My ultimate GTD set up in Remember The Milk

Published in

Productivity Depth

6 min readJun 2, 2018

I have been using Remember The Milk (RTM) since 2008. Correction. I signed up RTM in 2008 and using a year so deeply then stopped using. And after a year later, I came back and started using again. Then stop using then came back repeat repeat repeat. I was repeating this cycle this 10 years. But not anymore. (Hopefully.) I am very comfortable current set up, yay!

Why I use RTM

I have been using different task management apps. When I was a student, I was using OmniFocus which I really liked. Around that time, I was using Mac and iPhone. However, now I’m a worker, and my work machine is Windows. Since OmniFocus doesn’t have windows or Online version, I decided to use RTM. I also used Todoist, Nirvana but always coming back to RTM. Because RTM is the fastest way to create a new task.

OmniFocus web version finally?!?

On May 30, OmniFocus 3 was launched, and the part of their roadmap of 2018, they are building OmniFocus web version. It doesn’t come with OmniFocus 3 but they are making it. WHAAAAAAT..!!!! I was about to upgrade my RTM account to the pro account. I was about to. These past few weeks, I was debating myself if I should keep using RTM free version and wait for the OmniFocus web version or just go ahead to upgrade RTM pro account and think about it later.

My answer is upgrading RTM to the pro account now.

So before upgrading, I decided to share my current setup.

By the way, my setup is based on GTD (Getting Things Done) method. I don’t go over about GTD in this article, however, if you are curious about GTD, or not familiar with it, you can learn from the book “Getting Things Done” written by David Allen. There are a ton of blog articles about GTD (this article is obviously one of them), but I highly recommend reading this book if you are not familiar with what GTD is. Reading a whole book sounds like takes more time than reading blog articles but eventually, it will save your time and you will get better understanding :)

Okay then, let’s dive into my setup :)

Note: I use RTM only for my personal use. All my tasks are related to my personal activity.

The List

Next Action List
All tasks in this list are actionable and don’t have a due date. I add at least 1 tag to filter down by context.
Project List
Current project and upcoming project. I store only this month and next month projects. Other future projects are stored in Someday / Maybe list, so I can focus what I am supposed to.
Reminder List
All tasks in this list have a date. The reminder type of task.
Someday / Maybe
The task I don’t, can’t, shouldn’t deal with now. from idea level task to my life dream such as from “want to clean tv stand” to “go to NYC”
Check List
Review List (Weekly review list, Trigger list for weekly review)
Wish List (Place, bar, book, movie list)
Do what you love everyday list (This is a correction of action what I can feel joyful and relax. For example, salt bath, face-mask, nail etc. When I feel I need something treat myself, I look up this list and pick one of the actions.)
Target List
Monthly, quarterly, yearly base goal list.

Smart List

RTM’s smart list is a hands-down. You search the criteria you want and can save it.

Smart List — Favorites

I currently have more than 200 tasks in my RTM. To take a glance what I need to focus, I created a smart list of my current projects which I am actually working on. Also, I don’t want to forget high-level perspective / top-down approach, I created goal base smart lists.

Current Projects (priority:2 OR priority:3)
I set priority 2 to current focus project titles and priority 3 to current focus project tasks. This filter down from the project list to only I need to focus. Since RTM free account doesn’t have a subtask function, I add every single task into next action even the task is project related. So when I see this list, the all current focus project related title and action are here.
Current Week (tag:thisweek OR tag:thisweekmaybe)
I pick some tasks from Next Action List and add the tag either “thisweek” or “thisweekmaybe”. “thisweek” tag is applied to the task I want to finish in this week for sure. “thisweekmaybe” tag is applied to the task that I maybe want to finish in this week. Since all next action list doesn’t have a due date, this is my weekly goal list.
Goal — This M (name:2018m AND list:”Target List” AND NOT tag:pending)
This is a goal of this month list. This smart list filters down from Target List. When I add a monthly goal type task, the task name rule is “2018m01 something monthly goal”. and for future months goal task, I add the “pending” tag. So when a new month is getting closer, I review Target list and delete “pending” tag for upcoming month goal task so the new month goal tasks show up in this list.
Goal — This Q (name:2018q AND list:”Target List” AND NOT tag:pending)
Same as monthly goal list. Q is a quarter. I update this list every quarter or as needed.
Goal — This Y (name:2018y AND list:”Target List”)
High Priority (priority:1)
I only set priority 1 when the task really really needs to get done. I usually have tasks on this list only 1 or 2. So whenever I have a task in this list, I know I need to start from here.

Smart List

When I make a decision what action I am going to next, I check one of the smart lists depends on my context.

Yesterday’s Accomplish (completed:Yesterday)
Today’s Accomplish (completed:Today)
Weekly Accomplish (completedWithin:”7 day of today”)

These lists are just for checking counts that how many task I completed. I love these 3 lists. Whenever I am on the RTM, I click these lists and sneakily smile. ;)

@home misc (location:Home AND NOT tag:@pc AND NOT tag:cleaning AND due:never AND list:”Next Action List”)
@home cleaning (tag:cleaning AND location:Home AND list:”Next Action List”)
@home @pc (location:Home AND tag:@pc AND due:never AND list:”Next Action List”)
@anywhere @pc (isLocated:false AND tag:@pc AND list:”Next Action List”)
@phone (tag:@phone AND due:never AND list:”Next Action List”)
Created Today (added:Today)