{"id":5175,"date":"2020-07-03T13:18:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T19:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/?p=5175"},"modified":"2020-07-03T17:15:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T23:15:26","slug":"guest-post-using-things-3-apps-for-1mtd-and-myn-by-charles-olsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/guest-post-using-things-3-apps-for-1mtd-and-myn-by-charles-olsen\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Using &#8220;Things 3&#8221; Apps for 1MTD and MYN, by Charles Olsen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <strong><em>Things 3 <\/em><\/strong>app set is a set of to-do list management apps that run on the Mac and iOS devices. Reader Charles Olsen has spent a lot of time and effort developing ways to use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/1MTDvsMYN.html\">1MTD and MYN<\/a> within those Things 3 apps. He published a guest post on this topic some time back, and now has a new guest post that improves his approach, and I&#8217;ve published it below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a read and I think you will see that not only is Charles an excellent writer, but what he&#8217;s come up with as a way to implement 1MTD and MYN is very nicely done! In my mind, this might now be the easiest way to implement MYN if you own a Mac. If you like this, give Charles a big &#8220;thank you&#8221; shout out in the comments section below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things 3 for 1MTD and MYN by Charles Olsen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, I wrote a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/myn-for-apple-users-guest-post-by-charles-olsen\/\">guest post<\/a> for this blog about using the Things 3 app for\nMYN. In the time since I wrote that article, I have continued to refine my\napproach to MYN in Things. This article will present a more elegant way to use\nThings 3 for 1MTD and MYN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Note: As before, I have no affiliation with Cultured Code,\nthe company that publishes Things 3.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m going to start by describing how to set up 1MTD in Things.\nThe One Minute To-Do List is a powerful tool, and may be all that you need to\nget your task lists under control. Then if you do need a more powerful system,\nit\u2019s easy to layer MYN into your Things setup for 1MTD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve already set up Areas and Projects in Things and\nentered your tasks, it will be easy to move them over into 1MTD or MYN. I\u2019ll\ntalk about that later in the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This system can be set up and used on a Mac, iPad, or iPhone.\nI prefer to do the initial setup and daily reviews on a Mac, where I have a\nlarge screen and a full-size keyboard. But the iPad and iPhone versions of\nThings are fully functional, so you can use either of those if you prefer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Initial Setting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two options that must be set in <strong>Preferences<\/strong>\nto use Things for 1MTD or MYN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Under the <strong>General<\/strong> tab, there is an\noption called <strong>Group to-dos in the Today list by project or area.<\/strong>\nThis option must be <strong>checked.<\/strong> <\/li><li>Under the <strong>Quick Entry<\/strong> tab, <strong>Quick\nEntry saves to<\/strong> should be set to <strong>Today.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Basic Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While you can create tasks in Things without putting them into\nlists, Things does allow you to create your own lists for organizing tasks. You\ncan create two types of lists, called Areas and Projects. Both types of lists\ncan contain tasks. The difference is that Areas can also contain Projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For 1MTD, we will use Projects for the urgency zones. Areas\nare not useful for an MYN setup, so we won\u2019t be creating any Areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the very top of your project list, create a project named <strong>CRITICAL\nNOW<\/strong>. Under that, create a project called <strong>OPPORTUNITY NOW.<\/strong>\nThen create a new project below that, called <strong>OVER THE HORIZON.<\/strong>\nThe order of projects in this list is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"231\" height=\"260\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/001-Things-Sidebar-with-Project-List.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5176\"\/><figcaption> <br>Things sidebar with Project list <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And That\u2019s It!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You now have a One-Minute To-Do List in your <strong>Today<\/strong>\nlist in Things. The lists will appear in your Today view in the same order that\nyou entered them in your project list \u2014 that\u2019s why it was important to put them\nin that order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any tasks that <strong>must<\/strong> be done today should be\nentered in the CRITICAL NOW project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tasks which are available to work on today, but not absolutely\ndue today, should be entered in the OPPORTUNITY NOW project. And tasks that you\ndon\u2019t need to work on during the next 10 days should be entered in the OVER THE\nHORIZON project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With these lists set up, you can follow standard 1MTD review\ncycles. The CRITICAL NOW list should be reviewed several times a day \u2014 every\nhour is a good practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OPPORTUNITY NOW should be reviewed every day, preferably at\nthe start of your work day. If any tasks have become due today, drag them up\ninto the CRITICAL NOW list. Other tasks can be dragged up or down to indicate\ntheir current priority. If any tasks have dropped in priority \u2014 but you\u2019re not\nready to delete them \u2014 drag them down to the OVER THE HORIZON list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And finally, the OVER THE HORIZON list should be reviewed once\na week. Tasks that have become relevant can be dragged up to the appropriate\nurgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can add a reminder to any task, if you\u2019d like for Things\nto remind you at a particular time. You can also set a deadline on a task. The\ndeadline will be displayed as a countdown \u2014 for example, <strong>3 days left.<\/strong>\nOn the day of the deadline, it will say <strong>today<\/strong> in red. If the\ntask is still incomplete after the deadline, it will display the number of days\npast due in red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If all tasks for Today in an urgency zone are completed, that\nzone will disappear from the Today view. The project names still appear in the\nsidebar on the left, and you can drag tasks there to assign them to a\nparticular urgency zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also double-click a task to open it, and use the <strong>Move<\/strong>\ncommand to move it to another urgency. Or single-click a task to select it, and\npress Cmd-Shift-M to move it to the desired urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"786\" height=\"702\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/002-1MTD-Task-List.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/002-1MTD-Task-List.png 786w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/002-1MTD-Task-List-300x268.png 300w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/002-1MTD-Task-List-768x686.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 786px) 100vw, 786px\" \/><figcaption> <br>1MTD Task list <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Expanding 1MTD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The 1MTD system is recommended for up to about 100 tasks.\nCRITICAL NOW should have no more than 5 tasks, OPPORTUNITY NOW can have about\n20 tasks, and OVER THE HORIZON should be limited to about 75 tasks. When you\nhave more tasks than that, especially in the OVER THE HORIZON section, it can\nbe difficult to keep up with the recommended review cycles. And without regular\nreviews, you won\u2019t know if you are actually keeping up with your obligations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you routinely have more tasks than that, you may need to\nmove up to the MYN approach. But if you\u2019re only exceeding these numbers a\nlittle, or only occasionally, you may be able handle it by adding another\nreview zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OVER THE HORIZON should be reviewed every week. If that list\nhas grown beyond 75 items, then chances are good that you don\u2019t really need to\nreview every one of those items every week. Many of those tasks might be\nSomeday\/Maybe items that can be reviewed less frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can expand your 1MTD setup by creating another project\n(urgency zone) called <strong>OVER THE HORIZON (review Monthly)<\/strong>. I\ndon\u2019t like the way that looks on the display \u2014 the long project name takes up a\nlot of space \u2014 so instead I call it <strong>OTH (Monthly).<\/strong> Then I\nrenamed the original OVER THE HORIZON list to <strong>OTH (Weekly)<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"242\" height=\"283\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/003-Expanding-1MTD.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5178\"\/><figcaption> <br>Expanding 1MTD <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you use this approach, it\u2019s a good idea to add a task at\nthe top of the list indicating the next review date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With another bucket for storing these long-term items, your\nweekly reviews won\u2019t be as long and painful. You could even expand this another\nstep if you wanted, adding a project called <strong>OTH (Quarterly)<\/strong>.\nIf that works for you, then that\u2019s great. Personally, I feel like if you\u2019ve\ngotten to that point, it\u2019s really time to move on to MYN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step Up To MYN<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your 1MTD setup is overwhelmed by your task list, it\u2019s time\nto move up to MYN. In Things, it\u2019s an easy conversion from 1MTD as it uses the\nsame urgency zones and adds the concept of a deferred start date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Things, when you add a task to the Today list, it\nautomatically sets the Start Date (which Things calls <strong>When<\/strong>) to\nToday. Or you can set the When date to Today when you create the task, and that\nwill put it on the Today screen. When you set up 1MTD in Things, <strong>you<\/strong>\nweren\u2019t using the When date \u2014 but Things actually was using it, and every task\nhad a When date of Today. You didn\u2019t need to think about this, because Things\nwas handling it automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With MYN, you can set the When date in the future to postpone\na large number of low-priority tasks, which keeps them off of your daily and\nweekly review lists. In this way, MYN allows you to track and handle an\nunlimited number of tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In MYN, every task is assigned a start date, indicating the\ndate that you want to first see or work on the task. If a task has a When date\nin the future, it does not appear on the Today list. By using When dates and\nworking from your Today list, tasks that you don\u2019t need to see now are hidden\nfrom your list. You\u2019re not overwhelmed with a long list of tasks that don\u2019t\nneed your attention right away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Urgency Zones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Much of what you learned in 1MTD applies to MYN. The CRITICAL\nNOW urgency zone is for tasks that <strong>must<\/strong> be completed today. If\nit is not done by the end of your work day, you will stay late and work on the\ntask until it is completed. There should be no more than five tasks visible in\nthis list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The OPPORTUNITY NOW list shows tasks that are available for\nyou to work on today, but they are not absolutely due. Some of them may be due\ntomorrow, or any time in the next 10 days. But they are not due today. You\ndon\u2019t need to stay late to work on these. There should be 20 or fewer items\nvisible on this list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The OVER THE HORIZON list works a little differently in MYN.\nThis list has items that you don\u2019t need to think about for at least the next 10\ndays \u2014 and some of them may not be relevant for months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In MYN, you will use the When date to get the items off your\nlist until you need to think about them. You may have dozens of tasks (or more)\nin CRITICAL NOW or OPPORTUNITY NOW, but the Today list will only show those\nthat you need to see today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Defer to Do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a couple of ways to decide what When date to put on\na task. The When date could be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The date you want to start working on the task, or<\/li><li>The date you want to start thinking about the task<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you know that a task can easily be completed on the day it\nappears on your Today list, then you can set the When date to the due date of\nthe task. If it\u2019s a larger task, or your day can be hectic and you can\u2019t be\nsure of completing it in one day, then you will probably want to set the When\ndate to a day or two before the date that the task needs to be completed. Once\nthe When date is set, the task will disappear from your Today list until that\nday arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you intend to start working on the task when it appears in\nToday, put the task in OPPORTUNITY NOW or CRITICAL NOW. If the task will\nabsolutely be due on the day it pops into the list, assign it to CRITICAL NOW.\nIf it will not be absolutely due on that day, assign it to OPPORTUNITY NOW. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This approach is called \u201cDefer to Do\u201d \u2014 you intend to <strong>do<\/strong>\nthe task when it appears on the list. Even if this When date is months in the\nfuture, if you intend to do the task when it shows up, put it in CRITICAL NOW\nor OPPORTUNITY NOW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, I have a couple of maintenance tasks around the\nhouse that I need to do roughly every 3 months. That\u2019s well outside the 10-day\nview of OPPORTUNITY NOW, but when the task comes up I do need to complete it\nwithin a week or so. I put this task in OPPORTUNITY NOW, and set the When date\nto the next time I want to do the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Defer to Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You may have quite a few \u201cSomeday\/Maybe\u201d tasks. These are\ntasks that you may want to tackle at some point in the future, and you want to\nmake sure you don\u2019t forget about them. For example, you may be in the middle of\na big project that you will be working on for the next two months. When that is\nfinished, you expect to have time to think about these new tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But things change \u2014 life happens. You know full well that by\nthe time you can think about these other tasks, something else with a higher\npriority may have come up. Or you may no longer be interested in accomplishing\nthese tasks. When you assign a future date to these tasks it\u2019s not with the\nintention to <strong>do<\/strong> the tasks, but merely to reconsider them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These tasks are called \u201cDefer to Review.\u201d When the start date\narrives, you intend to <strong>review<\/strong> the tasks. You may decide to do\nthem, or you may decide to put them off again to a future date. Or you may\nrealize that they are no longer relevant, and can be deleted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a task is Defer to Review, move it to the OVER THE\nHORIZON list. Set the When date for as far in the future as appropriate for the\ntask. For many items, a monthly or quarterly review may be the best approach.\nYou can set the start date a month or two in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Set the When date to a Monday when you want to review the task\nagain. This is a great way to reduce distraction, as it will hide your low\npriority list until Monday, when a few items will appear for review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Monday morning when you plan your week, you\u2019ll have a short\nlist of Over the Horizon items to review. For each task, you have three possible\nchoices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Set the When date to a future date. This is probably\nthe most commonly used choice. Be sure to choose a Monday as far in the future\nas appropriate.<\/li><li>Move the task up to OPPORTUNITY NOW or even CRITICAL\nNOW, if it has become more important and you intend to work on it this week.<\/li><li>Delete the task. If you\u2019ve seen this item come up\nseveral times, and you keep putting it off into the future, then you\u2019re\nprobably not going to do this. Remove the item, so you don\u2019t have to keep\nrescheduling it.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Each time I defer an Over the Horizon task to the future, I\nadd a brief note in the task notes field. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6\/8\/2020 Too busy to work on now; defer 2 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This way, I have a record of each time I deferred the task,\nand why. When I see in the notes that a particular task has been deferred\nseveral times, it\u2019s pretty obvious that it isn\u2019t going to happen. That task can\nbe removed from the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Things, there are three ways to remove the task. The\nsimplest way is to click the checkbox, marking the task as complete. It will\ndisappear from the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also right-click the task to pop up a menu. Highlight <strong>Complete,<\/strong>\nand new choices will appear: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Mark as Completed<\/li><li>Mark as Canceled<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"481\" height=\"318\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/004-Canceling-a-Task.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/004-Canceling-a-Task.png 481w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/004-Canceling-a-Task-300x198.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" \/><figcaption> <br>Canceling a Task <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Either choice will remove the task from the Today list and\nmove it to the Logbook, where Things keeps a list of your completed tasks.\nTasks that you marked as Complete will have a checkmark to the left, while\ntasks that you marked as Canceled will have an X. If you do refer to the\nLogbook to review completed tasks, this would document the tasks properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, you can delete the task by pressing the Delete key or\nright-clicking the task and choosing <strong>Delete To-Do.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">FRESH Prioritization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While many task managers put the oldest tasks at the top of\nthe list, and maybe even highlight them in red, MYN acknowledges the reality\nthat if you\u2019ve let a task sit undone for days, it\u2019s probably not that\nimportant. MYN puts the newest tasks at the top of each list, using a sorting\nmethod called FRESH: Fresh Requests Earn Sorting Higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things automatically does FRESH sorting for you. When new\ntasks are added because the When date has arrived, the newest tasks are at the\ntop of each urgency list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can then drag tasks up or down within that urgency list or\nto a different list, as you make plans for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Optional Urgency Zones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You now have everything you need to manage your task list in\nThings using MYN. Keep the base rules in mind for the urgency zones: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Critical Now: up to 5 visible tasks, review every hour.\n<\/li><li>Opportunity Now: up to 20 visible tasks, review at the\nbeginning of every day<\/li><li>Over the Horizon: empty except for Monday, when a few\ndeferred tasks will pop up. Move any tasks that you intend to work on this week\nup into the appropriate list. Reschedule tasks that you\u2019re not ready to work on\nyet, and delete any tasks that you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re not going to do.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While this gives you a powerful system for managing your task\nlists, there are some optional urgency zones you can use to make it even more\nflexible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Significant Outcomes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You may have some larger tasks, that will take several hours\nor even an entire day to accomplish. These may be tasks that you will work on\nduring the week between meetings or other tasks. You want these tasks to be\ndisplayed prominently as a reminder to keep moving them forward, but they don\u2019t\nreally fit in the urgency zones we already have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In MYN, this level of task is called a Significant Outcome\n(SOC). In Things, I handle this by creating an additional urgency zone\n(project) called SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES. This should be above your CRITICAL NOW\nproject. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have no Significant Outcomes at the moment, the list\nwill not show on your Today view. When you add one or more SOCs, they will\nappear at the top of your Today list. This will keep them on your mind as you\nwork through your tasks for the day and week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"621\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/005-Significant-Outcomes.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/005-Significant-Outcomes.png 621w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/005-Significant-Outcomes-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\" \/><figcaption> <br>Significant Outcomes <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Target Now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are probably times when you have some tasks that you\nreally want to get done today. But they are not absolutely due today, so they\ndon\u2019t belong in CRITICAL NOW. In MYN, these tasks are considered to be <strong>Target\nNow.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a couple of ways to handle this in Things. The\nsimplest approach is to drag them to the top of your OPPORTUNITY NOW list. When\nyou do your morning planning, you should be dragging tasks into the approximate\norder that you intend to work on them. Your first tasks (after CRITICAL NOW)\nwill be at the top of the OPPORTUNITY NOW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I prefer to specifically indicate those tasks that I really\nwant to focus on for today, so I\u2019ve added another urgency zone (project) called\nTARGET NOW. This project sits between CRITICAL NOW and OPPORTUNITY NOW. If I\nhave no tasks on that list for today, the list will not appear in my Today\nview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is also handy for Defer to Do tasks that I want to target\non the day they appear \u2014 I set the When date, and I set the project to TARGET\nNOW. It will automatically pop up on that list when the day arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"237\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/006-Sidebar-with-All-U-Zones.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5181\"\/><figcaption> <br>Sidebar with additional Urgency Zones <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MYN Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Setting up MYN in Things is quite simple \u2014 set up three\nprojects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>CRITICAL NOW<\/li><li>OPPORTUNITY NOW<\/li><li>OVER THE HORIZON<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Then you can use the standard MYN principles, using these\nthree projects as your urgency zones. Set the When date to defer tasks, set a\nDeadline as needed, and you can manage your workday in the Today view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to use the optional urgency zones, set up these\nprojects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES<\/li><li>CRITICAL NOW<\/li><li>TARGET NOW<\/li><li>OPPORTUNITY NOW<\/li><li>OVER THE HORIZON<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Any lists that have any tasks for today (including incomplete\ntasks from previous days) will appear in your Today view. Tasks with a future\nWhen date are hidden. Every day, Things will show you only the tasks you need\nto see today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need to see all of the tasks in a specific urgency\nzone, you can click the name in the project list on the left. Tasks that are on\nthe Today list will be at the top of the list, while tasks that are deferred to\nthe future will appear below them, in order by When date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All tasks should have a When date, but if you accidentally\nentered any tasks without the date, they will also appear on this list. Undated\ntasks will appear below the Today tasks, and above the future dated tasks. This\ngives you a quick way to check and make sure that you have assigned a date to\nevery task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes About Things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s everything you need to know to start using 1MTD or MYN\nwith the Things 3 app. If you\u2019re thinking about switching from another app to\nThings 3, there are some other questions you should be asking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Getting Tasks into Things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>First, how easy is it to get tasks into your Things lists?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The answer: very easy. There are several ways to add tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using Things on a Mac, click the file menu and choose New\nTo-Do, or just press Cmd-N to create a new task. The task window will open, and\nyou can enter the task name, any notes about the task, the When date, Deadline,\nTags, and set the project (urgency zone). If this is a recurring task, you can\nset it to repeat on a fixed schedule, or based on the last time it was\ncompleted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"486\" height=\"142\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/007-New-Task-Window.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/007-New-Task-Window.png 486w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/007-New-Task-Window-300x88.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" \/><figcaption> <br>New Task window <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Using Things on the iPad or iPhone, you\u2019ll see a blue button\nwith a plus sign at the bottom right. You can tap the button to create a task,\nor drag the button into a project to create a task directly in that urgency\nzone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"715\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/008-Things-on-iPad-715x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/008-Things-on-iPad-715x1024.png 715w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/008-Things-on-iPad-210x300.png 210w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/008-Things-on-iPad-768x1100.png 768w, https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/008-Things-on-iPad.png 1668w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px\" \/><figcaption> <br>Things on iPad <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On the Mac, you can also create a new task while working in\nanother app. As long as Things is running, you can be in another app and press\nthe hotkey for Quick Entry, which will pop up a window to create a new Task in\nThings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is another keystroke called Quick Entry with Autofill.\nThis will create a new task in Things, and grab information from the window you\nare currently working in. This is really handy when you want to save a web page\nas a task. It will grab the web page, automatically filling in the page title\nas the task subject, and the URL is added to the task notes. You can edit the\nsubject, add additional notes, and set the dates and project before saving the\ntask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve set the options as I specified above, tasks captured\nthrough Quick Entry will be added at the top of the Today list \u2014 above your\nurgency zone projects. This makes it easy to spot new items that need to be\nmoved to an urgency zone, and possibly deferred to a future date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also use the Share function in most apps to share a\ntask to Things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Emails Into Things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s also easy to convert emails to tasks in Things. You need\nto enable Things Cloud, which is also necessary if you want Things to sync\nbetween multiple devices. With Things Cloud, a unique email address is assigned\nto you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any email sent to that address will automatically be added to\nyour Things Inbox. The email subject will be the task subject, and the text in\nthe body of the email \u2014 up to 2000 characters \u2014 is added in the task notes.\nText beyond 2000 characters, or any attachments, will not be stored in Things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are also other ways to convert email into tasks in\nThings. Some third-party email apps (including Airmail and Spark) have a\ncommand to save an email into a Things task. The task notes will include a link\nthat will launch the email app and open that email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or if you\u2019re using web mail such as Gmail in your web browser,\nyou can use the Quick Entry with Autofill hotkey to capture an email that you\nhave open in the browser. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Already Using Things?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you already have areas, projects, and tasks set up in\nThings but have not been using MYN principles, it\u2019s not difficult to transition\nto MYN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start by creating the 3 (or 5) urgency zone projects and place\nthem at the top, above any other areas or projects. Make sure you\u2019ve set the\noption to <strong>Group to-dos in the Today list by project or area,<\/strong>\nso that the Today view will show your MYN list properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the urgency zone projects set, you can start in your\nInbox and Today lists. Move each task to the appropriate urgency zone, and\nchange the date if you want to defer it to the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then you can go through each project, setting the urgency and\nWhen date for every task. When all tasks have been moved into an MYN project,\nyou can delete the old projects or click the box next to the project names to\nmark them as complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Things 3 gives you several fast, easy methods for entering all\nof your tasks. Depending on how you enter tasks, they may go straight into your\nToday or deferred lists, or they may start in the Things Inbox. Keep an eye on\nthe Inbox, so you can empty it and get tasks onto the appropriate lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things is only available for Apple devices: Mac, iPad, iPhone,\nand Apple Watch. There is no web version. If you are using Windows, Android, or\nLinux, you will not be able to use Things on those devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things is a paid app \u2014 you pay once for each type of device\nrunning Things. The Mac version is $49.99, iPhone and Watch are $9.99, and iPad\nis $19.99 (US currency). You can download a trial version of Things for Mac,\nwhich will allow you to try it out for 15 days for free.\n\nYou can learn more about\nThings, and get the apps, from the Cultured Code website: <a href=\"https:\/\/culturedcode.com\/things\/\">https:\/\/culturedcode.com\/things\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Things 3 app set is a set of to-do list management apps that run on the Mac and iOS devices. Reader Charles Olsen has spent a lot of time and effort developing ways to use 1MTD and MYN within &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/guest-post-using-things-3-apps-for-1mtd-and-myn-by-charles-olsen\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-5175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5175","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=5175"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5187,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5175\/revisions\/5187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}