timeboxing tasks with Things 3

With the latest update to Things 3, version 3.17 to be precise, users have been given what feels like super powers to automate a crazy amount of the ways they use Things thanks to the wonderful integrations with Shortcuts that the fine folks at Cultured Code have introduced. It was enough for me to scrap my previous system, which I explained on episode 63 of Inner Dialogue.

I really liked my previous system of Reminders and Fantastical but the timing of my Fantastical subscription coming up, along with its price bump to $56.99/year (yikes), combined with the incredible update to Things was enough for me to change back to Things, which I’ve always liked it more than Reminders, and ditch Fantastical for the stock Calendar app.

The key to Timeboxing with Things is actually one of the Shortcuts that Cultured Code made for their Shortcuts Gallery. Using the “New Timeblock Event” Shortcut I can quickly and easily look at my tasks for the day and add them to my calendar with a few simple taps.

Out of the box this feature set doesn’t exactly match what Reminders and Fantastical could do but I get to use my preferred task manager and save $56.99/year. Plus, because this is built with Shortcuts I have more options for customization and the opportunity to build extensions to this system both now and in the future.

I plan on writing about how I use Things and my calendar in more depth in the near future but for now I wanted to get this concept out into the wild.

If you take advantage of the new Shortcuts integrations with Things 3 I’d love to know what you come up with! Let me know in the comments.