Tag Archive for: Drafts

My Dictation Workflow

Person at desk with laptop, leaning back comfortably while speaking, hands gesturing naturally away from keyboard in a bright home office workspace

I’m so bad at spelling that I’m actually better at grammar; using a semicolon is easier than remembering whether I comes before E. As a result of my terrible spelling and tendency to avoid frustration, I’ve been trying to dictate my writing since middle school. If you’ve ever wondered how many children gleefully received Dragon Naturally Speaking as a Christmas gift, the answer is at least one. But regardless of how much I read to my computer, it wasn’t until this year that I finally found the dictation experience I’ve been searching for.

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My Updated Brain Dump Processor for Drafts

Illustration of a human head in profile against a light background, exploding with a vibrant, abstract array of shapes and objects. Colorful lines, swirls, clouds, and various symbols, like music notes, a pencil, and a light bulb, suggest a burst of creativity or brainstorming. The style is whimsical and highly detailed, using a blue, red, and yellow palette.

One of my first YouTube videos and first automations that included Drafts was about getting tasks into my task manager, which at the time was OmniFocus.

Over the years, this process has evolved to include JavaScript and Things 3; I’m happy to share the most recent version here today.

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My Triumvirate of Mac Automation Technology

This image is an illustration depicting a young man working on a laptop at a desk. The setting appears to be a cozy home office with a bookshelf, plants, and a window allowing natural light. The perspective is as if looking into a room through an open window, creating a sense of depth. The color palette is warm with earth tones, and the style is clean and modern with a graphic quality.

I have been an avid Mac and iOS automator for a little more than five years. It has, and continues to be, a positive influence on my personal and professional life, as well as a fun hobby.

However, it can be a tricky world to navigate for novices. Coincidently, I got interested in automation just as The Automators podcast was getting started, so it felt like I was being shepherded by the hosts. If you have the time and inclination, I encourage you to check it out from episode one.

In lieu of that, here is an overview of the Mac automation technology I use every day. There are plenty of other valid combinations and tools out there, but this set of tech is irreplaceable for me.

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Using Drafts as a Template Engine for Things

I have become obsessed with checklists since reading The Checklist Manifesto. Automating checklists is even better!

Here is a video explaining how I use Drafts to write, store, and revise my checklists (e.g., project templates) to use in Things.

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Why I Mind Map

I do some of my best thinking on walks while listening to some combination of silly pop music and songs from my son’s favorite movies and tv shows. Something about that scenario gives me the mental space to think clearly and deeply about creative projects.

Sometimes on these walks, I can write a whole script for a video in my head; other times, I generate a few unstructured fragments that need to be worked into something better. My favorite tool for building out those fragments is a mind map.

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