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Making productivity apps work: 5 things I’ve learned using OmniFocus and GTD

By Alvin Soon - on 24 Jul 2015, 11:11am

I’ve been using the GTD (Getting Things Done) system for nearly eight years, and OmniFocus for the past four. Last week, I wrote about how OmniFocus is the one app I can’t live without, and how it’s easily made my life 20x better. I’ve used others in the past, like Things and TeuxDeux, but OmniFocus has stuck as my go-to app (updated: check out our guide to getting started with OmniFocus 2 for iPhone).

This week, I want to talk using productivity apps in general. You know, the idea of having a pristine workflow appeals to the geek in me, but I’ve learned along the way that humans are messy and systems are fallible. Here are the five lessons I’ve learned along the way on how to actually make productivity apps work.

 

1. The system only works when you work through the system

It can be easier to work the app than to do the actual work. Diligently adding tasks and fussing around with settings can deceptively feel like work, but planning and organising work is still not work. GTD and OmniFocus have definitely improved my productivity, but they don’t excuse me from doing the actual producing.

 

2. It’s smarter to be prepared for dumb moments

There are days when I’m on fire and I’m getting things done left, right and center. Then, there are days when my brain is oatmeal and it’s all I can do to keep awake at work. Those days, I can’t even form a sentence, let alone think of all the things I need to do.

That’s when having my tasks in a productivity app shines. I launch OmniFocus, look through my to-dos, and start completing the tasks that my time and energy allows. Having done my planning ahead of time when my brain was working helps me keep going on the days my brain isn’t working.

 

 

3. You’ll only believe it when you take care of it

There were times when I fell off the GTD wagon and let my OmniFocus database slide. The more I stopped working the system, the less I wanted to work the system, because I couldn’t trust that what was written inside was still relevant to the moment. Whenever I got an icky feeling looking at my app icon, I knew it was because I’d stopped believing that what was inside was truly important.

Productivity apps only work when you keep them alive. That means checking the app daily, doing a weekly review to sweep through all remaining tasks, and updating it as and when you have new tasks coming in. You need to trust your productivity app is keeping you on point, and like any relationship, that can only happen when you keep in touch.

 

4. Don’t trust your brain

I think this happens to everyone: you’re watching TV, or in the shower, or doing something completely irrelevant, when a brilliant idea (or something important you need to do) suddenly pops into your head.

You pause and go, “I need to remember that,” believe that you will, and then five minutes later you’re scratching your head trying to remember what it was that you just thought of.

The brain is really weird. It doesn’t always give you the stuff you need, when you actually need them (like remembering someone name’s half an hour after you needed to). I’ve found that I can’t trust it too much to remember these brilliant flashes, so whenever I have them, I force myself to write them down in OmniFocus so I don’t forget. This helps to make sure that I act on the brilliant idea or get that important task done.

 

5. Writing it down makes it real

This is the number one thing I’ve learned using OmniFocus: writing things down in a trusted productivity system helps to make it really.

We all have dreams. I know I have quite a few. But I tend to be more of a dreamer than a doer, so I’ve suffered from having my head in the clouds rather than making my dreams a reality.

Having a “trusted system” like OmniFocus has helped me make more of my dreams a reality. Creating a new project, like ‘Visit Japan with my wife,’ forces me to get clear about the next action steps I need to take. Okay, so I want to visit Japan … what do I need to find out?

Tasks like, ’Find out how much flights cost’, ‘Research on best times to go’, ‘Ask my wife when she can take leave,’ then come to mind, and writing them down in OmniFocus helps me to clarify what I need to do to move this dream forward. It makes it more real.

What about you? Do you use a productivity app? What lessons have you learned from using it, and what kinds of challenges do you face with it?

Update: Check out our guide to getting started with OmniFocus 2 for iPhone.

Alvin Soon

Alvin Soon / Former Deputy Editor

I like coffee and cameras, but not together.

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