On Episode 40 of Generational, Eric Hess explained how he flags his tasks in OmniFocus:
“….of all of my list of things that are next to do, these are the things that actually I want to focus on today. They are simply ways to highlight individual tasks.”
Flagging can be done in a variety of ways depending on how you choose to manage your tasks — it’s not limited to OmniFocus. Asana has Priority Headings (and you can mark tasks for Today, Upcoming, or Later if you want), Flow has flags, and others use a the idea of “flagging” in one form or another (and if you use paper you can simply add an asterisk to tasks that you’re prioritizing most for the day). Leo Babauta talks about his Big Rocks and Josh Kaufman (among others) refers to MIT (Most Important Tasks) and using those almost compels you to flag regularly.
Flags can really help you when you feel as if you’re letting some of the important stuff slide for the sake of getting more done overall.
Whether you have been using a task manager for a long time or are just getting started, having the option to flag tasks isn’t a bad thing…when done in moderation.