Tim,
As part of my morning review I look at a perspective I call "Urgent Radar". It's in context mode with these settings:
That perspective lets me see what's coming up today. I switch to an Urgent-Work Items perspective for actually doing things at work. That perspective only has my work contexts selected—so it doesn't show "Take out the trash"—and shows available items sorted by due date. I also have a Urgent-Home Items perspective.
If I know I'm not going to be back on my computer in the evening, but need to remember to do something, I'll jot myself a note on a scrap of paper and put the note somewhere I can't miss it—typically sticking out of the top of
my briefcase. I've found this "life-hack" more reliable than the alarms I used to use, maybe because I don't hear very well.
I also try to do an evening review at home, mainly for looking at tomorrow's ticklers and emptying my home inboxes.
For me, the regular reviews are essential for maintaining peace of mind and supporting the collection habit. With regular reviews, I haven't been bothered by the absence of more aggressive reminders in OF.
Here are my morning and evening review checklists in case anyone finds them helpful:
Morning Review:
Code:
- [ ] Process Email
- [ ] Empty In Folder (in my briefcase, moves items between home and work)
- [ ] Empty In Box
- [ ] Review Today's Calendar
- [ ] Empty OmniFocus Inbox
- [ ] Review active projects
- [ ] Any projects to put On Hold or move to someday/maybe? (Be
draconian)
- [ ] Any projects that are stuck?
- [ ] Planning/clarity needed?
- [ ] True next action identified?
- [ ] Attach purpose, "success looks like", etc.
- [ ] Review Next Actions Lists
- [ ] Urgent Radar perspective
- [ ] Important perspective
Evening Review:
Code:
- [ ] Review Tomorrow’s Ticklers
- [ ] Check mirror for notes
- [ ] Empty Moleskine
- [ ] Empty Voice Memos
- [ ] Empty In Folder
- [ ] Empty In Box
- [ ] Process Email
- [ ] Empty OmniFocus Inbox
- [ ] Verify Next Actions for all Projects
- [ ] Review Tomorrow’s Calendar
- [ ] Print Errands tasklists
- [ ] Sync Phone