One of the things I wanted to make easier was how to build a new action in OmniFocus based on an existing action. If I’m in Forecast, for example, and am completing an action, maybe I want to make a new action in that project quickly and easily.
Author Archives: Scotty Jackson
My Guided Weekly Review
I really really benefit from the review of my projects and actions weekly, but I find it so hard to do. With constant ideas about things I could chase, or looking at that next project or back to one I was at already, I find myself wanting to bounce around the review more than follow it, and this doesn’t have the best effects.
The Coronavirus and ADHD are Terrible Roommates
I generally prefer to write shorter form, but I’ve failed at that here. Maybe fix a sandwich or grab something to drink for this one.
Preparing for a 1:1 Meeting
I’ve written before about a Boss Review Shortcut, a way to make it easier for me to prepare for meetings with my boss at work, but I have since expanded this to work with members of my team as well. I also had a great time discussing this with David Sparks and Rosemary Orchard on Automators episode 49.
Automating Emails With Data Jar
I don’t write code, and I don’t know how to script, but I really love the value of automation. This is why iOS Shortcuts is absolutely my jam. And I love that there is such an awesome growing ecosystem around it!
With Toolbox Pro, Launchcuts, Pushcut, and Shortcutify, one can really expand what iOS Shortcuts can do and how they are executed. I’m super cognizant, though, about what functions of this are “for me”, though, as an under-qualified nerd.
When I first heard about Data Jar, I didn’t really get it. It felt sort of like a Programmer’s Thing. Updating a Shortcut of mine that had a dictionary in it, though, it totally came to me, and I had an awesome time talking about it with David Sparks and Rosemary Orchard on Automators episode 49.
Continue readingCreating Better Structure: My Digital Bullet Journaling
Last year, I spent the time reading The Bullet Journal Method, by Ryder Carroll, and also wrote about digital bankruptcy with analog saving me.
While the principles of this are often a saving grace of augmented focus, I love the advantages of a digital system:
- I can search and refer back
- The right metadata surfaces the right things at the right time
- It is easily re-organized based on changing needs
Of course, aspects like metadata, information architectures, and infinite choice make digital systems complex and nuanced. I need something sustainable through simplicity, particularly to make sure I’m ready for change, like how Rosemary Orchard and I talked about on our Nested Folders podcast (and, more recently, on Automators episode 49).
Thinking of this, I embarked on a journey to digitally bullet journal. After a few iterations, I came up with a list of interoperating tools, which I think will prove a very effective stack.
Three Next Actions
On the Breaking Perfectionist Blocks episode of Nested Folders, Rosemary Orchard and I spitballed an idea to quickly generate a random list of three OmniFocus actions meeting a specific criteria (in our case, a tag).
Here is an iOS Shortcut that accomplishes exactly that. Enjoy!
Avoiding Distraction in OmniFocus Inbox Processing
Processing my OmniFocus inbox is critical for me, because I capture like a maniac, but because I am also easily distractible, processing the inbox can become hard for me, not because any single thing there is tough to deal with, but because it can be hard for me to stick with something long enough to get it done before I’m looking at the next thing.
This can quickly lead to overwhelm, which Rosemary Orchard and I discussed on episode 17 of our Nested Folders podcast.
Taming my Drafts Inbox
I am (once again) in love with Drafts, and having all my text start there.
While I love the idea that Rosemary Orchard had about turning on the badge in Drafts to indicate inbox items, badges amp me up too much, and so I needed a less in-the-face method of making sure these draft Drafts don’t get lost.
Safari Reading List in Agenda
If you’re keen on having all the things in Agenda, I made a Shortcut called Agenda Clipper for storing Safari pages there.
It should ask for the project in Agenda to store clips, and then can be used from the Safari share function to create a note with the name of the webpage and, if any, selected content on the page.
Hope this is helpful!