I'm a 36 y/o founder with 26 employees, a wife and 3 kids in elementary school.
→ These are my best years for building a company.
→ They're also my best years for being “Dad”. Statistically, 80% of the time I'll ever spend with my kids will happen during these years.
This means when I'm at work, I need to be a productivity machine. An 8-hour sprint followed by a full transition to “second shift”.
Then when I’m at home, I’m a fully present husband/father. Disconnected from work, ready to connect with my people.
What makes this possible? A dialed-in system.
Can you trust your productivity system right now?
Here’s what I mean:
→ Tonight, if you're giving your kids a bath, and an anxious work-thought pops into your mind - do you have a way to put it out of your mind, or are you going to open up email or Slack on your phone?
→ Then when you’re lying in bed, are you going to be anxious trying to figure out what you should work on come Monday, or is your agenda and priorities already set?
To get to “mind like water” (as David Allen says) you need to be able to trust that your systems can consistently:
I’ve built a bullet-proof Notion system that does this.
Most afternoons, I drive home knowing that the next day is already set.
No need for Slack, Email, etc. - they’re all blocked on my phone anyway.
A good personal productivity system enables you to always know, at any given moment, the best thing to work on next.
To be able to answer that, you need to be able to understand how today’s to-do list fits into your 10-year dreams.
For that reason, I commit to the following planning rhythm:
Every December, I reset:
I don’t set 10 goals. I pick one.
One priority, two supporting goals, and a few daily habits tracked in Strides (habit app for iPhone).
Simple. Sustainable. Strategic.
This is the magic moment.
I plan my “Big 3” for the next week, block my calendar, and shut it down - hard.
Because if I don’t close the loop for the following week on Friday, I’ll be mentally working all weekend.
Mornings are for clarity: calendar + 3 focus blocks.
Afternoon are for the shutdown ritual:
What did I miss?
What needs attention tomorrow?
Am I clear to disengage?
I go home for dinner knowing what my tomorrow looks like. No need to check-in between.
This is all built in Notion, by the way.
Vision → Sprints → Weekly review → Daily setup—all in one place.
📥 Grab my free Notion Productivity OS template
Let me know if you want a full course on it and I’ll build one in the future.
I hope you’re able to disconnect with weekend!
Aaron