Designing my ideal day using Notion & Notion Calendar

The concept of designing your ideal day isn’t new to me.

I’ve come across the idea in books like  The Greatness Mindset.

So I finally decided to give it a go.

But why?

Why design your ideal day?

To me, it’s about identifying what’s important and making time for it.

We often construct our days around work and leave little room for much else.

Which might leave you feeling unfulfilled.

So instead, the aim is to; bring a sense of pride for achieving the things you set out to.

What goes into your ideal day?

This will vary from person to person and the situation you’re in.

You should think about what you’d like your days to look like, to bring you fulfilment.

And that doesn’t mean – I want to spend all my time on the beach 🏖️ drinking cocktails 🍹 (unless that’s realistic).

For me, it includes the following:

And by the way.

Not every day should look the same, consider your ideal work days and your ideal leisure days.

What my ideal “work” day looks like

Surprisingly, some of my work days already look very similar to this:

5:45 - 6:00 ——— 🛏️ Wake up
6:00 - 7:00 ——— 📑 Personal project
7:00 - 8:00 ——— 👔 Get ready
8:00 - 8:30 ——— 🚌 School run
8:30 - 9:30 ——— ☕️ Coffee shop
9:30 - 9:45 ——— 🥣 Breakfast
9:45 - 12:30 —— 🎒 Deep work
12:30 - 1:00 —— 👟 Walk
1:00 - 1:15 ——— 🌯 Lunch
1:15 - 2:45 ——— 🎒 Deep work
2:45 - 3:15 ——— 🚌 School run
3:15 - 4:15 ——— 🎒 Shallow work
4:15 - 5:00 ——— 👨‍🍳 Cook food
5:00 - 5:15 ——— 🍲 Dinner
5:15 - 7:30 ——— 👧 Family time
7:30 - 8:15 ——— 🏋 Weight training
8:15 - 8:45 ——— 🛁 Bath
8:45 - 9:00 ——— 📔 Journal
9:00 - 9:30 ——— 😌 Relax
9:30 - 5:45 ——— 🛌 Sleep

Breaking these down into my categories above:

Undoubtedly there’s some crossover between things.

E.g. I consider walking both exercise and leisure .

Pair it with an audiobook and you’ve got a powerful 30 minutes right there (textbook habit stacking from  Atomic Habits).

Setting up your ideal day in Notion & Notion Calendar

First off you’re going to need a database in  Notion.

I find the calendar view best.

For me, I have a schedule database, which I use to schedule work etc.

With your table to hand, start creating new tasks for the day.

A task would include things like deep work and school run.

Next, open  Notion Calendar.

Your ideal day might take time

As I mentioned, some of my work days already look similar to this.

But it didn’t happen overnight.

I’ve been developing habits over the years – by prioritising what’s important to me.

But even, small intentional changes to yours – over a period of time could make a huge change in your life.

There are still areas I need to improve on, namely;

• Making time to work on side projects (like this blog post)
• Prioritising weight lifting (for my future self)

Closing thoughts

I know all of this might sound a bit woo-woo.

But, personally, I find it helps me.

As much as social media likes to portray – most things don’t happen overnight.

It takes consistent action – over a long period of time.