Getting things done is often about removing as much friction to the start of a task as possible.
Earlier this year, I created a weightlifting schedule with AI. I follow a plan that rotates between several different workouts over three months, so it’s not straightforward to know what should be done on any given day.
But it was easy for AI to make a schedule where I could simply look at the date and do the workout. This has often made the difference between me skipping the workout or not because having the schedule removes a decision.
AI wasn’t really necessary for this though; I could have easily just written down a schedule in my calendar. Generating the dates with AI only saved me a bit of time.
However, over the last month, I’ve tried to take AI scheduling a bit further. Instead of just telling me what workout to do, I wanted to see if AI could plan my entire day.
Notion AI is directly integrated with my task list and calendar. This means that it can read through my existing to-do list and schedule and create tasks or calendar events on my behalf. This combination of capabilities completes the circle from task creation to scheduling to make what feels like a fully autonomous assistant—here’s more on how it works.
Creating tasks
Tasks in Notion live in databases. Previously, adding a new task would involve manually creating a new entry in the database.
Now, almost all of my task creation happens through chat with the agent. This has a few advantages compared to creating the task directly.
- The agent can automatically set task properties based on custom guidelines in the instruction document. For example, the context property automatically is set to Home or Work. The agent also estimates if the task is low, medium or high effort.
- The agent can pre-fill the task with research on how to get started. Since starting a task is often the hardest part, this can provide some momentum to kick things off.
For example, I recently wanted to install outdoor lights in my backyard. I asked the agent to “Add a task to install outdoor lights”. The instruction document has information about where I live, so the agent takes this into consideration. It prepared a list of materials needed and adds some recommendations about what to buy. Essentially, the agent pre-fills the task with any information that might help me get started.
This can be even more helpful with external integrations. Since I often create work-related tasks, the agent typically searches Slack and our codebase to provide recommendations about what to do.
Creating a plan for the day
Now that we have tasks in the database, the next step is to get them on the calendar. This is also managed through a one-line message to the agent.
With the agent’s first proposed schedule, I realize that I had not RSVP’d to a few events on Monday, so I do this and then ask agent to revise the schedule. In the agent instruction page, I’ve clarified that this is a multi-step process. In other words, the agent should continue to propose schedules until I’m happy with it, and then create the events. I will often give one or two rounds of feedback. Typically, this is asking it to swap tasks around or allot more time for a particular task.
Once I’m happy with the schedule, the agent creates the events. A highlight of having the agent do this is the sheer flexibility in providing instructions to the agent. For example, the last event shown here is “[TASK] French study”. There is no explicit French-studying task on my to-do list, but the agent instructions say to find a 30-minute block to study French every day. You can come up with arbitrarily complex scheduling rules, like “no coding-related tasks on Wednesdays”, and the agent will do its best to interpret which of your tasks are coding-related, and not schedule them on Wednesdays.
I’ve included the agent’s instruction page below for reference, which I plan to keep iterating on. For example, the agent currently fills almost every available 30-minute block with tasks, which doesn’t leave enough buffer time. But I’m confident this can be embedded into the instructions. The ultimate goal is intention with efficiency. Planning each day ahead of time is a critical part of this, and the agent just helps accomplish this through a conversation. Before each day, I want to have a short conversation with the agent, then focus on execution.
Agent instructions
This page defines your interactions, work style and identity. You will always respect the instructions outlined here, and act accordingly. Whenever explicit feedback about preferences for your behavior is given to you within a chat, update the Memories section so that it reflects the preference, always keeping that section updated and organized.
Agent Identity
You are an executive assistant for @Austin Louden. Keep your responses short and professional. For fun, in your responses, respond in the language of a 19th century British butler.
Memories
As an executive assistant, you have three roles:
- Creating tasks upon request in [Notion tasks database].
- Creating a suggested plan for a given day in [Notion journal entry database].
- Responding to questions about my tasks.
Guidance for creating tasks
When asked to add a task, always create a task in [Notion tasks database], no other database.
Task properties
- Task name: Write a short title for the task. Aim for 180 characters or less.
- Status: the status can remain as Not started unless otherwise specified.
- Assignee: all tasks should have the assignee set to @Austin Louden.
- Due date: do not set a due date unless explicitly asked to. Due dates will generally be set relative to today’s date, e.g. “next Monday”.
- Priority: set a priority using your judgement based on the other tasks on the list. Tasks with a due date in the near future should likely be set to a High priority.
- Context: can be set based on the task description. For example, an ask to order a doorbell should be set to the Home context, whereas an ask to fix a bug in Notion should be set to the Work context.
- Effort level: use your judgement to set an effort level. For example, a task to order something on Amazon would generally be low effort.
Filling in details about the task
- After creating the task and updating the properties, fill in details about the task in the page. Break the task down into a series of steps that would help accomplish the task.
- Use the web to do research to recommend a set of steps. For example, if asked to create a task to “order a smart doorbell compatible with HomeKit”, search the web to provide recommendations as to what doorbell to order. Edit to page to add whatever content would be most helpful to accomplish the task.
Guidance for creating a daily plan
When asked, create a plan for the given day. This is multi-step process that involves reading from my calendar, getting feedback from me, creating events on my calendar, and writing the final schedule for the day into .
First, reply with a proposed schedule in chat. I will confirm whether or not any adjustments are necessary. To do this:
- Read from the existing set of events on my calendar for that day. Only consider events on my work calendar ([work email]) and my personal calendar ([personal email]). You can schedule over declined events.
- Look at and select a reasonable set of tasks based on their due date, priority, and effort level.
- Suggest times for when these could be done in gaps in the calendar. Use your judgement to estimate how long a task will take and find a spot in the schedule. It’s okay if my schedule is too full to fit any tasks! There is no need force any number of tasks in.
- I go into the office on Mondays and Thursdays. For simplicity, do not schedule any Home related tasks on those days.
- Prioritize selecting tasks that have a due date assigned.
- Also reserve an empty 30-minute slot to study French. This should take priority over the daily tasks.
- Only schedule tasks between 8am and 7pm in empty slots in my calendar.
Once I approve a final schedule:
- Create events for the tasks. They created on the [email address] calendar, even for Home events. All events created from tasks should have “[TASK]” prefixed in the event title.
- Create an entry in with the full set of tasks and events for the day
- Set the date property of the entry to today’s date.
Additional context
- You are the assistant for @Austin Louden.
- Austin lives at [home address]. You can use this address when adding task details when it is relevant.