Design Your OmniFocus Setup and Workflows Workshop

OmniFocus works best when you design a setup that reflects your life and workflows that support practical, everyday use.

You may have started using OmniFocus with enthusiasm, only to find that it becomes underused or misaligned with your reality. Whether you’re just getting started with OmniFocus or your setup has become cluttered or ineffective, this interactive workshop will help you design a setup you’ll trust and the workflows that make it sustainable.

What You’ll Design and Build

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll move from concept to implementation as you design (or redesign) your personalized OmniFocus system:

• Map your focus areas – Create an “areas of focus” mind map that captures what matters in your life and work (no previous mind-mapping experience required). We recommend using MindNode; the free version is sufficient for this workshop.
• Build your structure – Translate your mind map into a folder structure in OmniFocus that mirrors your responsibilities.
• Organize for action – Create projects and single action lists that serve as containers for outcome-related and one-off actions.
• Design your tag system – Define or refine your tag usage to give you convenient access to your most relevant actions at the appropriate time.
• Install power perspectives – Set up and fine-tune custom perspectives that bring ease and efficiency to planning, doing, and system maintenance.
• Establish sustainable workflows – Create a practical strategy for using OmniFocus effectively and consistently, day after day.

What You’ll Take Away

• A design framework for an OmniFocus setup that reflects your actual life and work
• Progress on building (or rebuilding) your personalized folder structure, tags, and perspectives
• A clear roadmap for completing your setup after the workshop
• Sustainable workflows and maintenance routines to keep your system functional
• Confidence in your approach and next steps for implementation

Who Should Attend

• New to OmniFocus – Start with a strong foundation and avoid common setup mistakes that lead to abandonment.
• Already Using OmniFocus – Refine, overhaul, or upgrade an existing setup that’s no longer serving you well.
• Committed to Sustainability – Anyone who understands that productivity isn’t just about the tool—it’s about using the tool consistently over time.

Why This Workshop Matters

Most productivity systems fail not from poor setup, but from a lack of sustainable workflows. You can have a beautifully organized OmniFocus database, but if you don’t have habits and workflows that keep you engaged with it, the system breaks down.

This workshop addresses both: you’ll build a solid structure and establish the workflows that keep it functional. The goal isn’t just to get set up—it’s to stay set up, stay clean, and stay focused on what matters.

Recommended Preparation

Mind Mapping Tool: You’ll be guided through mind mapping exercises during the workshop (no previous mind mapping experience required). If you don’t already have a mind mapping app, we recommend installing MindNode. You can use the free version for this workshop.

To maximize our time together, go through some or all of this content beforehand:

Courses:

• Start Smart with OmniFocus 4
• OmniFocus 4: Beyond the Basics

Articles:

• What Do You Want to Get OUT of OmniFocus?
• Mind Mapping Your Responsibilities
• Creating Structure in OmniFocus
• Mind Mapping Your Tags

This preparation ensures you’ll arrive with a solid grounding in the basics—allowing us to spend workshop time on what matters most: designing and building your personalized system together.