My Things 3 Setup: Organizing Both My Work and Personal Life

Organizing Personal and Work Life with Things 3 for ADHD

The video presents a detailed setup and workflow for managing both personal and work life using the Things 3 task manager, tailored especially for individuals with ADHD. It combines lifestyle and productivity tips to create an effective and manageable system.

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Key Lifestyle and Productivity Tips

Using a Task Manager as a “Visual Brain”

• Essential for remembering tasks and deadlines, particularly for ADHD users.
• Unlike calendars, task managers require actively checking off completed tasks, preventing tasks from being ignored once their scheduled time passes.

Core Organizational Structure

• Separate personal and work areas to avoid mixing responsibilities.
• Use Areas in Things 3 to organize projects and tasks by category.

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Personal Life Organization

• Create projects for recurring tasks such as paying bills, grocery shopping, and house projects.
• Set recurring tasks for essential routines like watering plants, ordering medications, and workouts.
• Conduct a weekly Sunday review inspired by the Getting Things Done methodology:
  • Plan out the week.
  • Balance tasks.
  • Push incomplete tasks forward.
• Use a “Reset Day” task on Sunday as a deadline for cleaning, laundry, dishes, car washing, and charging devices to help prevent procrastination.
• Organize grocery lists with headings by store for efficient shopping.
• Use emojis in project and area titles for quick visual identification.

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Work Life Organization

• Create multiple areas for different types of work tasks:
  • One-off tasks (e.g., emails, returning review units).
  • Long-term projects unrelated to current business work.
  • Sponsorships project with headings for potential, active, and completed deals.
• Split video projects into three areas due to Things 3 limitations:
  • Active full-length videos (from scripting to posting).
  • Shorts (short-form content, despite some personal dislike but willingness to adapt).
  • Ideas (concepts with notes that evolve over time).
• Use shortcuts to automate project creation with predefined steps, saving time and ensuring consistency.
• Utilize Things 3’s unique feature of start and due dates to manage multi-day projects effectively.

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Views and Workflow in Things 3

• Inbox: Quickly dump tasks when on the go or when details are missing.
• Today view: Focus on daily tasks.
• Upcoming view: Plan the week and check future tasks.
• Sunday view: Holds tasks without due dates but intended to be done soon; weekly review encourages pruning these tasks.
• Someday view: For tasks without deadlines, though used minimally due to complexity.

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Automation and Shortcuts

• Extensive use of iOS Shortcuts to streamline task addition:
  • Quick entry with full data input or quick dumping to inbox.
  • Automatically add webpage links in markdown format to task notes.
  • Create laundry timer tasks with adjustable durations.
  • Shopping list shortcut that parses multiple items into the shopping list project.

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Additional Tips

• Use headings and emojis to enhance visual organization and efficiency.
• Maintain regular weekly reviews and reset days to balance workload and prevent task overload.

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Notable Products and Tools Mentioned

• Things 3: The main task manager app used across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS.
• Scrantal: Sponsor of the video; a visual knowledge management tool featuring card-based note-taking, backlinking, and board organization.
• iOS Shortcuts: Used extensively to automate and streamline task management workflows.

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Summary

This video offers a comprehensive, ADHD-friendly system for managing personal and professional tasks using Things 3. It emphasizes:

• Separation of work and personal life.
• Recurring task management.
• Weekly reviews.
• Automation through shortcuts.

The approach balances discipline with flexibility, helping to prevent overwhelm and improve productivity.