Much of my use of OmniFocus is about guiding habit. It is useful to create repeating tasks that I check off regularly. The process develops a habit.
For example,
However, after some time, these sorts of tasks can easily bog down the system. Many repeating routine tasks obscure those that we would prefer to otherwise call our attention. For instance, an important task to contact your employer could be lost in an array of deferred tasks, as seen here in the Forecast perspective:
(Note, the deferred tasks option is turned on):
One means of solving this issue is to have a Retired Habit context:
Whenever you feel that you have internalized some habit:
- Assign it to @Retired Habit.
Further,
- Create a repeating task to visit @Retired Habit.
I have the task as part of my weekly review template. In this way, I can decide if it is truly a task that I can delete or something I would like to return to my active system. In this way, repeating tasks can act as training wheels that I can take on and off as needed.
