1/ Document the cornerstones of your system.

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Why this matters: Before you start building, you need to understand what you’re solving for. This keeps your setup practical, not just “pretty.”

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• Pain Points → What’s not working in your current setup
• Goals → What you actually want your system to help you achieve
• Workflows → How your ideal day/week should run inside the system </aside>

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Sample: Pain Points

1. Work-Life Blur – Hard to tell when workday actually ends when time zones + travel disrupt structure.
2. Billable Blind Spots – Loses track of hours spent in design iterations, client calls, and email threads.
3. Unclear Productivity Patterns – Some weeks feel ultra-productive, others like she’s floating with no data to course-correct. </aside>

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Sample: Goals

• Create structure without rigidity → a log that adapts to her changing environment.
• See a clear distinction between billable vs. non-billable time so she can raise her rates confidently.
• Build a daily rhythm: log tasks, close laptop guilt-free, and enjoy travel without stressing over undone work. </aside>

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Sample: Workflows (Ideal or Existing)

• Morning Setup: Add today’s projects/tasks before heading to a co-working café.
• On-the-Go Logging: Quick entries on her phone between tasks to note hours.
• Daily Summary: End-of-day reflection: billable vs. non-billable → see if the day balanced work & freedom.
• Weekly Overview: Use the dashboard to spot patterns → are Fridays always low productivity? Did client X eat more hours than expected? </aside>

2/ Decide which databases to track.

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Why this matters: Databases are the backbone. They connect everything and allow you to see patterns.

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Samples of Databases

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1. Tasks / Work Log

The central database. Every entry = one task or block of work.

Key Properties:

• Task Name
• Client / Project (relation)
• Date
• Billable / Non-Billable (select)
• Hours (number)
• Status (To Do / In Progress / Done)
• Notes / Daily Summary </aside>

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2. Clients / Projects

For grouping hours and seeing where time goes.

Key Properties:

• Client Name
• Project Name
• Rate (hourly / flat fee)
• Relation to Tasks
• Total Hours (rollup from Tasks)
• Billable Hours (formula or filtered rollup)
• Non-Billable Hours (rollup)
• Effective Hourly Rate (formula: revenue ÷ total hours) </aside>

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3. Daily Journal / Productivity Log

One page per day → links to Tasks for that day.

Key Properties:

• Date
• Daily Summary (text)
• Total Hours Worked (rollup)
• Billable vs. Non-Billable Split (rollup)
• Mood / Energy (optional, select or 1–5 scale)
• Win of the Day (text) </aside>

3/ Build realistic data points.

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• Start on Google Sheets/Excel if Notion feels overwhelming.
• Add mock tasks, projects, and hours.
• The more data you load, the faster you’ll see if your structure works.

The more data, the easier it is to actually map out a system and adapt it.