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TODOIST FILTERS AND LABELS OFFLINE

You may want to use them more often, especially if you’re inclined to have a time-based mindset over a task-based mindset (which a task manager, when used effectively, should help to shift). I use time-based labels sparingly, but have them there for when I do need them.

I tend to pair these labels up with my energy level labels because I can really hone in on what tasks I can do with both the energy I have in me and the time I have available. (You can use this label as a guideline to help you time chunk in your calendar as well.) Reserve these tasks when you know you have the ability to work on them for an extended period of time.

or This label is great for tasks that you know will take some time to do, and I use 25 as the minute value because that means it will take longer than one “pomodoro” to complete.

I find these are most commonly used when making certain phone calls or sending certain emails.

or This works well for those tasks that wind up in Todoist because they will take longer than two minutes, but won’t take a ton of time to complete.

(Note: I use the “less than” sign rather than the minus sign, but doing so here adds weird markup text.) That said, you probably should have done it when you captured it – or if you’re using The Strikethrough System it shouldn’t even make its way into Todoist if it takes two minutes or less.

or This aligns really nicely with the GTD mentality of doing something if it takes less than two minutes.

Useful labels that are time-based can be as follows: After experimenting with them myself, I found they can be really beneficial for those moments where you don’t have much time (between meetings, during a commute, etc.) but want to move certain things forward.

I only started using time-based labels recently, and it was actually after dealing with a few Productivityist Coaching clients who felt that they would work well for them. All a location-based label is designed to do is tell me where I need to be to complete that task, whether it’s a physical space or an app. Instead, I’ll use labels for the apps I need to be using for certain tasks ( Evernote for idea management is a great example) or I’ll use a more generic label like “Email” or “Calls” for tasks that require me to use a phone (landline or mobile) or email ( Postbox or Dispatch). I don’t use a label called “Work” because I find that to be too vague. I only use “Home” as a label for tasks that live in the project “Household Maintenance” because it allows me to clearly separate my work life from my home life.

TODOIST FILTERS AND LABELS OFFLINE

I define locations as places that exist both in the offline and online world, mainly because I spend much of my time working from home. Still, creating perspectives in OmniFocus can be challenging for the novice user, whereas adding additional labels to tasks in Todoist is incredibly simple.

I can’t do that in OmniFocus, although I could create Perspectives that shape a similar workflow. Here are some of the categories I use when creating labels: LocationĪs you can see in the image above, “Share Mikes on Mics” is a task that requires Low Energy and the location that I can complete the task in is “Social” (as in “social networks”). I have used energy levels as modes for a long time (ever since Sven Fechner delivered a talk that drove home how useful they are when used as GTD contexts), and with Todoist I can now attach more conventional modes/labels to a task alongside energy levels.

Modes are what add real value to my tasks, and the labelling feature in Todoist really lets me add a ton of value to each and every task I add to the app. Other apps (Asana, for example) use the term “tags” rather than labels or modes, but I treat them essentially in the same manner. I treat Todoist’s labels as modes, as per my productivity approach The NOW Year Formula. But perhaps the thing that I’ve found most appealing is the ability to use multiple labels for a task. Todoist has been my task manager of choice for a few months now, and while I still find that I’m missing some features that would make it even better (URL schemes, Start Dates, etc.), I still find that it has a lot to offer that many task managers out there don’t ( which I outlined in an earlier post).