You see, linking next actions to projects is not required to have a good system. The basic components of the GTD list organization are:

• Inbox
• Next Action List
• Projects List
• Waiting-for List
• Someday Maybe List
• Calendar

They can be simple lists which makes the system easy enough to implement on paper. Thinking about these building blocks, I wanted to try a simpler setup in Todoist. At least, simpler than what I have tried before. I’m an accomplished overcomplicator 😎.

This is what I came up with.

Lists

I have my typical GTD Dashboard list with links to other parts of my system, like Areas of Focus, Goals and Objectives, Dashboard, Purpose and Principles, etc.

I left a Read/Review list mostly for articles I want to read online. It could be a context (using a label) but I just wanted to test it out as separate list.

I have 2 major action-oriented lists: WORK and PERSONAL. I like to have these two major areas separate, as always. And inside each of these areas I have the same set of folders:

• Agendas: this one could be a context, but I put it as a separate list to be more visible and easily accessible.
• Recurring: for all routines, repeating actions.
• Projects List: using one task per project, separated in a Kanban board style for status.
• Next Actions: all actions go here, labeled with a context.
• On Hold: actions that are blocked for the moment.
• Waiting/Follow-Up: delegated actions, things I’m waiting on.
• Someday: all someday/maybe items.

Contexts

I’m using labels to indicate contexts.

Filters

I’m trying to use the minimal number of filters, so I have filters for Work and Personal Next Actions and some Focus this Week filters.

The “Focus – This Week” filters only show actions that are overdue, due today and with priority flag P1.

The “All Next Actions” filters show all next actions, grouped by label using the “View/Sort By” option in Todoist :

My Thoughts

I’ve been using this setup for about a week now. I’m taking full advantage of Todoist’s quick add keyboard shortcut. It’s very pleasant to use and easy to capture and process things. The inbox is great!

Some of the features I thought I was needing the most like file attachments and reminders don’t seem that important now, I don’t think I’ve used them that much.

I love the option to have a Kanban style view for the projects list:

There are a few things that still bothers me:

• I can’t manually rearrange the order in which the tasks show in the next actions list. The only way is to use priority flags and set it to sort by priority. It’s just because in Nirvana I was used to manually reordering my actions, especially in the Focus lists.
• Not linking next actions to projects: It gives a degree of freedom and simplicity, I understand that. Right now, I don’t have too many projects going on at once. But I envision that particularly at work, when things pick up rhythm again, I’m not sure I will NOT like it. I’ve seen it happen before: busy season with lots of projects: I run to Nirvana to help me manage the chaos. So that’s probably a lesson learned. I understand the advantages of not linking actions to projects, but I really prefer them linked. It kinda feels unstructured to me if they are not. It’s all about preference.
• No start dates: all dates in Todoist are due dates. I could use some “due dates” to indicate a future date when I want to look at certain item, but it will create confusion in my brain. Again, I’m used to Nirvana’s “Scheduled” actions feature.
• Because Todoist is so focused on scheduling tasks and due dates everywhere, I feel like it blurs the edges between Calendar and Next Actions. I know I could just ignore this feature, but it’s so tempting to add due dates for everything!

Anyway, I will test it for a couple more days and see how I feel about it.

—

Post 24/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

Today I have a clearer idea of what I want to bring into my life, be it objects or responsibilities. I’m happy and content with what I have. My home has just the right number of things, I plan and rethink my purchases to make sure they are truly needed. I carefully consider new projects and responsibilities, and I’ve learned to say “no” more often. Saying no to new purchases, saying no to people, saying no to social invites. Minimalism has been a great tool for me.

So why I’m talking about minimalism?

I’m thinking about minimalism in my productivity tools/system. I tend to overcomplicate things, and right now I feel like I’m trapped in my own GTD system. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but I could never pinpoint the issue.

These are my thoughts right now:

• I want it to be stupid simple and easy to add any type of item to my Inbox, both on mobile and on desktop. I want zero friction.
• I want to be able to easily capture digital items into my Inbox in its entirety. More apps integrations (I’m mostly thinking about mobile and web browser here).
• I wish my to-do app could handle more information, so that I wouldn’t need to manually add a link to an external drive, for example. I have lots of external stuff I use with my tasks.
• I wish I had more flexibility in creating folders and buckets. I never bothered about that too much in the past, but now I want some degree of freedom.
• I wish I could have more notes options for my projects/tasks, so that I didn’t need a separate file to track these notes (and consequently having to manually add links).
• I want to be reminded of things and I want them to be synchronised both in mobile and desktop.
• I want to be able to send a Rocketbook scan image to my to-do Inbox.
• I want the option to organize Projects in Kanban style.

Considering all those points above, it was clear to me that the app Todoist is a suitable candidate, because:

• It has excellent Inbox features, capture is easy and accessible in any device, including the universal keyboard shortcut in the desktop. I love it!
• Has email to Inbox option.
• Has space for notes in markdown, with the possibility to attach files and images.
• Has excellent reminders and recurring tasks options.
• Has integration with the Rocketbook (which I’m using a lot!)
• It is visually pleasing and easy to use.

Simplifying my Todoist setup

So, I’ve tried Todoist before and it didn’t work out that well. But now I realize why it didn't went well: I was overcomplicating the setup.

I’m going back to basics, thinking about the building blocks of GTD and I’ve changed my mind about one crucial thing: I will stop linking next actions to projects. That alone is a huge simplification! And that was creating most of my issues with Todoist: I never liked the way that projects are nested and shown. Also, having too many filters creates a lot of complexity! But what if I simplify this whole thing? That’s what I’m on this week.

I’m letting go of over-organization in favor of ease of use. Sometimes simplicity comes from how stupid easy it is to use something and still being enjoyable.

—-

Post 22/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

Back in 2019-2020, I had used Todoist and enjoyed it. But then there was a big update that altered some features and screwed up my existing setup. As a result, I explored other tools, eventually discovering NirvanaHQ (which is my current tool of choice).

I’ve tried Todoist before throughout the years, and I could never get it quite right. I know Todoist development is continually active, and I thought I could give it a go again because… well, maybe this time they’ve changed things that could work for me now? 🤷‍♀️ Also because I felt I could spend some time tinkering with the tool, which I usually enjoy.

So, I tried setting it up again. I took a look at the GTD Official Guide, sat down with my pen and paper and started to think:

• Do I want to link projects to next actions? => Yes!
• Ok, so I will use projects as projects and labels as contexts.
• I want to have projects separated between Work and Personal. Ok.
• I will have Someday-Maybe folders separate for Work and Personal. Ok.
• I will use labels as contexts to organize my next actions. Ok.
• I want to make sure that I don’t see actions that are in Someday-Maybe showing up in my next action lists. Ok, so I will use filters to be able to exclude items that are inactive in Someday-Maybe.
• This is something crucial to me, because sometimes I have a project started, with labeled next actions, which then is postponed or put on hold. I want to be able to move the project to Someday-Maybe so that all of it is removed from next actions. I know I could un-label the actions, but I don’t like doing that (then when it’s active again I would have to re-label everything... not my jam).
• I will have a “Routines” project for all recurring actions (daily. monthly checklists and reviews). Ok.

So, I set up the basic folders. I added initial labels (the typical @computer, @home, @errands, @agendas, @calls). Now it was time to set up the filters. That's when I got frustrated. I know I could set it up the way I wanted it, but the process was not as fun as I've initially imagined 😐.

I had to tweak the filters to exclude incompletable tasks and exclude subtasks from showing by themselves without their parent task (because subtasks can have their own labels in Todoist), to separate work and personal, and on and on.

I had initially thought I would incorporate the priority flags with the context’s filters (something like, P1 is priority, P2 is next, P3 is later, etc...) but THAT was me overcomplicating things! I scratched that idea.

And then I thought about a moment in the future when I wanted to add a new context, and create a filter for it, and all the hassle to have it done. Too complicated! I imagined future me wondering why the hell did I complicate things this much?

Long story short…

…the energy and disposition I thought I had to set up Todoist wasn't there anymore. I'd rather spend that time reading a book.

And when I went back to my normal day, using Nirvana as usual, I just felt this peace and calm, seeing everything organized in its place. I recognized I already have a system that JUST WORKS as it is. Is it perfect? Hell, no! But it works for me! 😊

I was also altering a previous Todoist setup I had in my account, so maybe that was the wrong approach. I should have deleted everything and started 100% from scratch. But now I don’t really want to try Todoist anymore. I am happy with what I currently have.

So that's the story of my failed experiment. I could have pushed through and had all the context filter issues sorted out? Yes, I'm sure I could have. It's not Todoist's fault. It's a great app. But just not for me at this moment in my life.

—

Post 07/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

So, when I started Rethinking My To Do list this week, I was feeling disconnected. I was craving for something different. I’m not sure why, but I was bored. And I didn’t want to look at my to-do list. So, avoiding it only intensified my disconnection. I thought I needed a new to-do list.

I wanted to get a better app and test other things. And I did test a few! Only to realize that the tool itself wasn’t the problem. I was just feeding the distraction dragon, searching for novelty.

But I wanted to see it for myself, stubborn that I am.

So, I looked at TickTick. It is an amazing to-do list! It has lots of features, calendar, pomodoro timer, timeline views, routine tracker, cross-platform, etc. It’s highly customizable: I saw I could set it up however I wanted to fit my needs. And then came the realization that I would have to spend several hours tweaking it. Creating lists, and folders and custom filters. And moving everything I have in Nirvana to TickTick. Moreover, I was not able to install the desktop app on my work computer, so that was a clear hint that my employer doesn’t approve of this software. Another detail I didn’t like: I couldn’t find a way to set up a shortcut key to add tasks to the Inbox. The “add task” shortcut will add the task to whatever folder/list is open in the app.

Then I looked back at Todoist. I’ve used it for a couple of years. Very flexible, cross-platform, super easy and fast at collecting and organizing things. But the new interface now has “hashtags” symbols to represent folders/projects instead of the old circles, which I think makes it more visually polluted. And then I remembered the entire process of creating the folder’s structure and the custom filters to use it with GTD the way I like it. I didn’t want to go into that rabbit hole again.

Lastly, I revisited Microsoft To Do. It’s a cute app, fast and simple and integrates well with my work system. But… there is something that always gets me out of it: projects management. I like linking projects to next actions, and things get very messy in MS To Do if I want to do that with hashtags, while using lists as my GTD contexts. I told myself I would use it for 90 days to see how it goes. But I changed my mind. Last time I used it for 60 days and abandoned it to get back to Nirvana. I remembered things that I don’t like about it: the Inbox situation (which is a list called “Tasks”), there is no direct “email to inbox” feature (I must send an email to Outlook, and then flag it: too many steps for capturing), I prefer Nirvana’s way of dealing with recurring tasks and organizing projects.

So basically, everything I wrote in January when I was Testing Microsoft To Do and saying goodbye still holds true. I will let it go this time. For real, let it go!

In the end the effectiveness of my GTD system depends on my commitment to maintaining and working my lists in an app that I’m familiar with. I still can use Nirvana at work (I can even install the desktop app on my work laptop) It synchronises on all my devices, it’s fast and reliable.

The issue wasn’t the tool itself but rather my quest for novelty. I can see clearly now.

I’ve decided to stick with Nirvana, which strikes the right balance between meeting my needs and minimizing frustrations.

—

Post 98/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge!

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

🎈 Things I write about :

Sections:

🎨 #NoisyMusings: a little bit of everything 📂 #Productivity: organization, methods, apps, GTD 📚 #Books: everything book related

Some Topics:

#apps | #Nirvana (the app, not the band) | #Todoist | #GTD | #MSTodo | #notes | #journal | #journaling | #BookReview | #ReadingList | #Reading | #ReaderGoals | #BookWyrm | #TheStorygraph | #weeknotes | #podcast | #GTDnotes | #100DaysToOffload | #projects | #goals | #DnD

#internet | #socialmedia | #attentionresistance #minimalism | #digitalminimalism #outdoors | #Hiking | #winter | #iceskating |#skiing |#music | #heavymetal | #puzzle | #health | #tech | #linux

So, as any good-old productivity nerd, I looked back at some apps.

My initial thoughts were:

• Facile Things: it’s strictly GTD-based, but for me it has a clunky interface and too little flexibility.
• Nozbe: it’s good, but expensive. I like the way it organizes and filters by context, but the interface was not my favorite.
• Todoist: I’m already used to it. One of my all-time favourites for task management. Latest updates changed the project's behavior, but Calendar integration and total flexibility is its highlight.

After a week testing these apps I tried to understand why Nirvana was not cutting it for me anymore. It all has to do with friction. How easy it is to add something to my Inbox? Am I getting a trusted list of my next actions? Are there things falling through the cracks? How can I track them? Is it easy to coordinate my next actions and my calendar events? Do I like to see my lists? Am I avoiding my lists out of fear?

I identified that a critical Nirvana’s limitation to my system was: lack of calendar integration.

I will pause here to mention that the GTD framework does not require you to have your tasks scheduled in your Calendar. That’s something to avoid because it can create stress about “wishing” to get several things done in a given day and then getting frustrated because the plan didn’t work. I’ve been there before. The first time I used Todoist I went crazy with scheduling tasks. But they were not hard deadlines. They were only my wishes. There must be a clear separation between your Calendar and your next actions list. Strictly speaking, what goes into the Calendar are things that must be done that day. Side note over.

I realized that I live inside Google Calendar because of my work. All team meetings/discussions/reviews with co-workers/managers and all deadlines are scheduled on Google Calendar. I always keep it open so that I can be on top of everything.

I need to track multiple deadlines: review estimates, send requests, follow-up on trades. And these are part of various project’s next action lists. Deadlines change, things get moved around, and for me it’s easier to manage all these in one centralized place, with the option to group by Project. Having the ability to see crucial tasks on my Calendar saves me a lot of headaches and help me plan my week and my day.

Todoist came to the rescue!

So, because of my work rhythm and multiple deadlines, I realized that having my task manager linked to my Calendar was important to my workflow. But it must be done in a systematic manner, otherwise I loose control and it’s chaos and overwhelm again!

Apart from the Calendar Integration, I must highlight additional Todoist features that I enjoy:

• The “Quick Add” feature is extremely handy, and the natural language recognition makes processing tasks a breeze.
• The mobile app is smooth and responsive.
• The inline commands and natural language processing that recognizes dates in tasks makes organizing my system a friction less process.
• Emojis and colours 🎈! I missed those. They make my lists attractive, and the last thing I want is to be repulsed by my to-do list.
• HTML links on the task titles/comments. I missed those on Nirvana, it’s visually better.
• Integration with Gmail to send messages as tasks directly into Todoist. I was using an @Action tag in Gmail to mark messages I needed more time to elaborate a reply (if I can do it in 2 minutes I just do it straight away from my inbox). It turns out these labelled emails would pile up and I would forget about them. I don’t lose track when they are neatly organized in a context inside Todoist.

Getting back to Todoist

Question I had to ask myself: How could I simplify my system and make it work on Todoist?

I once had my system on Todoist but I abandoned it because it was too complex. I got lost trying to make my filters work. I didn’t have a clear understanding of what was active or not. I suffered from “list overwhelm”. I went off the GTD wagon. But now, after spending some time with Nirvana, I got a few ideas on how to reconfigure my system on Todoist. These were my thoughts:

1. I was inspired by the neatly organized categories in Nirvana and its “Focus” function. It works as a daily dashboard with those Most-Important-Tasks up front.

2. Some crucial tasks will be scheduled. These will include any actions with a hard deadline. I must do it with careful precision so not to create an overwhelming and unattainable weekly plan.

3. I will use Todoist for routines and deadlines because of the Google Calendar integration. I like to mark them as “completed” once I’m done.

4. I discovered that the previous setup I had on Todoist was not so bad, I had to make some changes to have more streamlined lists and a clear distinction between what was active and what belonged to “Someday-Maybe”.

5. I wanted a simpler way to deal with “next actions”. Previously I was using a “@next-action” label on Todoist to mark them. I decided to delete it and use the built-in priority flags to indicate action status.

My Todoist Setup

Basic setup:

• Projects for Projects, tasks within projects for next actions and labels for next actions contexts. Yes, I am the kind of person who likes to have tasks linked to their projects, so that I have the option to view actions by Project or by Context.
• 2 Main Areas of Focus to group Projects: Personal and Work. I use these main areas to filter between work and personal tasks.
• I have Someday/Maybe as a separate “project folder” so that I can filter it out of my next actions list filter. All inactive projects and tasks go here, and they will never show-up on my actions lists. It’s an easy way to temporarily “deactivate” a project. To make it active again, I just move it back into my “Personal” or “Work” folder.
• All my Routines are grouped using the new “Sections” Todoist feature: Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly tasks. They live inside my main Areas of Focus project folder.
• Tickler: A place to park a reminder for the future. It will show up on my lists and on my Calendar on the day scheduled. I don’t use it too often.
• Agendas: I create a task to store agenda items to be discussed with other people.
• Books: I track all the books I already own that I want to read next using the priority flags (P1 = Reading, P2 = Read next, P3 = Read Later). It’s where I go to at the end of the month to decide what I want to read the following month.
• Yoga: A placeholder for online yoga classes I want to check out.
• Recipes to try: A placeholder for recipes I saw online and want to try.
• To Watch: a collection of movies I want to watch. No rush.
• My GTD System: a resources list with links to my other GTD tools (mostly kept in OneDrive as Word or Excel files).
• GTD Review: I have a separate project to store my GTD Review tasks. These are all repeating scheduled actions, so they will only show up on the day they are due.

Action Status and Contexts

• Next Action Status: I use the Priority flags to indicate the status of the task because they are mutually exclusive. It’s easy to update them if needed (no confusion with adding /deleting labels). This is how I use flags:

  • 🟥 P1 – MIT (Most Important Task) => Do Today! (these will show in my “Focus” view)
  • 🟧 P2 – NEXT / THIS WEEK
    
  • 🟦 P3 – SOON/THIS MONTH
    
  • ⬜ P4 – NO PRIORITY/NOT READY/LATER
    

• Contexts (labels in Todoist): I have the classic ones, plus a few more. They are updated/deleted as needed: @computer, @calls, @deep-work, @quick, @email, @home, @ideas, @errands, @plan-brainstorm, @waiting-for, @writing, @learning, @for-fun, @routines, @deadlines

Filters: this is how I organize my Lists

• Filters: I have the filters on my Favorites list and it’s my daily view when I use Todoist. The rule here is to have only P1, P2 and P3 tasks showing up on my lists. A P4 flag indicates that an action is not ready yet, so this flag “parks” next actions inside a project if needed.

• FOCUS ⭐: all P1 actions, due today, overdue

• DEADLINES 💣: tasks with the label @deadlines. Used to track my work tender closing dates.

• NEXT ACTIONS-WORK: all active tasks, for when I want an overall view of what’s on my plate => Today + overdue + P1+P2+P3 that are inside the Work Project

• NEXT ACTIONS-PERSONAL: all active Personal tasks => today + overdue + P1+P2+P3 that are inside the Personal Project

• ERRANDS: 🚙 all my @errands

• COMPUTER 💻 : all my @computer, my filter query breaks them into “Work” and “Personal”

• CALLS: ☎ all my @calls, my filter query breaks them into “Work” and “Personal”

• EMAILS: ✉ all my @emails actions, my filter query breaks them into “Work” and “Personal”

• FOR FUN & LEARNING: 😎 a recent addition to my lists, it groups my @for-fun and @learning labels. This will include browsing the internet to search for something, online courses, playing video games, hiking, etc.

• HOME 🏠: all my @home tasks

• DEEP WORK 🧠: I use it as an energy level indicator for tasks that will take more than 1 hour and requires my full concentration.

• QUICK AND EASY ⛱: another energy level, to have a list of easy tasks when I have 10 or less minutes before a meeting, for example.

• 🎨 CLARIFY: groups all that is inside my Inbox + @plan-brainstorm + @ideas

• WAITING-FOR ☕: @waiting-for, my filter query breaks them into “Work” and “Personal”

• LATER: all tasks that are P4. I only review these on my Weekly Review to see if there are actions that need to be activated.

• SOMEDAY-WORK: for Weekly Review purposes, showing all someday-maybe tasks.

• SOMEDAY-PERSONAL: same as above.

How do I use Todoist with the Calendar Integration

I set up Todoist to show me my “Focus⭐” list when I first open it up.

This is my favorites section that is always open on my side bar:

I keep the Projects, Labels and Filters Menu hidden.

On Google Calendar my actions that have a due date (always set as an “All Day” event) will show up on the top portion of the calendar. Once I complete the actions on Todoist, they disappear from the Calendar. In the past I’ve had “all day events” on Google for scheduled routines but then I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t mark it as complete. Things like “Pay the Rent”. I like to check if off as done, it gives my brain closure. I need (and love) the satisfaction of crossing things of my lists.

And since there is 2-way sync between Google Calendar and Todoist it’s handy for me to move actions around in Google Calendar while I’m planning my week/day and the changes will be reflected on Todoist.

So, I moved all actionable recurring tasks from Google Calendar to Todoist. That way I can see a complete list of my routines in one place and make updates or adjustments as needed.

Final thoughts about the transition

I started transitioning to Todoist back in July. It was a busy month, I was overwhelmed with multiple projects and feeling anxious. I did not have everything under control. And while “Rome was burning” I needed a tool I was familiar with that offered nimble capturing and processing capabilities. I could quickly transition to Todoist and make it work to handle the fire.

It’s been going smooth so far. I’m satisfied. This setup is running on the background without getting in the way. I solved all the friction issues I was having with capturing, processing and organizing my actions. I don't avoid my task manager out of guilt and anxiety anymore.

This transition triggered changes in other aspects of my GTD system as well. After I got the ground floor (actions) and Horizon 1 (projects) under control, I had some headspace to think about the higher horizons , references and planning routines. I will talk more about those changes in future posts.

Take care!

#GTD #Todoist

Other Posts about my GTD Journey:

• GTD Journey: My thoughts on switching to Nirvana, June 2020
• Rediscovering GTD: the journey, July 2019
• Sticking with one productivity system, Dec 2018

Thoughts? Discuss... if you have a Write.as account or Reply by email

By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I've just spent about a year in the following cycle: trying Nirvana, loving it, using it for a while, then looking at other productivity apps, switching to Trello then Todoist, moving back and forth, then deciding I would stick with Nirvana.

Nirvana is a cloud-based task manager that can be accessed online on any platform and has Windows, iOS and Android apps as well. There is a basic version with some limitations (like the number of projects), a complete Pro version or a Lifetime subscription (you can check their pricing here). Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with the company in any way. It's just an app that I love!

Nirvana is made by a small independent team in Canada. So don't expect constant updates. The team is very deliberate on improvements and that makes the app extremely reliable. It brings together GTD concepts beautifully. The developers attended the GTD Summit in 2019.

Why Nirvana?

The one thing that made me fall in love with Nirvana at first sight was the global filter. It is brilliant and I had never seen it working so seamlessly in other apps.

I can setup different Areas of Focus, like “Personal”, “Work” and “Blog”. The global filter works across the whole system, so I can focus on my Work related Actions and Projects being sure that nothing from the other area is showing as well. I can also see the whole picture grouping all my areas together.

Also, keyboard shortcuts make it even easier to switch between areas of focus. There is a good list of keyboard shortcuts for adding items to the Inbox, adding a next action or a new project, for example.

The second thing was the implementation itself: it is based on GTD. After I saw Nirvana I wanted to have the same experience while using Todoist, for example. I tried to mimic Nirvana's setup on Todoist but it was not the same: trying to find the right combination of filters/tags/projects levels was not giving me the results I wanted (not to mention the time spent trying to get it right).

In Nirvana all Actions can be categorized into “GTD-style” buckets right there, “out of the box”:

It offers a way to easily send emails into the app so that it goes directly to the Inbox.

The projects can be set up as “Parallel” or “Sequential“:

• Parallel: The actions are meant to be completed in any order.
• Sequential: The first action is intended to be completed before the second, and so on.

All items (even projects!) can be assigned to totally customizable labels (as GTD contexts like: @home, @calls, @errands, etc.)

There is even the option to assign levels of energy and time to each action so that we can filter using these parameters.

This Quick Guide shows all the main features of the app.

Nirvana versus Todoist

So right before moving to Nirvana I was using Todoist.

To be honest I enjoyed adding emojis to my projects and tags, getting a little elephant icon whenever I linked a note from Evernote, changing projects colors, the seamless Google Calendar integration, etc. And I knew that was only possible if I used Todoist (or some other similar app). But, during my quest to try to make Todoist behave like Nirvana, I just got frustrated. I tried hard! But it never ended up as simple and elegant as Nirvana.

So after I realized I was spending too much time tinkering with an app trying to make it become something else, I looked back at Nirvana and listed all the things I would miss if I did the switch.

These were the features I used in Todoist that I thought I would miss:

1. The Groceries list => it could be implemented in Evernote or OneNote, so no big deal

2. Integration with Google Calendar => I thought it was crucial, but is it really?? (I discovered it was not!)

3. Emojis => no alternative, just live without it = less distraction

4. HTML links on the task title => I can use the Notes field on Nirvana for links

5. The little Evernote icon when I added a link to an Evernote note in Todost => no big deal

6. Colors => no alternative, just live without it = less distraction

7. My Book List => I used to have a book checklist on Todoist. I already use Goodreads to track my reading, so this list in Todoist was duplicated anyway.

I understood that all those bells and whistles were not an essential part of my GTD system. So I went back to Nirvana and moved everything I had in Todoist to it. This is a screenshot that shows the same projects on both apps after I did the move:

This image compares the Projects view (Work Area of Focus). You can see that my Todoist was all colorful and beautiful, but I had a lot of different filters to try to emulate Nirvana's global filter, and I got maybe too excited about creating contexts and putting them all in my favorites list on Todoist.

What I like about Nirvana is that I can see at a glance the full picture: my active projects, what is inactive, what is in “someday/maybe”, what is incubated (I use the “Later” option in Nirvana to park incubated projects). And it's super easy so go through the Next, Later and Waiting lists for each of my Areas of Focus or for all of them at once! In every view there is the option to filter by the labels (contexts) as well.

Seriously, simply classifying my projects between “Active” and “Inactive” has been a power struggle for me for years! I could never get it right! I realized I needed it to be clear and in front of me: the way Nirvana does.

Nirvana organizes the information better and that works pretty well with my agitated brain. Everything is listed in such an orderly manner: Inbox, Next, Later, Waiting, Scheduled, Someday, Projects, Reference. Projects in blue are active, Inactive projects are grey! Awesome for weekly reviews!

Also, I have a clear understanding now of the hard edges between my Calendar and my to-do list. I confess that with Todoist, given the focus it has on dates, I was “blurring” my calendar with my next actions and it was getting rather messy!

The “Focus” feature is another reason I love Nirvana! Focusing items gives them a star ⭐ and makes them appear in the Focus list. I tried to do that with my “Highlight Today” filter in Todoist, but it was too manual (I was using the priority flags to filter them... it was not as easy and clean as Nirvana). Also in Nirvana items will show up automatically in the focus list if it's been scheduled or assigned a start date or due date. When the date arrives, the item appears in my Focus list.

It's true Nirvana lacks some hot exciting features (like Calendar integration or attachments), but it's all about having the essentials and getting rid of the superfluous.

After using Todoist for a while I missed something simpler with no distractions. Todoist is a good app...but...too many personalization options were making me spend too much time “tinkering” with the system instead of actually executing my next actions.

My Final Setup

So I've finally settled with the trio:

• Google Calendar: for all events, reminders, day-time-specific stuff. (**)
• Nirvana: for all projects and next actions.
• OneDrive + OneNote: for reference and notes.

Nirvana is powerful and simple. Without a doubt an excellent implementation of the GTD framework!

(**) As a side note, although I have a personal Microsoft account my work is all about Google and it was easier to centralize both my Personal and Work Calendar in Google Calendar due to synchronization issues between Outlook and Google.

#GTD #Nirvana #Todoist #Productivity

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

7 months ago I wrote about sticking with one productivity system. At that point I had just started using Trello as my main app, applying Kanban principles and leaving Todoist behind.

But why?

Well, about a year ago my lists were overwhelming, I was trying to create filters in Todoist and apply the Eisenhower Matrix and it was a complete mess!

I started reading about Kanban and thought that that would be a good change for my organization system. Kanban is all about process and visualizing the work. It was created by Toyota as a scheduling system for cars lean manufacturing. Over the years it became a project management tool designed to help visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize efficiency. Trello is a popular app that applies the Kanban board principles and it's extremely user friendly.

I started using Trello and I liked it for a while. But I felt it lacked agility. See, I use GTD as a productivity method (which is list based) and Kanban is based on boards with focus of process flow. Using Kanban made me understand my process but adding next actions and processing them in Trello was too cumbersome. I spent more time organizing and making the system look beautiful than actually doing stuff. Trello is an amazing visual tool!

But after a few months with Trello I decided to go minimal. I understood the Kanban's basic concepts of “backlog”, “doing” and “done” and I wanted a simple straightforward system but that still had some GTD structure.

I remembered testing an app called Nirvana HQ that was strictly based on GTD. So I started using Nirvana HQ again, which is a lovely app! It's perfect for GTD and it's the best digital implementation of GTD I've ever seen. Elegant, simple, to the point. But there is not much customization you can make on the app and it's lots of whites and light greys. Not too exciting. And there is almost none integration to other apps. It's extremely bare bones.

So after using Nirvana HQ in a minimal style I understood once more what GTD is all about. I had one of those Ah-Ha! moments just looking at Nirvana's left menu. This menu is basically:

• Inbox
• Next
• Waiting
• Scheduled
• Someday

And that's GTD in a nutshell. Inbox collects any incoming information, Next is whatever needs to be done as soon as possible, Waiting are for things we are waiting for, Scheduled are things incubated that we will take a look in future date and Someday is for everything not current or not active in our defined time frame.

That's the basics for GTD and on top of that we can create more granular lists with contexts, like: @home, @work, @errands, @calls, etc.

I discovered I don't need too many contexts (@home, @work, @errands, @calls is all I need) and that a simple Next Actions list differentiating between Personal and Work areas of focus are enough for me.

Enter Todoist + Evernote (again)

I've decided to (ironically) go back to using Evernote and Todoist.

I've been an Evernote member since July 31st, 2010! That's a lot of time! And when I decided this year to move to Onenote I exported the most important notes but basically left everything else in Evernote. I told myself I would reorganize, review and gradually move everything to Onenote (which never happened, all the old notes are still there).

The only reason I moved to Onenote was that at my new workplace I couldn't install Evernote for desktop and Evernote's web version was horrible. Now, a year later, Evernote Web has become quite similar to the desktop experience and I discovered last month that I could (finally) install Evernote on my work desktop. I don't know what happened, but I got to the Windows Store and I could install and launch Evernote without any trouble.

So... I'm moving back to Evernote and Todoist!

I think I've been a Todoist user since 2016. It has been evolving since I saw it the first time and I was surprised to find out now that it only got better during all this time. It's sleek, simple and works well on all platforms. I did move my tasks from Nirvana to Todoist quite quickly because it provides a frictionless way of adding anything to its Inbox.

And this the list setup I'm now using on Todoist:

What about Nirvana HQ? (which is still awesome!)

So why I left Nirvana HQ?

I still think some Calendar reminders, specially for milestones, are useful to my workflow. The secret to not be overwhelmed using GTD is not going crazy scheduling all the tasks we see and adding them to a Calendar or adding dates in to-do list app. That will make the system extremely cluttered and you'll discover that you underestimated the amount of tasks you accomplish in a single day. We are not good at estimating how much time a task will take.

So, only things that are taking place in space and time should go to the Calendar. Hard due dates can go to the Calendar or can be added a date in a To-Do. And that's about it! All the remaining tasks are simply: Next Actions. No hard due dates.

So Nirvana HQ made me understand this. Made me believe I don't need to add a date to everything. If you've ever used Todoist or any other To-Do list app you know they are basically built on dates. They encourage you to put a date on every single task.

So Nirvana HQ is great if you just want neatly well organized GTD lists. But if you're like me who likes to have an integrated system with options to go to the Calendar, set reminders, link projects to notes... well, then Nirvana HQ might be a little bit disappointing. Also, I need this whole system to work in sync on at least 2 computers and my phone.

It's all about being comfortable with the tools

Going back and forth using all these tools made me understand a little bit more about myself. It's a process and whatever organization system is being used, some trial and error will always happen.

Some people will live happily without any need to organize ideas and actions in a board or to-do list. I'm not one of them. Lists and writing down ideas is essential to my well being.

One of the positive aspects of GTD is that it can be applied in any tool, it can be paper based and it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You just have to understand the principles.

#productivity #GTD #trello #kanban #Todoist #Nirvana

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.