How to deal with a project / action that is due at some point in the future

[CJSullivan]

Got it! (And I'm a Swiffer user myself - doesn't do as good a job as a mop, but I find that I have less resistance to mopping, so I mop more frequently!)

[macgrl]

Thank you all very much for your replies....it really is so helpful and helps me iron out any little issues from the start so that I can get into good habits!

As I have always used a calendar to remind me that I need to start things (a separate one to my "hard calendar) it is going to take a bit of getting used to and learning to trust omnifocus. But i will get there

How would I deal with a reminder about something that someone has to do / a waiting for that I know won't happen for many months eg. a house letting agent will email me in december about putting a house back on the market. She won't email until december and so I don't need to worry about whether she has or not until then.

Previously I would have put a note in my tickler calendar for Dec 1st to say "put letting agent to email me on @waiting for list"

What do I do now? It's not a project reminder more a reminder for an action...that is putting it onto the @waiting for list?

oogiem you must really trust omnifocus...that is something I need to learn...can I ask what you do about backing up / what if you computor goes down?

Also if you travel (I do a bit) do you have a device you take with you (i have an ipad and more often than not travel with my MBA)......one thing I liked about putting things into a calendar / electronic tickler is that I could access it anywhere via mobileme now icloud.

[mcogilvie]

How would I deal with a reminder about something that someone has to do / a waiting for that I know won't happen for many months eg. a house letting agent will email me in december about putting a house back on the market. She won't email until december and so I don't need to worry about whether she has or not until then.

Previously I would have put a note in my tickler calendar for Dec 1st to say "put letting agent to email me on @waiting for list"
...
Also if you travel (I do a bit) do you have a device you take with you (i have an ipad and more often than not travel with my MBA)......one thing I liked about putting things into a calendar / electronic tickler is that I could access it anywhere via mobileme now icloud.

I would have it as a waiting for with a start date of Dec. 1st. That date tells me when to start expecting something. I might also set a due date of Dec. 31st, if I know I want to act no later than then. But from now until December, it's out of my head.

Omnifocus has a very robust system for syncing. If you don't have OF on your iPad or iPhone, I strongly recommend it. This is also a hedge against problems with any one device, such as loss, breakage or file corruption. You should also be using Time Machine. Not only is it easy, but it makes moving to a new machine trivial. I do not keep the backup hard disk continuously connected, but make Time Machine backups once a week and off-site backups quarterly. All my working files are in the cloud anyway, and are on both home and work machines.

[Oogiem]

oogiem you must really trust omnifocus...that is something I need to learn...can I ask what you do about backing up / what if you computor goes down?

Also if you travel (I do a bit) do you have a device you take with you (i have an ipad and more often than not travel with my MBA)......one thing I liked about putting things into a calendar / electronic tickler is that I could access it anywhere via mobileme now icloud.

I run hourly backups via Time Machine to our in house server. It's a 4 terabyte RAID system that is very fault tolerant on a UPS and in a separate area protected from fire and other dangers. I also do monthly rotating backups to separate external hard drives that live in media rated fire proof safes in 2 separate buildings. I also run periodic CD or DVD backups of critical files. I synch 3 devices to my Omnifocus system, main desktop mac, iPhone and iPad.

I do not trust anything in the cloud and do not depend on nor put any of my personal data in the cloud at all. I totally control all servers that contain my data.

[mcogilvie]

All my working files are in the cloud anyway, and are on both home and work machines.

Oogie's comments reminded me that I should have said that all my working files are in the cloud, with the exception of financial and personal data.

[cwoodgold]

I run hourly backups via Time Machine to our in house server. It's a 4 terabyte RAID system...

Oogie. Once again, I'm blown away. You are so impressive.

[speeding]

I use start dates in Omnifocus for those types of things and I set them far enough in advance to get at least one weekly review in before they are due so I can catch up if I missed the actual start event. In Omnifocus those are pending projects and I have about a hundred of them in my system as of today.

YES, I set them far enough in advance too. It's a good reminder!