For most of my life I have been able to do without anything having to do with "schedules," "project timelines," or "to-do lists." To be quite honest I wish I could say that I have never and will never, but unfortunately as you gain proficiency in your 9-to-5 world, the things you are asked to do on a daily basis become more frequent and more urgent.
Even more so if your 9-to-5 life revolves around daily deadlines that aren't arbitrary but are stamped in black and white as the press rolls out thousands of copies of a daily paper, as does mine.
Eventually, after attempting to tread water in the ever growing ocean of my daily tasks, I found myself looking for a lifeline. Hearing my simple cry for help, a kind soul offered up the name Omnifocus as a possible solution to my woes. Omnifocus is a program designed to, well, help you focus on everything. It's built on the principles of David Allen's "Getting Things Done" productivity ideal where you collect and process everything you need or want to do – whether work or personal – into one location where you regularly check and process each scrap of information and task into "Projects" that must be done and the "Actions" that are required to bring the project to completion. Omnifocus sets itself up to be the location you should choose if you want to leave pen and paper behind and use a bit of technology to help you "Get Things Done."
Even though the price tag of $40 for the iPad version of the application made my wallet quiver, the jump was made and the software was front and center on my device and in my life. Up front I can tell you that I am glad that this is so, as even the minimum amount of use and proficiency I have achieved through using it has greatly reduced my worry about whether or not I will miss something that needs to get done.
Omnifocus has one of the cleanest interfaces of any sort of "productivity" application that you will ever see. If you want to do nothing more than install the software and begin to work straightaway by keeping track of basic jobs that must be done, it's going to surprise you by how perfect it is at doing just that. If you are a person who needs to tinker with things on an OCD level and want to have Omnifocus help you track your projects across a blinding array of possible filters and formulas…it's not only going to let you do that but it's going to dare you to think of more and more ways to collate the information you plug into it…and it's going to do this all without breaking a sweat.
Article comments
1 - GibbonNC
It should be pointed out that the price of the desktop version and iPad version are both on sale right now for $40 and $20 respectfully. Now it the time to purchase if you have an itchy trigger finger as it is not typical for OmniGroup to lower their prices on apps.
2 - Michael Jones
Thank you for adding that. I wasn't aware of the sale. I think that will make my financial hesitation at purchasing the desktop version disappear completely.