Revolutionizing Task Management: The Ultimate Notion Setup Merged by OmniFocus 4
Why do I replicate OmniFocus 4?
As a dedicated professional, I’ve always relied on 8 Notion databases to help you focus on your tasks this week and pave the way for your career to manage my daily tasks. However, towards the end of the year, the surge in workload led me to use it less frequently. Interestingly, this shift reminded me of the exceptional strength of OmniFocus, particularly its ‘Forecast’ perspective. This feature adeptly highlights the tasks that genuinely require attention each day and focuses on the current tasks of standard operating procedures, displaying only the task that needs immediate action.
During our work routines, we often fall into the trap of indiscriminately setting deadlines. In reality, I’d argue that 95% of tasks (a nonsense estimate by my mind) don’t have a concrete deadline. OmniFocus elegantly resolves this issue with its ‘Today’ tag, streamlining our focus effectively. Inspired by these insights, I had a sudden burst of creativity last night and decided to recreate a Notion version of OmniFocus 4. Surprisingly, I managed to replicate most of its functionalities within Notion with ease, except for the map feature, which couldn’t be translated into the Notion environment. But I do not think this feature matters because the boundaries between life and work are gradually disappearing.
From my understanding, the advanced capabilities of OmniFocus are not universally applicable, making this powerful GTD (Getting Things Done) tool popular only within a niche community. Similarly, since my recreation closely mirrors OmniFocus’s functionalities and perspectives, I wouldn’t recommend dumping all your work into it. Instead, use it for standardized projects to enhance productivity. Personally, I believe in a ‘use the best, forget the rest’ approach, focusing on leveraging the most potent features of OmniFocus for efficient task management.
How do I replicate OmniFocus 4?
Now, let’s dive in how I copied the essence of OmniFocus to Notion.
First, create a Notion database with sub-items and dependencies. The former is to distinguish SOP and tasks while the latter is to assign orders to different tasks.
Second, add necessary properties as OmniFocus 4, such as Checkbox, Tags, Delay Date, Due Date, and Last edited time. Besides these, actually you could also add a property of created time in order to create the Perspective of Edited. And you can also add another one called Flagged, but I do not think this property is very significant.
Third, create two properties to find the execution status of all the sub-tasks of different projects and of all the blocking tasks of blocked tasks. Without them, replicating OmniFocus 4 is not possible. One is to help you focus on the task requiring immediate action, and the other is to remind you to check the SOP, as there’s no way to do this in Notion.
Fourth, create templates of different SOPs with a button that could create standardized tasks, assign orders, and create a database view with all the sub-tasks with respect to the current SOP. Unfortunately, you need to set the filter, but it requires just one click. Also, I have built some buttons on the home page to quickly add a SOP.
Last, it’s time to mimic all the perspectives except for the Nearby one. Here is how to filter out the most complicated perspective, Forecast.
With this filter, you can have three different Forecasts to see whichever fits into your daily schedule the most.
- Table view that is grouped by SOP.
- List view that is grouped by Last edited time.
- Calendar view that is shown per week.
Here are 12 perspectives replicated from OmniFocus 4, along with an additional unique Timeline perspective exclusive to Notion.
Ultimately, there is a Home page designed to manage your daily tasks. It features the most important views that I believe are truly useful for daily operations. The key is to keep it simple and original, much like OmniFocus. However, feel free to explore and customize it to suit your preferences.
How do you duplicate this Notion version of OmniFocus 4?
- Create one by yourself following my steps. It’s very easy!
- Buy it from here: https://delmar.gumroad.com/l/ltzha.
- Comment on this article about your needs in Notion to help me create some useful databases. Once your idea inspires me, I will send you the template link. Thanks in advance!
My referral links
Recently, I successfully registered the latest Affiliates Plan of Notion. If this post helped you and you happened to like Notion, maybe you can try my referral links. Super appreciate it!
- Notion Account Registration: https://affiliate.notion.so/jqt77x3qxmea
- Notion AI Subscription: https://affiliate.notion.so/1en8gzzz5o0v-4y5a7
- Here is another Notion template originally created by myself that might draw your attention: 8 Notion databases to help you focus on your tasks this week and pave the way for your career
- You can also find this article on my Notion: https://www.notion.so/delmarshandbook/Revolutionizing-Task-Management-The-Ultimate-Notion-Setup-Merged-by-OmniFocus-4-21966e92de6d457c9a5f171eed2afdfa?pvs=4
