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Disclaimer
I’m not having any commissions for the books I mention in this doc. These are just books that inspired me in different points of my life.
I do receive commissions or credit from Coda every time someone open an account or subscribe to a paid plan for using this doc. If you liked it, please consider open an account in Coda or subscribe to a paid plan, there would be no extra cost for you, and you’ll be allowing me to develop more docs like this one 😁.
Introduction
The goal of this doc is to help you managing all the tasks that takes time and money (for Knowledge management I recommend Obsidian and Zotero). It is divided in four sections:
Daily tasks
Projects
Habits
Finances
You can start with just one of the sections and then moving forward with the other sections once you feel confortable.
Note on pricing
This template was designed to be as “automation efficient” as possible. You only have 3 automations: one time based and two event based. That means that you can use this template with a Free pricing plan without problems until you reach the 1000 rows database limit. Once you hit that limit, you will have to work in a new template or subscribe to the Pro pricing plan (see ). I use the Google Calendar pack, but just to copy my meetings into this doc. If you are in the Free pricing plan, you can delete the page. Nothing will be broken.
Given notice, I highly recommend you get a Pro pricing plan once you reach the database limit, or from the beginning if you want to keep your Google Calendar synced. That way you can have all your data in one place. As a tip, Coda has a generous referral program. You can invite your friends and family to Coda to get referral credit and save some money.
How to use this document
Use each section one by one until you feel confortable enough to add and manage all of them. A starting guide for each section is provided in the page, and you will find detailed instructions in every section’s pages.
Setup
The guides in here will help you to get started with the section you wish. You will have to fill some tables in order to start, but the process is very smooth.
Daily tasks module
Every one of us have some tasks we must do from time to time (recurring tasks). First, let's add some recurring tasks. Go to the page and add some of them.
💡 Tip: Daily tasks correspond to habits. You can see more in the “” section.
📖 Note
The annual, biannual and quarterly tasks are triggered every end of the current period and fill the tasks for the next period. If you have some recurring tasks upcoming in the current period, you will have to add them manually with the button “Add a new task” in the page.
The biweekly and weekly tasks are triggered every end of month and fill the tasks for the next month. If you have some recurring tasks upcoming in the current month, you will have to add them manually with the button “Add a new task” in the page.
The daily tasks are triggered every end of week and fill the tasks for the next week. If you have some recurring tasks upcoming in the current week, you will have to add them manually with the button “Add a new task” in the page.
Using the page
You can add other tasks that are not recurring but can be programmed in the table with the help of the “Add a new task button”. If you kept the Google Calendar page, your meetings, events and other appointments from your calendar will be added automatically in this table.
📖 Note
The events in the or are not synced with your Google Calendar. If you want to make changes in both places, you will have to do it manually. This doc was designed to be “Vanilla Coda”, so that it works as a foundation, and you can add the packs that you need.
When you start tracking your time
Fill the “Start tracking your time” section in the page. Change the table for . Now, every time you mark as done a task, a modal window will ask you to fill the time it took you to fulfill the task. You can also start to use the “” form to fill tasks that cannot be anticipated. Se .
When you start with finances management
Add some recurring expenses in the page. Now, every time you mark as done a financial duty, another modal window will ask you to fill the expenses data.
Projects module
This module uses the Kanban methodology and is inspired in the principles of Dominica DeGrandis book and Mik Kersten’s book . With these methodologies you will be able to:
Know how much time you spend in a task, activity or product.
Know the lead time, flow time, active time and inactive time of an item in a given value stream.
Manage different value streams.
Prioritize your job.
Focus on what’s important.
Reduce “status meetings”.
And many, many more... Take a look at the recommended books 😉
Using the page
Fill in your project (or projects) and projects items (tasks or, flow items - more on that later) in the starting guide.
Go to your page. You will find the project(s) and items you filled in the “Getting started” guide, with an “+ Add to board” button in the activity backlog (see more about the backlog in the ). You “pull” your work into the by pressing the button.
Now you have your cards in the Kanban board. Drag them between the “Status” columns to work on them.
When you start tracking item’s active time
📖 Note
Now you will be able to track an item’s active and idle time, and also know how many times you get interrupted when you are working on an item. This data can help you establishing the best hours for “Deep work” sessions and deciding what to do with idle tasks.
All the items from the are considered “Deep work”.
When you start with value streams
First, add your value streams in the of the page.
Assign your items to value streams by opening the card and editing the corresponding fields.
Habits module
This module was inspired in Darren Hardy’s book . The habits module is the easiest of all the modules in this doc. First, add some habits in the page. You have two kinds:
Event-based habits: These are the habits that needs to happen a number of times a day. It doesn’t matter how much time they took as long as they happen. Some examples would be “brushing my teeth at least 3 times a day”, “Wake up 6 am” (1 time a day), “Walk the dog” (1 time a day).
Time-based habits: These need that you schedule some time in your day to fulfill them. Examples would be “Studying 60+ min a day”, “Workout 30+ min a day”, “Play with my children 60+ min a day”.
You can establish how many times a week you want to accomplish your habits. The report will take this into account to show your performance in a timeframe.
At the beginning, you can check directly the habit fulfilled in the .
When you start tracking the time you need (or the time you assign) to fulfill a habit
Just change the table for the one. Now, instead of a checkbox, you have a button. Push the button every time you want to log the event (for example, waking up 6 am) or the time you spent on a habit. A modal window will appear asking you to fill the start and end time of the task.
The best part of it is that an automation takes charge to calculate your daily progress and it will tell you how much is left to complete the goal.
📖 Note
You might want to add the time it took to fulfill an event-based habit. For example, maybe you have “Journaling” or “Planning next day” habits, and each of them took you 15 or more minutes; and perhaps you wish to know how much time a day you spent fulfilling your habits. That’s why the time modal window will appear, no matter if it is a time-based or an event-based habit.
Finances module

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