various locations, tools, and energy levels of my life) to look at only those things that I can do at a particular time. For example, when I’m on a plane, I don’t usually purchase Internet access. So, if a task requires Internet access, there is no need for me to see it during a flight. Thus, my “In-flight” context doesn’t include those items.
Using OmniFocus I am able to maintain my sanity. I capture items before I forget them, I have one place where I look for actions to do, and I keep the available actions as clean as possible.
How do you get things done?