[jka33331]

How are people utilizing this within Omni Focus. I'm sorry if this has been discussed before. I could not locate that information within previous forum posts. I have my system set up on OF and I have everything out of my head. I utilize perspectives as shown in the OF video but I can't seem to understand how to implement the Horizons of Focus into my GTD system. Should I make each 10,000-50,000 ft. level into a separate project? I'm a little confused. Can anyone help me out with this?

[curt.clifton]

I use folders in OF to group my projects by my significant life roles. Other than that, all my longer time horizon stuff is in OmniOutliner outlines, not inside OmniFocus. My monthly and bi-annual review are when I check that my active projects in OF are in sync with my monthly, yearly, and five-year goals.

[jka33331]

Thanks Curt. Very much appreciated

[ext555]

I do basically the same thing, it makes it very easy to focus a role folder and see all the projects and actions associated with that role .

[macformore]

I'm a newb to omnifocus, and it's not immediately clear to me if I can sort my todo items by life roles. ie, I have 3 businesses, things I do around the house (home), things I do as a husband and father, things I do for myself, my community, etc.

Whether it is a project OR a single action, I'd like to view it in one place. Is that possible with OF for Mac and/or OF for Iphone?

Also, for long-term goals and Life goals... does OF fill the need for planning and tracking? Curt.Clifton mentioned OmniOutliner outlines - should I check that out?

[whpalmer4]

You get everything in the same place unless you take steps to carve it up. For most people, there's some value in doing so, because your action lists can get pretty intimidating otherwise, and it's easier to see what you might need to do at business #1 if you don't have all of the tasks that need to be done for businesses #2 and #3 and your kid's science fair project and getting the extra bedroom built and ...

OmniOutliner is a great tool, and you might find plenty of other uses for it. I know that Curt already had his own home-brewed OmniOutliner GTD system when OmniFocus arrived, so OmniOutliner was an obvious choice for keeping track of his longer-term goals. If keeping your longer-term goals in Microsoft Word is comfortable for you, do it! It is easy to drag text from another program into OmniFocus. That you plan your goals and review your efforts probably matters much more than which tool you use to edit your 5 year plan. You could certainly keep your horizons of focus matters in a suitably named folder in OmniFocus and put the projects on hold so they aren't cluttering up your everyday lists.

[wilsonng]

Same here.... I also use OmniOutliner for my upper horizons. I review my OmniOutliner file to check all the upper horizons and I translate them into Projects and Next Actions (runway level) in OmniFocus.

I tend to think of OmniFocus as a part of my GTD toolbox:

* iCal is the place where I park my hard schedule items (appointments, deadlines).

* OmniFocus for my Projects and Next Actions.

* OmniOutliner Pro for my higher Horizons of Focus (Goals, Dreams, etc.) and general lists (movies to watch or rent, ideas of things to do with the kids, ideas of date nights to do with the wife, Christmas gift ideas, birthday gift ideas, etc.)

* DevonThink Office Pro for my reference materials (web site articles, FYI e-mails, daily journal).

It will always be difficult to have one application be an everything-to-everyone program or something that does everything. So I split my GTD needs based on the program.

[macformore]

Thanks for the ideas about the lists, etc.

I'm trying to figure out how to implement my life roles / Horizons of Focus in the syncing of iCal.

With the "Things" app, I can type a task in my To Do list and precede it with a Tag and Colon, like this - "Business 1: Order inventory @calls"

This syncs it with my life role "Business 1" and syncs the context with "calls".

With OmniFocus, what is the smart way to implement roles? Should I have separate Calendars for each role (so that my ToDo's are assigned to the calendars of my life role?)

I'm new, and I don't want to screw up my 30 tasks already in iCal. Better for me to edit them in such a way that they fit into OF.

EDIT:
In OF, do I need to set up a Library Folder for Business #1 Projects and a Single-Action List for Business #1 single item tasks? ie, do I need to store my ToDo's for a Role in two separate places?