<commit_before>---
layout:     post
title:      Organizing a Day
date:       2016-08-04 12:32:18
summary:    How I track and prioritize tasks in Omnifocus
categories: jekyll pixyll
---

Inspired by the workflows of many other Omnifocus gurus, I developed a daily routine to  track and prioritize how I spend my day.

# Foundation
The workflow is based on life goals---ideally 4-5. For me these include: 
![goals]({{ site.url }}musings/images/life_goals)

Each goal is a **Folder** under which I create projects.
Projects are steps towards the goal. To become a better programmer, I may create a project to study algorithms. A project requires several tasks:

![projects]({{ site.url }}musings/images/projects)

# Throughout the Day
Inevitably all sorts of tasks come up throughout a day. Rather than juggling priorities or todos in my mind, I dump tasks into the **Inobx**: 
![inbox]({{ site.url }}musings/images/inbox)
When I'm not sitting at my computer, having the app on my iPhone is helpful. 

Email is large source of tasks. I try to check email only a handful of times per day. Ideally, I touch each email once: I turn an email into a task, mark it as done, or defer it until it's relevant. I find Google Inbox is a nice interface for accomplishing this.


# Morning Ritual
To decide how to spend a day, I dedicate about a half an hour morning to populate and process the Omnifocus Inbox: 

<ol type="1">
  <li> Turn any communication from Slack, email, or platforms into tasks in my Inbox. 
  </li>
  <li>
   Categorize each into a project 
   <ul>
   <li>
   add a <i>due date</i> if I need to deliver a task by a certain date 
  </li>
   <li>
   <i>defer</i> until a later date (when task is relevant)
   </li>
  </ul>
  </li>
</ol>

Next, I go through each goal, prioritize the projects under each and the determine the tasks I want to take on for the day. I **Flag** those tasks and assign each a one of three **Contexts**: 
<i>priority</i>,<i> next</i>, and<i> dreamy</i>.
<i>Priority</i> is the first task or two I'd like to take on for the day (typically the most important); <i>Dreamy</i> are is for tasks that would be nice to accomplish, but not necessary; and <i>Next</i> for the rest.


As I begin working on a task I move it from <i>next</i> to <i>priority</i>. On some days, I find it helpful to block-off times on my calendar for a particular task or use the [Pomodoro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique) technique---I use an app called [Pomodoro One](http://rinik.net/pomodoro/) for this.

If particularly important tasks comes up, I can always refer to the goals/projects and reshuffle the contexts as necessary. In some cases, I find it helpful to block off particuarl times of the day on a calendar for certain tasks or simply use pomdoro technique to pick-off tasks throughout the day. 
In case you've been wondering, I did create a Omnifocus tasks to write this blog post!<commit_msg>organizing a day post<commit_after>---
layout:     post
title:      Organizing a Day
date:       2016-08-04 12:32:18
summary:    How I track and prioritize tasks in Omnifocus
categories: jekyll pixyll
---

Inspired by the workflows of many other Omnifocus gurus, I developed a daily routine to  track and prioritize how I spend my day.

# Foundation
The workflow is based on life goals---ideally 4-5. For me these include: 
![goals]({{ site.url }}musings/images/life_goals.png)

Each goal is a **Folder** under which I create projects.
Projects are steps towards the goal. To become a better programmer, I may create a project to study algorithms. A project requires several tasks:

![projects]({{ site.url }}musings/images/projects.png)

# Throughout the Day
Inevitably all sorts of tasks come up throughout a day. Rather than juggling priorities or todos in my mind, I dump tasks into the **Inobx**: 
![inbox]({{ site.url }}musings/images/inbox.png)
When I'm not sitting at my computer, having the app on my iPhone is helpful. 

Email is large source of tasks. I try to check email only a handful of times per day. Ideally, I touch each email once: I turn an email into a task, mark it as done, or defer it until it's relevant. I find Google Inbox is a nice interface for accomplishing this.


# Morning Ritual
To decide how to spend a day, I dedicate about a half an hour every morning to populate and process the Omnifocus Inbox: 

<ol type="1">
  <li> Turn any communication from Slack, email, or platforms into tasks in my Inbox. 
  </li>
  <li>
   Categorize each task into a project 
   <ul>
   <li>
   add a <i>due date</i> if I need to deliver a task by a certain date 
  </li>
   <li>
   <i>defer</i> until a later date (when task is relevant)
   </li>
  </ul>
  </li>
</ol>

Next, I go through each goal, prioritize the projects under each: 

<ul>
<li>
<b>Flag</b> tasks I want to take on today
</li>
<li>
Assign each a one of three <b>Contexts</b>: 
<i>priority</i>,<i> next</i>, and<i> dreamy</i>
</li>
</ul>

<i>Priority</i> is the first task or two I'd like to take on for the day (typically the most important); <i>Dreamy</i> are is for tasks that would be nice to accomplish, but not necessary; and <i>Next</i> for the rest.


As I begin working on a task I move it from <i>next</i> to <i>priority</i>. On some days, I find it helpful to block-off times on my calendar for a particular task or use the [Pomodoro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique) technique---I use an app called [Pomodoro One](http://rinik.net/pomodoro/) for this.
The order of tasks, projects, and goals helps me visually prioritize what I should be working on. Et voila!

In case you've been wondering, I did create a Omnifocus task to write this blog post.
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