WEBVTT

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You may have heard that OmniFocus

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is the best app

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for Getting Things Done on Mac and iOS —

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but just what is GTD?

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GTD is a method for processing

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all of the stuff that you need to do,

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and organizing your actions

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in a way that makes long-term sense.

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GTD isn’t the only way

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to use OmniFocus,

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but it is a really effective one.

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You have a lot of things
vying for your attention.

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In GTD, this is called “Stuff.”

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You need to get your Stuff
into a trusted system

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so you can stop worrying about it,

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and actually get things done.

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First thing is to get all of that stuff

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out of your head and into an Inbox.

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Emails, voicemail,

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existing to-do lists

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you’ve written on little scraps of paper,

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stuff other people have asked you to do…

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anything that’s on your mind.

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You need to collect everything
in one place.

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In fact, when you’re
first getting started,

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set aside about half an hour

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and do a thorough brain dump

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of everything you’ve been worrying about.

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After a few minutes,

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you’ll get on a roll,

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and all of the stuff

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that’s been niggling
at the back of your mind

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will come pouring out.

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Stuff that you can do right now.

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Stuff that’s part of little projects,

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big projects,

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and long terms goals

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that maybe you don’t even know

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how to get started on yet.

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In OmniFocus, you can

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add everything right to the Inbox.

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Just keep hitting that plus button!

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Once you’ve got that all
out of your head,

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the next step is to process the items.

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Is it a small action you can

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do in 2 minutes or less?

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Do it right now! Check it off,

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and stop worrying about it.

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Maybe it’s not actually
your responsibility —

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Delegate it to someone else,

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and make sure they know
it’s their responsibility now.

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Sometimes you might need to follow up,

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or have an action that you need to do

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after you wait for a response.

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If so, you’ll need to add this

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to your deferred items.

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Everything left over

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is an item that
should probably be deferred,

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which means that you’re going to

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make it part of a list of actions

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that you’ll get to later —

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Even if “later” means “this afternoon”.

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But first, to get a better sense

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of where everything stands,

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we’re going to need to organize things.

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Let’s figure out where this Stuff goes.

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Most items that you’re going to defer

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will be going onto a list of actions

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that you’ll get to as soon as you can.

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If an item is part of a larger Project —

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that’s a goal that requires

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several steps to complete —

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create a Project list to put it in.

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Perhaps the item from your inbox

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is actually the name of a project.

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In that case, turn it into a Project,

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and spend 30 seconds or so

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and think about what the first Action is,

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and add that Action to the Project.

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You don’t have to list out
every single step right now,

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but every Project should at least
have one Action

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that is small enough to do

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to move the Project forward.

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Some of the items
might be stand-alone Actions

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that aren’t really part of a project

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that you could actually complete,

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but you could group them

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on a list of similar one-off Actions.

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OmniFocus has Project types,

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for Actions that are
part of a larger goal,

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and Single Action Lists,

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for those “household chore” type

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of related Actions.

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You can put an entire

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Project or list on hold,

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for those someday/maybe lists.

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You might want to
further organize your projects

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by larger categories,

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like Work or Art projects.

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In OmniFocus, you can use folders

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to group related Projects.

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Maybe an item

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is something
that requires further thought,

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or that you’re not ready
to tackle right now.

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In that case, you can Defer it

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until a certain date,

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so that you don’t have to
think about it until then.

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In OmniFocus, you can set a defer date

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for a whole Project

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or just for a certain Action.

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You may also want to assign

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a Context to each Action.

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Now… what is a Context?

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A Context is something you need

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to be able to accomplish the action.

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It could be a physical item you need,
like your phone.

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It could be someplace you need to be,

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like the grocery store,

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or it could be a person

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that you need to collaborate
or confer with,

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like your boss.

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That way,

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if you’re meeting with your boss,

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you can look at your Contexts

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and be reminded that there are Actions

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you can take care of
while you have her handy.

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even if they belong
to several different Projects.

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In OmniFocus,

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Contexts are an integral part of the app,

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and they get their own Perspective,

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so you can view
all of your Actions by Context.

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On iOS, OmniFocus can also

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use your location to alert you

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that you’re near a specific Context,

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like the grocery store.

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You can get a lot out of OmniFocus

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without ever using Contexts,

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but they can be a very helpful tool

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in deciding what to do next.

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Now that we have everything organized —

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Do!

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Take a look at your projects,

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and see what next Action

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you can do right now.

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In OmniFocus, it’s easy!

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Just check off the Status Circle

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for each Action as you do them.

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Feel that sense of accomplishment

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flow through you.

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Doing your Actions,

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and checking them off is awesome.

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You’re Getting Things Done!

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But if you don’t
keep your system up-to-date,

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you won’t trust it,

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and you’ll probably resort to

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writing little notes to yourself

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on scraps of paper,

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like a caveman.

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So, reviewing your Projects and Actions

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is important to keep you on track.

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Once a week or so,

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sit down with your system

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and take a look at how things are going.

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I’m sure you’ve been putting

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ideas and tasks in your Inbox

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as soon as you think of them,

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but you’ve probably gotten a few more

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emails and voicemails

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that you didn’t move
into your inbox just yet —

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Right?

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Do a brain dump
just like when we started,

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and shake out
all of those niggling to-dos —

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though hopefully, this time,

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there won’t be as much loose stuff

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floating around in there.

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Process everything you just

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dumped into your Inbox.

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Do, Delegate or Defer this new Stuff.

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But don’t stop with the new stuff.

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Check each of your current Projects,

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and see whether they need updating.

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Does each one have a next Action

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that you can actually accomplish?

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Does the Project
represent your current goals?

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Is it something
that you need to put on hold —

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or drop altogether —

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because it’s no longer relevant?

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Don’t forget to occasionally review

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items you’ve deferred to a later date,

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Someday/Maybe items,

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and Actions that you’re Waiting For

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other people to get back to you on,

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to see if they need to be updated

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or moved back into your current Projects.

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In OmniFocus for Mac and iPad,

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there’s a built-in Review perspective

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that makes it easy to make sure

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you’re reviewing things
on a regular basis.

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You can even set

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custom review intervals for Projects,

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so you can stay on top of both

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Projects you need to keep a close eye on,

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and those you can check into

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on a less frequent basis.

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That’s it!

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These five steps will keep you

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on the track to productivity,

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and build a system that you can trust,

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so you don’t have to keep worrying about

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whether you’ve forgotten to do something,

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freeing your brain

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to think about the stuff

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you really want to think about!

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Learn more about OmniFocus and GTD, 

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and find more helpful hints,

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and tools to get Stuff
into your OmniFocus Inbox

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at the URL above.