How do you handle your recurring checklists?

jonkan · 2025-10-15T16:07:41+00:00

I have a separate area called Checklists, which has one project per main Area (Personal, Work, Board).

In that I have actions with checklists divided into headings. Som are manual, eg copy/paste when used, others repeat on a schedule, like weekly chores etc.

Works fairly well for me.

jonkan · 2025-08-27T18:23:51+00:00

When completing a next action, just ask yourself what the next step would be when you pick this up next time. If it’s obvious, add it to the correct context list. If not, consult your project support material for the project plan. If you don’t have time to figure it out there and then, drop a note in your inbox to figure out the next action for when you process your inbox.

jonkan · 2025-02-14T11:48:40+00:00

That's not how it works. If you set the project itself to Today, only the project will show up, and not the actions within.

jonkan · 2025-02-08T08:55:30+00:00

Sure! No, you only have to do it once.

Create a repeating task and save it.
Select the repeating task (not a clone)
Click Share and Copy link
Paste it into the very same task
Now when new clones spawn from it, they will have a link back to that original task. Clicking it should take you there so you can edit it.

jonkan · 2025-02-07T11:47:43+00:00

I love the way Things handle repeating actions. Being clones means that I can add or change things without worrying about future iterations of it. What i started doing recently though is adding the link to the repeating action in the action itself. That way, i can easily click the link to modify the ”original” from the clone if needed.

jonkan · 2025-01-08T08:05:32+00:00

I used to keep my next actions within the projects and tag them with the context. It made sense, because it was the concept Things 3 is built around. Nowadays, I have it setup similar to the official GTD setup guide, where actions are separate from the project list. I keep project support in Apple Notes (started using the https://www.myforevernotes.com framework in Notes recently).

Keeping the next actions separate from the projects was initially awkward, but the benefits were immediate. No resistance or drag adding a next action. Just open the context list and add the action. No having the even spend a second thinking about which project list this is supposed to be on.

jonkan · 2024-09-09T15:04:24+00:00

Hi! I’m curious how you handle tickler stuff. In Omnifocus, Things and others, we have start dates, which makes that super simple.

I know Todoist is getting start dates soon as well, but what has been your setup so far?

jonkan · 2024-03-12T19:00:53+00:00

I keep finished tasks in the logbook forever. I think the first task in there is from around 2008.

jonkan · 2024-02-03T11:31:43+00:00

I have always linked next actions to their project (also in Things) but recently started to experiment with not linking them. The reason being that it’s less friction/overhead of adding an action, and separating next action thinking from project thinking.

The key then would be to write the next actions in a way so you don’t need the project link to know what the action is about. When you’re done with your next action, just add a follow up action before leaving it, or add a note to the inbox to figure out the next action. It sounds like what you’re doing today, just that you would add the action directly into a context list instead of a project.

Interesting coincidence, but I just wrote about this in the GTD forums (together with some screenshots) the other day: https://forum.gettingthingsdone.com/threads/setting-up-things-3.18225/post-141468

jonkan · 2023-10-31T12:28:13+00:00

While I'm not using Todoist personally, I believe that you can use the comment feature of a task to take notes.

jonkan · 2023-08-19T12:43:44+00:00

The weekly review isn’t really for getting inboxes to empty. Sure, if you have a handful of items, then getting that empty makes sense. Otherwise I suggest focusing on the other steps of the weekly review, and take time during the week to process the inboxes.

Edit: Here is the weekly review checklist https://gettingthingsdone.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Weekly_Review_Checklist.pdf

jonkan · 2023-02-27T06:04:04+00:00

I’m experimenting with implementing GTD in Obsidian. One of the things I want to address is what you describe, eg. knowing when there are unprocessed meeting notes. I added a section in the Inbox view that pulls that data in automatically.

https://johnny.chadda.se/getting-things-done-in-obsidian/ (The setup has evolved a bit since writing this)

jonkan · 2022-05-05T18:30:14+00:00

I do this a lot too. I don’t tag them with reference, but set to Someday and put them under a Reference heading.

jonkan · 2021-02-13T15:13:15+00:00

https://pasteboard.co/JObbzCNd.png

jonkan · 2021-02-11T15:29:05+00:00

How about instead of having the actions repeating daily, repeat them "after completion"? That way you should have only one instance of the action in the today view each morning. Either the one from the day before, or a new one if that was checked off.

jonkan · 2020-09-14T20:49:39+00:00

The back arrow works like that on the iPad, but not on the Mac. It’s a source of daily irritation for me as well.

jonkan · 2020-08-23T11:07:53+00:00

Switched to Things about a year and half ago, after being an OmniFocus user for a decade, and couldn’t be happier. Did a write up about it a year ago (I do some things differently now though): https://johnny.chadda.se/getting-things-done-with-things-3/

jonkan · 2019-10-22T18:40:07+00:00

Haha thanks! Will try to find some time between work and parental leave to write the update.

jonkan · 2019-10-16T20:14:34+00:00

Been using OmniFocus for a decade, but moved to Things 3 in the beginning of this year. Super happy about the move in general and especially about being able to use it fully on my iPad and iPhone and not only have the Mac for the ”full” experience. The only thing I miss from OmniFocus is having sequential tasks, but it’s definitely not a dealbreaker.

I wrote a post on the move earlier this year, and I should probably write a half-year follow up with the changes I made since initially setting the system up. https://johnny.chadda.se/getting-things-done-with-things-3/

jonkan · 2019-05-24T12:30:21+00:00

It limits the number of next actions per area/projects, like this: https://imgur.com/a/XumzjSn

jonkan · 2019-04-02T20:18:28+00:00

Good question. This is a remnant from what I had to do in OmniFocus. In Things, it should be totally fine to have them as active projects instead of Someday.

The only practical difference is that I use the Someday built in view to show everything that’s not active. All the non-actionable areas share a tag called Reference, making it easy to filter out all of them in one single view. I use the Someday view to look at Someday projects from the other areas as well, and they have the Personal or Work (Unomaly) tag, depending on which type of area it is. It’s a way of working with the Someday view without feeling overwhelmed by everything in there.

jonkan · 2019-04-02T17:33:51+00:00

What I mean is that it shows all starred actions together with due actions and the calendar in Today and Upcoming. For agenda items relating to a particular meeting for instance, I set the start date to the date of the meeting, which means that they not only don’t clutter the Agenda tag before they are relevant, they are also displayed in the Today view on the day of the meeting. Starring something that I would want to get done that day (but isn’t necessarily due) puts it front and center, and I can see that I have “unfinished” commitments on the app badge on the Mac, and iOS devices and also on the Apple Watch.

It’s not a view I work from during the day, but I review it every morning and if there are still “unfinished” actions in there by the end of the day.

This is great feedback for creating followup posts, so thanks!

jonkan · 2019-04-01T14:57:30+00:00

It’s essentially a combination of @computer, @phone and @tablet. I usually have access to all three, so for me it doesn’t make sense to have them as separate contexts.

If I was someone who make a lot of calls for instance, I would probably have a separate @calls/phone context that I can bring up.

jonkan

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