Why OmniFocus?

I’ve been an OmniFocus user since 2014. I frequently refer to it as my brain as it remembers all the things I have to do.

I use OmniFocus to break my life down into four broad categories:

• Team Hartzler Headquarters (things to do around here, personal growth)
• Automattic
• Your Website Engineer
• Someday / Maybe (includes links to products / software I might want to buy in the future)

I like using OmniFocus for these reasons:

It Just Works

Right out of the box, it’s easy to add your tasks to OmniFocus. You don’t need to know the ins and outs of David Allen’s Getting Things Done book, you can simply create a list of items to work on and check the boxes when they are complete.

Perspectives

One of the features that sets OmniFocus apart from all other todo list app is the Perspective features. It’s my favorite feature and I haven’t seen any other app have anything close to this.

If you’re unfamiliar with Perspectives – think of them as shortcuts to specific projects, lists and particular pieces of information. Think of Perspectives as your personal assistant. You simply ask “what do I need to do today” or “what should I be working on?” and Perspectives will show you exactly that.

I’ll share my custom Perspectives in another post this week.

Seamless Syncing

In today’s multiple device world, it’s best to always have your list with you. You want to have access to your todos, lists and projects anywhere, anytime and you need cloud sync for that.

I routinely find myself using spare pockets of time in my day to check what other things I need to do and evaluate my day.

Forecast View

Another feature of OmniFocus is the Forecast view. This is where your todos and calendar items are shown on one screen, so you know right away how busy you are today and the rest of the week.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Any app that has lots of built in keyboard shortcuts is a good application for me. I try my best not to use the mouse whenever possible and with OmniFocus I can quickly add tasks to my inbox by hitting control-option-space. And inside of OmniFocus I can navigate around my different views with shortcuts as well.

There’s a hefty price tag to get into the OmniFocus ecosphere as both apps (MacOS and iOS) have premium prices, but well worth it in my opinion.