I can't believe how well this Notion daily planner helps me focus

This video presents a Notion-based daily planning dashboard called "My Day," which the creator has used daily for a year, built on the free Ultimate Tasks template. Its core principle is to maintain a separate, deliberately small daily task list as a filter over your existing task manager—not a duplicate—so checking a "My Day" checkbox automatically surfaces tasks in an Execute view. The workflow is structured into three phases: Plan, Execute, and Wrap Up, with the key finishing piece being a "Clear My Day" button that unchecks all tasks, forcing a fresh, intentional planning ritual each day. To address concerns about losing unfinished tasks, the creator adds a table-based "Clear My Day" view and a "Last Edited" sort, allowing users to restore or revise tasks before clearing. The main message is that a simple, deliberate daily filter combined with a clean reset mechanism can transform a traditional task manager into an effective daily planning system.

• ▶ 0:00 The video introduces a daily planning dashboard in Notion called "My Day," which the creator has used every day for a year and calls their most useful Notion build.
• ▶ 0:16 "My Day" is structured around three main sections: Plan (task views), Execute (the most important section), and Wrap Up (end-of-day cleanup).
• ▶ 0:43 The core workflow is: 1) Plan in the morning or night before by checking "My Day" on tasks, 2) Execute from a clean, deliberately filled list during the day, and 3) Wrap Up by clearing the day and adjusting task details.
• ▶ 1:50 The build is based on the free "Ultimate Tasks" template, and the video assumes you have a task manager or use the linked template or Ultimate Brain.
• ▶ 2:28 Start from an Ultimate Tasks slate, not a blank page, because you need an underlying task manager to build the "My Day" page on top of.
• ▶ 2:42 The core principle is to keep your traditional task manager but each day create a separate, deliberate, and small list of just the tasks you plan to work on today—this can be done in any system.
• ▶ 3:11 This approach works even outside Notion (e.g., sticky note or whiteboard); you don't have to use Notion, though Notion is useful because you can view and filter the same underlying tasks without duplicating them.
• ▶ 3:40 The My Day page is a filter, not a duplicate: checking a task's My Day checkbox in the Plan section automatically matches it into the Execute view, eliminating redundant data entry.
• ▶ 5:51 Copy the existing linked database block from the Ultimate Tasks page (via the six-dot menu) to paste the entire set of task manager views into the My Day page's Plan section in one action; choose "Dismiss" instead of "Paste and sync" so later changes don't propagate back to the original.
• ▶ 6:47 The critical missing piece is the My Day checkbox: it must be added as a new checkbox property in the underlying task database, then placed on the right side of each task row with a text label to distinguish it from the standard complete checkbox on the left.
• ▶ 7:58 Before editing the Tasks database, make sure it is unlocked, since a locked view will prevent property changes.
• ▶ 8:18 Create a My Day checkbox property (with a sun icon) in the database; this checkbox is the core mechanism for adding tasks to the daily plan.
• ▶ 11:21 Reconfigure the Execute view's filters to show only tasks where My Day is checked — removing the status and due filters so completed tasks also remain visible.
• [13:21-14:52] The Wrap-Up section's Clear My Day button is the core finishing piece: it unchecks "My Day" for every checked task, ensuring the Execute view is empty each day and forcing deliberate, fresh daily planning instead of a cluttered "Due Today" list.
• [15:24-16:00] The button is configured with an "Edit Pages" action on the Tasks database, filtered to tasks where "My Day" is checked, and sets the "My Day" property to Unchecked, instantly clearing the board.
• [16:00-16:21] An optional "Show Confirmation" action can be added at the top of the button sequence, asking "Are you sure you want to continue?" to prevent accidental clears.
• ▶ 16:16 The user must confirm an action; pressing "cancel" will undo or prevent it, likely related to saving or applying a configuration.
• ▶ 16:21 The speaker notes that the "broad strokes" of the setup are complete, shifting from detailed configuration to a higher-level overview.
• [16:21–16:28] The overall workflow is structured into three phases: a Plan view, an Execute view, and a Wrap-up section, providing a clear end-to-end daily planning structure.
• ▶ 16:33 Customer feedback: testers liked the "Clear My Day" action but worried about losing their carefully chosen daily tasks.
• ▶ 16:40 The core problem: unfinished tasks could be inside projects or have no due dates, making them hard to find again from the Plan view.
• ▶ 16:57 The solution: a set of table-layout database views placed directly beneath the Clear My Day button, giving users a way to "restore" their daily plan.
• ▶ 17:13 The "Clear My Day" view is a table-style version of the Execute view, built for editing task property values more easily on a computer.
• ▶ 18:13 Before clearing your Execute view, use Clear My Day to add missing details to rushed or "brain dumped" tasks—otherwise they risk getting lost in the inbox.
• ▶ 18:46 After filling in properties like project and status, the task stays findable later even if unfinished; then you can hit "Clear My Day" to empty the view for the next day.
• ▶ 18:58 Additional views are introduced to help "prime our brains" for planning the day ahead or even get a head start on daily planning.
• ▶ 19:07 The Review Calendar view displays any tasks that have hard deadlines, providing a quick calendar-based snapshot of upcoming commitments.
• ▶ 19:12 This makes it easier to mentally prepare for what needs to be accomplished.
• ▶ 19:15 A "Last Edited" view sorts tasks by last edited time descending, making just-cleared tasks easy to find again.
• ▶ 19:36 Clearing My Day updates each task's edited timestamp when the checkbox is unchecked, so those tasks jump to the top of the view for quick review or recovery.
• ▶ 20:06 Repopulating the list after clearing turns the action into a deliberate replanning ritual: users consciously choose which tasks to commit to for tomorrow, even if the list looks nearly identical.
• ▶ 20:15 Instead of creating a table view from scratch, duplicate an existing view and then change its layout type to Table.
• ▶ 20:33 Add a few more tasks to the Execute view first so they appear in the duplicated table view for demonstration.
• ▶ 20:43 Configure the table layout by enabling “Wrap all content,” turning off the data source title and page icon, and turning on vertical lines.
• ▶ 21:02 The Clear My Day view is configured with two sort rules: Due ascending and Subtask ascending, keeping a simple sort order.
• ▶ 21:23 The filter is set to “My Day is checked,” and the view is renamed to “Clear My Day.”
• ▶ 21:36 The view groups by Status with empty groups shown, so unfinished tasks appear at the top and completed tasks at the bottom for quick editing and clearing.
• ▶ 22:15 Duplicating an existing view saves setup time, and the correct data source is already confirmed before duplicating.
• ▶ 22:57 Apply the key filters: My Day is unchecked and Status is not complete to show all upcoming required tasks that are not yet done.
• ▶ 23:20 After setting the calendar layout, sorting, and optional Status property visibility, the Review Calendar view is complete and clearly displays pending required tasks.
• ▶ 23:22 The Plan Tomorrow view is a table-style view, so the presenter recommends duplicating an existing view instead of building from scratch; it filters for tasks not done and sorts by last edited date to surface recently edited tasks from My Day.
• ▶ 23:57 The presenter duplicates the Clear My Day view, renames it to Plan Tomorrow, and assigns a sun up icon to match the "tomorrow" theme.
• ▶ 24:10 The Clear My Day view icon is updated to a sun down icon, reinforcing its "end of day" purpose.
• ▶ 24:25 Plan Tomorrow view is configured with Status "not done" and sorted by edited time descending.
• ▶ 24:29 Filter changed from "My Day is checked" to "Status is not complete" so incomplete tasks appear.
• ▶ 24:39 Sort changed from "Due" ascending to the "Edited" property, using descending order to show most recently edited tasks first.
• ▶ 24:48 The wrap-up section is complete, with all required views arranged in descending order, finishing the broad strokes of the My Day page.
• ▶ 25:07 You can add a powerful daily planner to any Notion task manager by adding a My Day checkbox and creating a central Execute view that shows only what's planned for the day.
• ▶ 25:39 Optional context tags — Location, PI, and Energy — help group tasks, batch similar items together, and order tasks more intelligently in the Execute section.
• ▶ 26:08 Use Energy and Location tags to batch daily tasks by mental capacity and physical context, e.g., knocking out low-energy or errand-type tasks together while out.
• ▶ 26:26 The P/I property is the most important tag: Immersive tasks need full focus the entire time, while Process tasks only need to be started to keep moving on their own.
• ▶ 27:04 Launch process tasks first, then switch to immersive tasks to get more done for the same effort; reversing this order risks a backlog of blocked process tasks waiting on your long immersive work.
• ▶ 27:20 Time tracking is not covered in this video; immersive tasks will be addressed in an upcoming video.
• ▶ 27:32 Navigate to the source Tasks database via breadcrumbs and make sure the database is unlocked before adding properties.
• ▶ 27:54 Add three new select properties to the Tasks database: Energy, Location, and P/I (process/immersive).
• ▶ 28:20 Assigns visual icons to custom properties: battery for Energy, city for Location, and a frying pan with egg for PI.
• ▶ 28:49 Sets default select options: Energy has High and Low; Location includes Errand, Home, Office, and a humorous Underground volcano layer.
• ▶ 29:05 PI gets two options, Process and Immersive, based on the "mise en place" cooking philosophy from the book Work Clean.
• ▶ 29:32 The speaker creates a new section in the task page layout, names it "prioritization," and drags the Energy, P/I, and Location properties into it, emphasizing that setting priorities is essential in a task manager.
• ▶ 29:53 While customizing the layout, the speaker pins the My Day property to the pinned properties area so it is always visible.
• ▶ 30:15 After applying the layout to all pages, the speaker explains that pinning My Day lets users open any task from any view and add it to My Day with one click, even in full-page or peek mode.
• ▶ 30:33 Returning to the My Day worksheet to make newly created database properties visible in the main planning view.
• ▶ 30:37 New properties Energy, Location, and PI are enabled in the property visibility settings.
• ▶ 30:54 The property order is rearranged so the new properties appear before "Due," keeping My Day prominent, and meta labels are moved down.
• ▶ 31:17 Instead of manually editing tags one by one, create drag-and-drop grouped views to assign properties much faster.
• ▶ 31:36 Duplicate the “My Day” view, rename it, remove sorting, group by Energy, and enable empty groups so tasks can be dragged into the right bucket.
• ▶ 32:15 Duplicate and tweak the same setup for Location, then PI, to quickly assign tasks by drag-and-drop across all three properties.
• ▶ 32:46 Uncheck “Hide empty groups” so all task groups remain visible, even when empty.
• ▶ 32:48 Place Process at the top, since process tasks should be started first before switching to immersive tasks.
• ▶ 33:04 Drag tasks between groups as needed to correctly organize them, which is how the My Day view gets set up properly.
• ▶ 33:16 After finishing the main "My Day" view, navigate back to the main database using breadcrumbs before locking it again.
• ▶ 33:28 Keep the database locked whenever you're not actively making structural changes, such as adding or changing properties.
• ▶ 33:33 Locking is especially important when working with others—and still good practice solo—because it prevents accidental edits and keeps the planner stable.
• ▶ 33:38 The tutorial concludes with how to create your own version of the My Day worksheet.
• ▶ 33:45 The speaker calls this worksheet “the most important part of the template” and uses it every day to run their life, serving as the main hub for getting things done.
• ▶ 34:02 The build-from-scratch walkthrough provides a complete DIY path for anyone who doesn’t want to pay for the Ultimate Brain template.
• ▶ 34:09 The Ultimate Brain template is an all-in-one system for organizing your entire life inside Notion, included directly in the tool.
• ▶ 34:34 It features an advanced recurring task system and automations that work on Notion’s free plan, unlike typical paid-plan automations.
• ▶ 35:27 Get it at thomasjfrank.com/brain, which also includes video/written tutorials and access to a customer support community.
• ▶ 35:47 Thomas directs viewers to thomasjfrank.com/brain to access the full template and related materials.
• [35:50–36:05] For building the task manager from scratch, he recommends a dedicated video on building Ultimate Tasks, calling it a great resource for learning Notion in depth.
• [36:06–36:10] He also points to another video that clarifies the reasoning behind "My Day" and the conceptual daily planning system.

• ▶ 0:00 Introduction and Workflow Overview (0:00 - 2:30) - - Introduces the My Day dashboard, its three-section workflow, and the free template it builds on.
• ▶ 2:30 Starting from the Ultimate Tasks Slate (2:30 - 3:43) - - Explains why to start from an Ultimate Tasks slate and the core principle of a deliberate, separate list.
• ▶ 3:43 Building the My Day Page and Plan Section (3:43 - 7:36) - - Creates the page, ports the task manager into Plan, and adds the My Day checkbox.
• ▶ 7:36 Configuring the Database and Execute View (7:36 - 12:43) - - Unlocks the database, creates the My Day property, and reconfigures the Execute filters.
• ▶ 12:43 Wrap-Up Section and Clear My Day Button (12:43 - 16:21) - - Mentions advanced features, then builds the Wrap-Up section with the Clear My Day button and confirmation dialog.
• ▶ 16:21 Additional Views and Planning Tools (16:21 - 36:14) - - Adds Clear My Day, Review Calendar, and Plan Tomorrow views, then wraps up the page.