About Omnifocus 3

FocusGuy

FocusGuy

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I love Omnifocus 3 . I have been working with it since version 1.

I noticed on this forum lot of people speak about NIRVANA, sometime THINGS but very little about Omnifocus. So I wanted to share my setting with you

I have organised my project in areas (H2) like wich are
Capture d’écran 2020-11-22 à 20.44.36.png

And I have less context as I work on my computer wich are
Capture d’écran 2020-11-22 à 20.50.36.png

I dont use a lot of perspective. I find omnifocus fast, secure and efficient. I also Used THINGS 3 but always came back to Omnifocus.

How do you use Omnifocus for GTD ? What is your set up for it ?

Thanks
 

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I also use Omnifocus 3 -- I've tried so many apps Todoist, things3, Marvin, Clickup... and more, but nothing can compare to OF for me. The big problem I see is the learning curve and barrier to entry. GTD is already tough to get into someones life, and OF is a beast of an app to get used to. There are so many ways to customize that it can be overwhelming. Kourosh Dini's book on Creating Flow with OF changed the game for me, but it was a massive investment in time and energy... and I've iterated several times from when I first when through the book around 2018.

I have my system set up in 3 primary areas: Admin -- Business -- Personal. Within each of those I have action buckets, and projects that can be completed. I heavily rely on perspectives to show me specific screens I want on a daily basis -- My three primary screens are: today view, a quicks and communications view, and Routines and maintenance view. These have shortcuts so I can see them very quick and easy.

I've attempted to convert several people to Omnifocus, and have failed every time because the system is too complex with too many customizations and opportunities to lose things for someone who doesn't know shortcuts etc. etc.
 
I inherited an old family iMac, which, along with my iPad, iPhone, and the OF web, has me thinking about OF for the first time (I was a PC guy most of my existence). OF can be a beast, I think, but it does not have to be. Why not just start simple with basic GTD: basic contexts, project lists, that's it. Stick with the stock perspectives for now. I did find the GTD setup guide helpful and helped me focus on the basics. I haven't made a decision yet. I've tried all the tools you mention and spent most of 2019 in GTD app hell - a hell of my own making. It was fun for a while but I'm tired of it now and need to stick with one tool.
 
nh0liday said:
I also use Omnifocus 3 -- I've tried so many apps Todoist, things3, Marvin, Clickup... and more, but nothing can compare to OF for me. The big problem I see is the learning curve and barrier to entry. GTD is already tough to get into someones life, and OF is a beast of an app to get used to. There are so many ways to customize that it can be overwhelming. Kourosh Dini's book on Creating Flow with OF changed the game for me, but it was a massive investment in time and energy... and I've iterated several times from when I first when through the book around 2018.

I have my system set up in 3 primary areas: Admin -- Business -- Personal. Within each of those I have action buckets, and projects that can be completed. I heavily rely on perspectives to show me specific screens I want on a daily basis -- My three primary screens are: today view, a quicks and communications view, and Routines and maintenance view. These have shortcuts so I can see them very quick and easy.

I've attempted to convert several people to Omnifocus, and have failed every time because the system is too complex with too many customizations and opportunities to lose things for someone who doesn't know shortcuts etc. etc.
Click to expand...
I dont think Omnifocus is complicated. I Think people make it complicated most of the time. Thanks for yours area I I simplified mine like you. May be it will be faster. I gonna try to make a simple today perpective ho do you use it with flag or something else ?
Merry christmas.
 
Peter, I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. I've been tight on GTD for about 3 years, I've never missed a weekly review... I'm totally obsessed with my system. I haven't found anything better than OF from a sync & backup viewpoint (i can revert to a database from earlier today to months/years ago), or a customization & feature viewpoint. eg. OF has a true defer capability which I can't seem to find anywhere else. I've found nothing that matches it. But I totally agree with you, keeping it simple is definitely the way to go.

I just recently discovered this forum (again)... and to be honest, I've been feeling like an alien for a long time... because so few people around me have implemented GTD (basically no one). So pumped to just be around people who speak the same language haha!
 
I remember reading, a few years ago, that the majority of the population (maybe eighty percent?) have one way of creating mental models--let's call it Method A. And that a minority have another way of creating mental models--call it Method B.

But that the majority of programmers use the second method--Method B. So the people whose minds use the minority method are writing software for the people whose minds use the majority method.

When a lot of people complain that a piece of software is too complicated, and I find it perfectly simple, I tend to assume that I'm Method B, the programmers of that software are Method B, and those complaining are Method A. This seems to happen for OmniFocus and Scrivener, among others.

I'm assuming that OneNote is written for Method A, as a counter-example. While I understand it, I find it simply maddeningly annoying to use.
 
Gardener said:
I remember reading, a few years ago, that the majority of the population (maybe eighty percent?) have one way of creating mental models--let's call it Method A. And that a minority have another way of creating mental models--call it Method B.

But that the majority of programmers use the second method--Method B. So the people whose minds use the minority method are writing software for the people whose minds use the majority method.

When a lot of people complain that a piece of software is too complicated, and I find it perfectly simple, I tend to assume that I'm Method B, the programmers of that software are Method B, and those complaining are Method A. This seems to happen for OmniFocus and Scrivener, among others.

I'm assuming that OneNote is written for Method A, as a counter-example. While I understand it, I find it simply maddeningly annoying to use.
Click to expand...
I think this might make more sense if I knew what Method A and Method B were. “There are two kinds of people, those who divide people into two groups, and those who don’t.”
 
FocusGuy said:
I dont think Omnifocus is complicated. I Think people make it complicated most of the time. Thanks for yours area I I simplified mine like you. May be it will be faster. I gonna try to make a simple today perpective ho do you use it with flag or something else ?
Merry christmas.
Click to expand...

Attached is my Today Perspective settings ( https://share.getcloudapp.com/12uK7vDm) . My shortcut is control x because it's super easy to type. The tag "today" is the same tag that the forecast perspective uses (https://share.getcloudapp.com/Wnulm0NR)... but the reason I have a today view is because forecast doesn't show flagged items .. it only shows the whatever tag you choose + due items...and can show deferred but that gets crazy.
 
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