Create a Start Up Ritual with Notion

Summary

The video script outlines the benefits of establishing a startup routine to combat feelings of being scattered and overwhelmed at the beginning of the workday. It emphasizes creating a personalized dashboard for tracking goals, principles, and daily tasks, and suggests using tools like Notion for automation and efficiency. The speaker shares their own startup page setup, which includes a daily journal, morning routine checklist, and an 'intention for the day' selection process. The video encourages viewers to develop their own startup rituals to improve focus and productivity.

Takeaways

• 📈 Start your day with a startup routine to increase productivity and focus.
• 🎨 Create a startup dashboard if you're a Notion user for a personalized start to your day.
• 🚀 Tailor your startup ritual to your individual needs and preferences.
• 📆 Use the startup routine to review daily goals and personal principles.
• 🌞 Begin with a themed day to set a clear direction for your daily tasks.
• 🏋️ Include a morning routine checklist to ensure consistency in your day-to-day activities.
• 💡 Utilize Notion's features, such as buttons and databases, for efficient task management.
• 🎯 Set an intention for the day to prioritize your most important task.
• 🏅 Choose one 'most important action' each day to stay focused on key objectives.
• ⏰ Plan your day by estimating the time required for tasks and managing your workload effectively.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of creating a startup routine?

The primary purpose of creating a startup routine is to establish a structured beginning to the workday, helping to focus and prioritize tasks, and to ensure a clear understanding of what one wants to accomplish by the end of the day.

How does a startup ritual differ from person to person?

A startup ritual differs from person to person based on individual preferences, work styles, and daily goals. It can include various activities such as reviewing goals, personal principles, or completing a morning routine, tailored to suit one's needs and habits.

What is the significance of reviewing goals and personal principles during a startup ritual?

Reviewing goals and personal principles during a startup ritual helps to realign one's focus with their long-term objectives and values, providing a sense of direction and purpose before beginning work-related tasks.

How does the speaker use their startup page to stay organized and focused?

The speaker uses their startup page as a daily touchpoint to review their themed day, morning routine, and important tasks. It includes a daily journal, a list of vitamins to take, and an area to set intentions and track workouts, serving as a snapshot of priorities for the day.

What is the benefit of theming one's days as part of a startup routine?

Theming one's days helps to create a focused workday by designating specific tasks or goals to each day, making it easier to concentrate on the most important activities and maintain productivity.

How does the speaker use Notion to streamline their morning routine?

The speaker utilizes Notion's features, such as buttons and linked databases, to quickly add items to their supplement log or set reminders for their morning routine, making the process more efficient and less time-consuming.

What is the speaker's approach to setting their most important task for the day?

The speaker chooses one most important action for the day, which is separate from their task list, and makes it known to themselves. This focused approach helps to prioritize what is most critical and increases the likelihood of completing that task.

How does the startup page help in managing and estimating daily workload?

The startup page helps in managing the daily workload by providing a visual snapshot of tasks and a board view by status. It allows the speaker to estimate the time required for activities and decide on a realistic workload for the day.

What is the purpose of the 'today page' mentioned by the speaker?

The 'today page' is where the speaker focuses on the actual work and task execution. It is designed to handle administrative tasks first and then dive into more focused work, serving as a separate space from the startup page to maintain clarity and organization.

Why is it recommended to create a startup page or ritual?

Creating a startup page or ritual is recommended because it sets an intention at the start of the day, helping to build focus and prevent distractions. It increases the likelihood of following through on important tasks and contributes to a more organized and productive workday.

How does the concept of a startup routine relate to the idea of The Daily Mies?

The Daily Mies is a shutdown ritual that complements the startup routine. While the startup routine is about preparing for the day, The Daily Mies is about winding down and reflecting on the day's activities, inspired by the book 'Everything in Its Place' by Dan Charnas.

Outlines

00:00

📅 Establishing a Productive Startup Routine

The paragraph discusses the importance of creating a startup routine to begin the workday with focus and clarity. It emphasizes the individuality of such routines but highlights their common goal of resetting and aligning oneself with the day's objectives. The speaker shares their personal morning routine, which includes themed days, a daily journal, and a checklist of activities. They also explain how they use Notion's features to streamline their morning routine and maintain a clear focus on their most important task of the day. The paragraph concludes with an invitation for viewers to create their own startup rituals for a more productive and aligned start to their days.

05:00

🏆 Prioritizing Your Day's Most Important Action

This paragraph delves into the concept of selecting a single most important action for the day, which is considered more effective than having a long list of tasks. The speaker shares their process of deciding on the day's 'win,' which is the one commitment they aim to fulfill. They discuss how setting this intention at the start of the day increases the likelihood of accomplishing it. The paragraph also touches on the use of a task management system to organize and prioritize tasks, as well as the speaker's approach to managing their daily workload. The speaker encourages viewers to consider their own morning routines and how they can support their productivity and energy levels throughout the day. The paragraph ends with a suggestion to explore the idea of a startup page and to share one's creation, fostering a sense of community and shared learning.

Keywords

💡startup routine

A startup routine refers to a set of activities or tasks that one performs at the beginning of the workday to organize and prepare for the day ahead. In the context of the video, it is a personalized ritual that helps to establish focus and clarity by identifying the most important tasks and reviewing personal goals and principles. The speaker uses their own startup page as an example, which includes a daily journal, morning routine, and intention setting for the day.

💡notion

Notion is a productivity tool that allows users to create and organize pages, databases, and tasks. In the video, the speaker uses Notion to create a startup dashboard, which includes a daily journal, a morning routine checklist, and a database of personal principles. Notion's features, such as toggles and buttons, are utilized to streamline the routine and make it easier to track and update progress.

💡daily journal

A daily journal is a personal record that an individual maintains to document their daily activities, thoughts, and reflections. In the video, the speaker's daily journal serves as a central hub for their startup routine, providing a snapshot of the day's themes, tasks, and intentions. It acts as a visual representation of their priorities and helps to maintain focus throughout the day.

💡morning routine

A morning routine is a sequence of activities that one performs upon waking up to start the day in a structured and intentional manner. The speaker in the video outlines their ideal morning routine, which includes activities like waking up at a specific time, drinking water, exercising, and having breakfast. This routine is designed to set the tone for the day and ensure that the individual is prepared and energized for their tasks.

💡intention setting

Intention setting is the practice of deliberately choosing a specific goal or focus for a given period, often to guide one's actions and decisions. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of setting an intention for the day as part of the startup routine. This helps to create a clear direction and commitment to a particular outcome, increasing the likelihood of success and focus.

💡personal principles

Personal principles are guiding beliefs or values that shape an individual's behavior and decision-making. In the context of the video, the speaker reviews their principles database every morning as part of their startup routine to ensure alignment with their core values and to maintain a sense of purpose throughout the day.

💡task management

Task management refers to the process of organizing, prioritizing, and tracking tasks to increase productivity and efficiency. The video discusses the use of a startup page as a tool for task management, where the speaker outlines their daily tasks, tracks progress, and selects the most important action for the day. This helps to create a clear and manageable plan for the day's work.

💡productivity

Productivity is the efficiency with which tasks are completed and goals are achieved. The video focuses on strategies to enhance productivity, such as establishing a startup routine and using tools like Notion to organize and prioritize tasks. By setting clear intentions and managing tasks effectively, the speaker aims to improve their overall productivity and achieve better results.

💡automation

Automation refers to the use of technology to perform tasks with minimal human intervention. In the video, the speaker utilizes automation features in Notion, such as buttons and toggles, to streamline repetitive tasks and save time. This allows for a more efficient and less time-consuming process of updating and managing their daily tasks and routines.

💡focus

Focus is the ability to concentrate on a specific task or goal while minimizing distractions. The video emphasizes the importance of having a clear focus at the beginning of the day as part of the startup routine. By setting a single most important action, the speaker aims to direct their energy and attention towards a priority task, thereby enhancing their ability to complete it successfully.

💡ritual

A ritual is a set of predetermined actions or practices that are performed in a specific order. In the context of the video, both startup and shutdown rituals are discussed as methods to bookend the workday with intention and reflection. The startup ritual helps to prepare for the day, while the shutdown ritual serves to review and wind down at the end of the day.

Highlights

Creating a startup routine can help combat feelings of being scattered and overwhelmed at the beginning of the workday.

A startup dashboard in Notion can serve as a tool to establish daily focus and intention.

Individuals can customize their startup ritual to fit personal preferences and work styles.

Reviewing goals and personal principles can be a part of the startup ritual to align actions with values.

The left side of the startup page includes a daily journal and themed recommendations for the day.

The daily journal can act as a recommendation engine for tasks such as writing a newsletter or creating a YouTube video.

A morning routine checklist is included, detailing the ideal start to the day including workout, skincare, and breakfast.

Notion's automation features, such as buttons, can streamline recurring tasks like tracking vitamins.

The right side of the startup page is dedicated to alignment with personal principles and setting daily intentions.

Linking the journal database to the startup page allows for easy selection of daily intentions.

Deciding on one most important action for the day can increase the likelihood of its completion.

The startup page should not include every task but rather provide a focused overview for the day.

The startup routine can involve reviewing the day's actions and deciding on the priority of tasks.

Estimating the time required for activities can help in realistically assigning tasks for the day.

The startup page is a tool for setting intentions before the distractions of the workday begin.

The Daily Mies is a complementary concept to the startup ritual, serving as a shutdown ritual to end the day.

Consistently following startup and shutdown rituals can lead to better task completion and reduced backlog.

The use of Notion's features, such as automation and buttons, can make the startup ritual more efficient and enjoyable.

Transcripts

if you find yourself starting your workday, feeling a bit scattered,

overwhelmed, and you're not really sure where to start, I am going to suggest

that you create a startup routine for yourself, and if you're a notion

user to create a startup dashboard.

A startup ritual is gonna look really different from person to person, but

it can be a really helpful way to sort of press the reset button and

to make sure that you know what you wanna get done by the end of the day.

can also be a chance to review your goals, review your personal principles,

and just kind of do a bit of a check-in before you dive into work.

If other things come in throughout the day, that's fine.

As long as I know what my most important thing for the day is, I can proceed with

a little bit more clarity and alignment before I start to tackle my task list.

I am gonna jump in and show you a little tour of my startup page,

and hopefully it gives you some inspiration for what you might wanna

do to make your own startup ritual.

So here is my startup page, and I'll just zoom in a little bit so that you

can see it in a little bit more detail.

This is basically the page that I come to every single

day before I start my workday.

On the left hand side, I've got my daily journal, and if you've seen some of

my other videos around theming, you'll know that I love to theme my days.

So this basically acts like a recommendation engine and it

says, today's a deep workday.

I need to write my newsletter, create my YouTube video.

I'm studying my Unschool education track, and I have a checkbox

here for my morning routine.

I already know what I'm supposed to be focused on today, because it's

right here in this little snapshot.

Then I have a list of my basic morning routine.

So in an ideal world, I wake up at 8:30 AM I drink a glass of water, do a workout.

I also have a link if I want to jump right to the Lululemon studio,

which is where I do my workouts.

I've got my skincare, makeup routine, dress for the day, make

coffee, eat breakfast, et cetera.

Uh, taking my vitamins.

Now you'll notice here there's a little toggle.

I'm gonna open this up show you what's here.

So I've got a number of notion buttons here, and lemme just open up one of these

so you can see what's happening here.

So basically if I click this, it is going to edit the supplements relation in my

journal, and it's gonna add omega three.

So why don't I do that?

I'm gonna click the button and I can see it's edited in one page.

So if I open this up, I can scroll down and see that Omega

was added to supplements.

It's just an easier way of doing that instead of clicking here, looking for the

supplement, clicking again, et cetera, which is a little bit more timely.

So for the things that I do in a really recurring fashion,

I'm gonna include them here.

So let's add vitamin D, probiotic, et cetera.

So that just gives me a super easy place to click and add those vitamins.

Fill my water and optional turn on diffusers.

Now these are check boxes, but I don't actually check them off.

It's more like a checklist.

So I could use bullet points here if I wanted to, this just basically reminds

me what is a good morning routine.

This could look very different for you.

Maybe you like to start your day with journaling or, uh, something

different, maybe going for a walk.

You can include all of this here once I've done this morning routine.

, I click here.

If I don't do my morning routine, I don't click that.

And I can track that in other ways in my journal to see how many days do I

actually do my morning routine, does that influence how productive I am, et cetera.

And then on the right hand side, I've got this get aligned area.

, and this is just one way that I make sure that I am living by my principles.

So I've got a principles database and I open this up.

Again, you could do this as a simple list.

I actually do have a database so I can open these up and I can actually

see more information about these.

I can open this up and you'll see there's some stuff in there, but again, this

could absolutely be a really simple list, and I just review these every morning.

I also have a link here to the actual principal's database as well.

Then I set my intention for the day.

This is just a linked version of my journal database,

which is right here as well.

I could go and open this up and actually put my intention here,

but uh, I like to actually just separate it out as part of a process.

So the journal just acts as a visual snapshot on the left and

then on the right, this is where I can just click on this and scroll

through and choose which one.

And that way I'm not distracted by all the other properties in

the journal, if that makes sense.

So I set my intention for today.

So let's say I intend to do something fun today.

Great.

And then I'll log today's workout.

I have another video on how I do my tracking there, but generally

speaking, I have a recurring template here that posts every day and I

can connect it to today's journal.

Now I can fill out all of this stuff right here.

I can also just open up this workout here and I can connect to today's

journal and you can see that that attached it to today's journal.

And then I have presets here.

So I tend to take the things that I do most often and attach them here.

So for example, if I did an intermediate total body workout, I can just

click on that and that automatically populates all of those properties.

and then it even changed the name of the entry.

Great.

So there's my workout log for today, and then I decide on today's win the

day action, which is basically the one most important thing of the day.

Some people like to choose three.

I just like to choose one most important thing every day.

So today, that's gonna be my YouTube video.

It's a really simple act, but just asking yourself what you plan to do

by the end of the day, what is the one thing that you are committed to?

And making it known, making it clear to yourself.

I find just taking that moment to set that intention makes me so much more likely

to do it than if I'm jumping into a task list with a whole bunch of tasks on it.

It's just asking me to slow down for a minute and ask myself what

is realistic for me to do today?

So, . Choosing my one most important action of the day.

Now that's, to me, that is a awesome startup routine.

If I do this and I check these off, I'm happy and I'm good to go, and I

can click in to actually start my day.

If I wanna go take it a step further, I can look at the day's action.

So I've got a.

Board view by status, and I can look at all of my actions.

Now, generally speaking, I like to hide anything that's set for later.

I don't need to see those because I do that as part of my end of

day and my end of week routine.

So I don't need to be seeing all of my later tasks.

I need to see what's on deck right now and next.

So I will go through here and I can move these into now.

I can move these into in progress when I'm ready to do them.

So, for example, currently working on my YouTube video,

I'll drag that into in progress.

Now I try not to have more than three in progress items for myself.

One thing I could also do here as well is to sum up the hours.

So this is giving me an estimate of three and a half hours to do these activities.

And I can see here there's a backlog of, uh, you know, 11 hours and two

and a half hours, . It just gives me an idea of what is realistic for

assigning myself tasks for today.

And then once I've done that and I feel satisfied with what I've put on

my plate for today, then I click on my today page, which is where the work

actually happens and where it gets done.

That will be a topic for another day.

That's it.

This is my startup page.

It's a really simple page.

The startup page shouldn't include every single thing that's on your plate and

all of your goals and a high level view.

page is really about helping you get focused for the day ahead and

whatever that looks like for you.

You might have other things that you wanna review before you start your

day, depending on whether you work with other team members, et cetera.

And for me, my today page actually focuses on administrative work

first, because that helps me get things done for my team members so

that they can get their day started.

And then once I've done some of those administrative

tasks, then I jump into focus.

I'm not gonna get into that dashboard today.

That's a whole other rabbit hole that we could go down.

But today I just wanted to focus on the power of this startup page.

It's so powerful to set your intention at the beginning of the day before

you jump into work and before you get distracted, ask yourself what

is the one most important thing that you wanna get done today?

And then build a morning routine that helps support you in building that focus.

Again, this is a morning routine that works for me.

I know that if I do these things before I start the day, I'm

gonna set myself up for success.

If I do a workout in the morning, I know I'm gonna have a lot

more energy in the afternoon.

That's just what works for me.

But I do encourage you to ask yourself, what is a good morning

routine that really helps you feel energized and excited to start the day?

It's probably gonna look different than mine,

Consider making yourself a page to help you do that stuff really easily.

use of notions, automation, and buttons to help you set some of that stuff up

really quickly and have some fun with it.

Don't be afraid to play.

I really think the startup page has had a huge impact on the way

that I feel when I start the day.

It's just a quick pause before I jump in and the chaos of the day begins.

I am much more likely to follow through on my most important task if I actually

decide on it at the beginning of the day.

So I hope you'll consider making yourself a startup page.

If you do, I'd love to see what you create.

I'm always curious what other people do and what's working for you, so please

let me know in the comments below and have fun making your startup ritual.

If you like this startup ritual idea, you might also really like The Daily Mies.

The Daily Mies is basically the reverse of the startup ritual.

It is a shut down ritual.

It's inspired by the book Everything in Its Place by Dan Charnas.

I highly recommend it.

You can check out the video below where I give you a little bit of

a tour of what mine looks like and might give you some ideas for how

you can do your own shutdown ritual.

When you create a habit out of these startup and shutdown rituals,

you make it a lot more likely that you're going to be actually following

through on your tasks and Hopefully your backlog won't be quite as long.

So definitely check out that video and I will see you next time