Realizing my dreams and fulfilling my aspirations is not just a goal—it’s the very essence of my existence. I’ve meticulously crafted my ‘way of working’ around the bedrock of my aspired roles, ensuring that every endeavor I undertake is imbued with purpose and integrity. I’ve painstakingly built a robust and supportive system to bolster my efforts. Yet, amidst all this, there remained a vital piece missing…
I need a compass to see if I am on track
Am I relentlessly pursuing the zenith of my potential in every role? Are the targets I’ve set still resonant with my aspirations? Do my actions align seamlessly with the outcomes I envision? How many opportunities lie before me, awaiting my attention? Am I faithfully honoring my commitments? Have I entrusted my team with adequate responsibilities? Is the foundation of my system as reliable as ever? These questions pulse with relevance, each holding the key to unlocking my path to growth.
Like a lone sailor navigating uncharted waters, I’m in search of a compass to steer me toward my true north, to ensure I’m on the right course toward my goals and aspirations. Without it, I risk drifting aimlessly in the vast sea of uncertainty. A compass would be my guiding light, illuminating the path ahead and instilling confidence in every step I take.
Until now, finding answers meant delving into separate realms—the tasks in OmniFocus, the insights in Drafts 5, the commitments logged in Fantastical, and the wealth of knowledge stored in my DevonThink reference folder—all buried within their respective ‘black boxes.’ But today, that changes. Today, transparency illuminates every facet of my journey.
Apple widgets come to the rescue with Charty
Apple introduced in iOS 14 and iPadOS14 widgets. With these, you can customize the look of your iPhone, Mac, and iPad. I like that this has let users feel a closer connection to their technology. Charty is an extension for iOS Shortcut and makes it possible to make graphs.
At the first release of the widgets concept, I wondered what I could do with this functionality. Is it too nerdy for me? At the same time, I embraced the concept of contextual computing, which made it possible to navigate my devices directly to the point where I wanted to do something without opening apps and any distractions within these apps. See my blog post here.
I have embraced the concept, and I am now using a couple of widgets. I am a huge fan of Scotty Jackson’s work, and I have altered some of his builds to my needs. So if I want to know how I am doing, I look on the Home Screen of my iPhone or iPad and see how it looks, below:
The iPhone
On the top,” I can enter a journal entry or tasks directly. Write a note in Drafts, Go to my “Do” list in OmniFocus, or refresh the Rings. The iOS Shortcut is available to download here.
I use the Rings to identify progress on Routines (green and called Trusted), due tasks until today, available tasks today, and what has been flagged for doing today, at least. You can download the iOS Shortcut here; please adjust to your calendars and tags.
When I swipe to the left, my second dashboard appears. It starts with “Weektime per role,” looking back 7 days on how much time I have planned per role (red bar) and how much time in action I did complete tasks per role (purple). You can download the iOS Shortcut here.
Due versus open shows the balance on commitments (due date) and other actions. The link to this iOS Shortcut is the here
The delegation ratio tells me how well I manage tasks. The iOS Shortcut can be downloaded here.
Tag Division shows me the count per Tag. Downloadable here.
Routine vs others indicates how many Routine tasks are open compared with other tasks. You can download this iOS Shortcut here.
On the iPad, I use a similar concept, shown below:
Some widget are the the same as above on the iPhone, so below I only will explain the extra ones:
Week Time looks back seven days and tells you how much time you have spent on meetings (red) and how much time on tasks (purple). You can download the iOS Shortcut here.
The week QTY is the same as above but now shows the number of tasks (purple) and meetings (red). The iOS Shortcut can be downloaded here.
Based on available working time, the Shortcut “Time in Flight” shows how much time I have in meetings for today, how many tasks are available, how many “other” tasks are remaining, and how much of your working day remains. I need to reschedule tasks. The iOS Shortcut can be downloaded here.
OmniDay Qty is about showing me how many tasks per category I have today. The iOS Shortcut here is making this Widget.
OmniDay Time is the same as above, but now, how much times per category? You can download this iOS Shortcut here.
Week QTY per role looks back 7 days and shows me how many tasks and meetings per role I have had. You can download the iOS Shortcut here.
How to achieve that information is actual?
I use the automation of iOS Shortcuts to run the update routines for the widgets every hour. Below you see the schedule on the iPhone:
At 00:02, the Header Widget runs, so its time will be adjusted to today. You can download the iOS Shortcut here.
At 01:00, it will run the iOS Shortcut Update Widgets Routine. This Routine updates all widgets in one go.:
This iOS Shortcut is here; it is running at 05:00, 07:00, 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, and 23:54.
The Dashboard Widget iPad you can download here.
The OmniDay NA you can download here.
The Combine Calendar Title and Date iOS Shortcut are updating Calendar items with the date and time of the meeting event. Here to download.
The 05:00 run is doing more than Updating all the widgets, please find below the “new” iOS shortcuts not yet described above:
- Move Files S2D is moving locally stored files on the iPhone and iPad to iCloud downloads. Click here to download.
- Add or remove calendar items as events in OmniFocus are adding new events to OmniFocus and suggest deleting old events from OmniFocus. Click here to download.
- Birthday to OF is collecting all tomorrow’s Birthday in OF with a template of a message to send. Click here to download.
The 23:30 run is running two new iOS Shortcuts not yet described:
The Daily Agenda Journal is sending an update of all completed actions and still open actions to DayOne for Journaling and Drafts 5. Click here to download.
Time in Flight Silent run is the same, but now runs for the coming day. Click here to download.