2025-07-23 - Using OmniFocus with Analog Tools, Featuring Mike Williams

For more videos and additional resources, visit: http://learnomnifocus.com Productivity expert Mike Williams joined us from Southern California to share how OmniFocus can be used alongside pen & paper. As digital tools become increasingly sophisticated, there is a tendency to overlook traditional analog tools. However, analog tools still play an essential role in modern times. When you write on paper, you’re activating different parts of your brain than you do when using digital devices. Additionally, the simplicity of pen and paper can provide a welcome relief from our always-on digital culture. During this session, Mike Williams shared the benefits of a hybrid approach to life and work, combining both digital and analog methods. He guided us through practical exercises that draw upon his recently released product, The Clarity Collection. Tim Stringer also shared how to reconcile projects and actions between OmniFocus and paper, as well as how OmniFocus tags and custom perspectives can help clarify what work has made its way into the analog world. He shared two automations to help make this process more convenient: a Keyboard Maestro macro called Toggle Favourite Suffix and an Omni Automation plug-in created using Josh Hughes’ Toggling Tags plug-in collection. Have some paper and a pen handy as you watch the session. Better yet, print out the PDF shared in the session notes and follow along. ABOUT MIKE WILLIAMS Doing to Done - Productivity Made Simple - Mike Williams Through his leadership roles with General Electric, The David Allen Company, and Zappos, Mike kept noticing that people were desperate for a better path to productivity to help them fight digital distractions, mind clutter, and wasteful uses of their time. But the only resources available involved complex approaches, reading thick self-help books, or participating in boring seminars. He knew a better way existed – one rooted in simplicity and realism. In his pursuit, he spent two decades working with thousands of people across different industries – from rocket scientists to business leaders to students to nonprofit organizations. Today, Mike assists clients using an effective coaching methodology that’s far from complicated. He also used what works to create Doing to Done—Productivity Made Simple, Illustrated for Busy People Like Us, a visually engaging book about quick wins with significant impacts. Bringing a bit of Southern California energy to his work, he firmly believes that managing stress through better productivity shouldn’t be so stressful. 00:00:00 - Welcome 00:00:32 - About Learn OmniFocus 00:06:34 - Welcome Back Mike Williams 00:10:07 - Mike's Productivity Journey 00:15:33 - Using Analog Tools in a Digital World 00:17:47 - Focus Beat & Reset Beat Cards 00:25:44 - Your Turn 00:29:07 - Behaviours and Prompts 00:38:05 - Case Study: Brian 00:40:32 - Case Study: Stephanie 00:41:32 - Archiving Your Cards 00:42:23 - Contacting Mike Williams 00:42:41 - Card Corners 00:43:26 - Bridging OmniFocus with Analog Tools 00:54:20 - Using Automation to Enhance Flow 00:56:27 - Leveraging the Pareto Chart 00:57:58 - Powerful Pauses 01:01:34 - Digital Tools with an Analog Focus 01:02:32 - Paper, Digital or Both? 01:10:09 - Dates and Planning 01:12:21 - Cultivating Empty Space 01:17:58 - Visits and Reflections 01:25:11 - Wrap-Up