{"id":4966,"date":"2019-08-29T09:20:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T15:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/?p=4966"},"modified":"2019-08-29T09:20:05","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T15:20:05","slug":"myn-for-apple-users-guest-post-by-charles-olsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/myn-for-apple-users-guest-post-by-charles-olsen\/","title":{"rendered":"MYN for Apple Users, Guest Post by Charles Olsen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a guest post from an avid user of MYN, Charles Olsen, who found a creative way to use the software Things on the Mac to implement the MYN tasks system. What follows is his well-written article (with me only adding links and emphasis).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I found the processes of GTD to be helpful in improving my productivity, it wasn\u2019t quite enough for me \u2014 something was missing. I found the missing pieces in the Urgency Zones of 1MTD and MYN<\/a>, as well as the Defer-to-Do and Defer-to-Review <\/a>processes. MYN really helped get my task lists under control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hardest part for me has been finding a software solution.<\/strong> I know it can be done on paper, but if anything happens to that paper, the information is lost. I want a software solution where the data is backed up. I also like a database with dated items that will bring Defer-to-Do and Defer-to-Review tasks to my attention on the appropriate date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t use Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook for Windows \u2014 or Windows, or anything Microsoft, at all. My primary computer is a MacBook, and I do a lot of work on an iPad Pro. I also want to be able to refer to my lists on my iPhone. I tried using the Toodledo MYN system<\/a>, but I ran into some issues with Toodledo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After trying several different apps, I finally found a software solution for people like myself who work entirely with Apple devices. Things 3, from Cultured Code, is an excellent tool for 1MTD, MYN, and 1MPM<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

(Note: I have no affiliation with Cultured Code; I\u2019ve\njust been trying to find the ideal MYN solution for my own use, and I think\nI\u2019ve finally found it in Things 3.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things provides the basic elements you\u2019d expect to find\nin a to-do list manager. Actions that you need to perform can be entered as\ntasks. A task in Things can include quite a bit of information besides the\ntitle of the task. There is a Notes field, where you can enter additional\ninformation about the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A task can also include a checklist or subtasks. Tasks\ncan be organized by adding tags, which are useful if you are using GTD Contexts.\nTags are also helpful for planning projects using 1MPM, which I will discuss\nbelow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A task can have a Start Date and a Due Date (called\nWhen and Deadline). The When date is the key to using MYN in Things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want an alarm to remind you about a task, you\ncan set a reminder when you schedule the task. You can also set tasks to repeat\non a fixed schedule, or based on the last time the task was completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Things has a few built-in lists, starting with a\nGTD-style Inbox. If a task is entered without a Project or Date, it\nautomatically goes into the Inbox to await processing. Enter a future date in\nthe When field for Defer-to-Do or Defer-to-Review, or enter today\u2019s date to\nschedule the task for today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next is the Today list, where you plan your day. This\nis where your MYN processing will take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is one option you need to set in Things to make\nMYN work. In Preferences, under the General tab, there is an option called Group\nto-dos in the Today list by project or area.<\/strong> This option must be unchecked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another option you may want to consider is in\nPreferences under the Calendar Events tab. You can have events from your\ncalendars (including Google and Apple calendars) displayed in your Today list,\nallowing you to see all of your appointments and tasks on one screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can add tasks directly to the Today list, and tasks\nwill automatically appear when the When date arrives (or the Deadline, if there\nis no When date).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The When dates drive the MYN system. By setting a When\ndate in the future, I remove the item from my Today list. Deferred items will\nappear on my Today list on the appropriate day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve added two tasks to my Today list that I never mark\nas complete: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

===CRITICAL NOW=== <\/p>\n\n\n\n

===OPPORTUNITY NOW===<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can review my list on any device (Mac, iPad, or\niPhone), and drag tasks up or down to meet my current plan. Deferred tasks that\nhave been automatically added because the date has arrived will appear above my\nCRITICAL NOW task \u2014 so I can immediately see the newly-added items that I need\nto plan (or defer again). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My CRITICAL NOW list should be empty at the start of\nthe day, while there are usually some tasks on my OPPORTUNITY NOW list. I start\nby reviewing the OPPORTUNITY NOW list, to see if there are any items that need\nto be moved up to CRITICAL NOW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I look at the new tasks that came in at the top of\nthe Today list. When I drag the new tasks down to OPPORTUNITY NOW, I usually\nput them at the top of that list, pushing down the older tasks. This gives me\nFRESH sorting of the tasks on that list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are using Significant Outcomes for larger tasks\nthat don\u2019t list well within the MYN task list, simply add another task above\nyour CRITICAL NOW list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

===SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES===<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putting these items at the top of your Today list will\nensure that they receive proper attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While MYN lives in the Today list, there are some other\nbuilt-in lists that you may find useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next list in Things is Upcoming, which shows a\ndetailed view of appointments and tasks scheduled for the next week, and a\nsummary of appointments and tasks after that. While this can be handy, I seldom\nlook at this view. Using When dates with Defer-to-Do and Defer-to-Review\nensures that I will see every task when I need to, and looking ahead would\nprobably be more distracting than helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides setting specific dates, you can also schedule\ntasks for Anytime<\/strong> or Someday.<\/strong> The next two\nlists in Things will show you those tasks. I don\u2019t find these lists helpful for\nMYN, but they\u2019re there if you want them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next list is Logbook, which shows all of your\ncompleted tasks. And finally, Trash holds the items that you\u2019ve deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also create your own lists for grouping to-dos,\nsuch as creating Projects to group tasks for particular goals. You can also\ncreate Areas, which can contain projects as well as tasks. For example, you\nmight have Areas for Career, Family, Health, etc., and add projects under those\nareas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you realize that a task should actually be a\nproject, there is a command that will convert a task to a project. If that task\nhad subtasks, those are converted to tasks in the new project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Areas and Projects are completely optional in Things. You\ncan implement a full MYN system using either, both, or neither of these\ncapabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Converting Emails to Tasks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chances are, a lot of tasks come to you in emails.\nThings makes it easy to convert those emails into tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step is to enable Things Cloud. This is also\nnecessary if you want Things to sync between multiple devices. (And it provides\na backup of your Things database.) There is no additional charge for Things\nCloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the options for Things Cloud, you can manage Mail to\nThings. An email address is assigned to you, and any emails sent to that\naddress will be added as tasks to your Things Inbox. Add this address to your\nContacts, and you can forward any emails you need to convert into tasks. The\nemail subject will be used as the task name, and the body of the email will be\nadded as the note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also like to use this as a reminder to follow up on\nemail requests. When I send an email asking for something, I bcc my Things\naddress. Then when I process the task, I add \u201cFU:\u201d to the start of task to\nremind me to follow up, and set a When date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also receive email notifications for certain bills,\nand I\u2019ve set my email to automatically forward those messages to Things and\narchive the emails. The bill payments become tasks in my Things Inbox, to be processed\nlike any other tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some third-party email apps will allow you to add\nemails into Things, without forwarding the email. I use Spark mail on my Mac\nand iOS devices, and it can save emails directly into Things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One-Minute Project Manager<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You will want to create projects if you use Michael’s 1MPM\u00a0(One Minute Project Manager)<\/a>, which works quite well in Things. A project can include Headings to divide the project into categories or milestones \u2014 for example, Critical This Week, Opportunity This Week, and Brainstormed Tasks or Over The Horizon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you start a new project, you can create the\nheadings and then dump tasks under the Brainstormed Tasks heading. During the\nweekly planning, drag the tasks up to the appropriate urgency zone, and into\nthe sequence that you will be working the tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A project can also have notes, where you can enter a\nbrief description of the project. This can include key dates, last review date,\netc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen\u201d dates can be used on the tasks if you want to\nautomatically bring them to your Today list, and you can also set a Deadline. A\ntask can have tags, which is a good way to track who each task is assigned to.\nWhen you view a project, at the top it shows a list of all tags used in the\nproject. You can click a tag with the person\u2019s name to see all unfinished tasks\nwith that tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Things is only available for Apple devices \u2014 Mac,\niPhone, and iPad. There is no web version. If you work with Windows or Android\ncomputers, you will not be able to use Things on those devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many apps now use a subscription model, Things 3\nis a one-time purchase for each type of device: $49.99 for Mac, $19.99 for\niPad, and $9.99 for iPhone and Watch. Things for Mac has a 15-day free trial,\nso you can try it out before paying. You can buy Things from the App Store, or\ndownload the Mac trial version from their website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find out more about Things on their web site: https:\/\/culturedcode.com\/things\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post from an avid user of MYN, Charles Olsen, who found a creative way to use the software Things on the Mac to implement the MYN tasks system. What follows is his well-written article (with me … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56],"class_list":["post-4966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mac"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4969,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions\/4969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}