A calm daily planner in Obsidian.

What you’ll build

Most task lists show you everything at once. This planner shows a short list, chosen by how much time and energy you have:

• An inbox for anything on your mind, sorted later.
• Tasks with two extra properties, minutes and energy, so you can ask for “something under 15 minutes” or “something easy”.
• Up to three focus tasks for today, and bills and life admin two weeks ahead.
• One Today page that shows only those lists.

It’s the core of our Life OS vault, which has an ADHD-friendly design: one place to look, small next steps, and no guilt when you restart after a gap. You need Obsidian 1.9 or later with the Bases core plugin on. Everything below was tested in Obsidian 1.14 with no community plugins.

Step 1: A brain-dump inbox

When something pops into your head, write it down in seconds and get back to what you were doing. Each capture is a tiny note:

---
type: capture
captured: 2026-10-12
sorted: false
---
Ask the dentist about moving Thursday's appointment

Save the properties as Templates/Capture.md. This Base lists everything you haven’t sorted yet, newest first:

filters:
  and:
    - type == "capture"
    - '!file.inFolder("Templates")'
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Capture
views:
  - type: table
    name: To sort
    filters:
      and:
        - '!sorted'
    order:
      - file.name
      - captured
    sort:
      - property: captured
        direction: DESC

'!sorted' means “sorted isn’t ticked”. A note with no sorted property at all won’t show up, so keep sorted: false in the template. To sort a capture, turn it into a task, put it on your calendar, or delete it, then tick sorted.

Step 2: Tasks with minutes and energy

Every task gets two extra properties: how many minutes it takes, and how much energy it needs (Low, Medium or High):

---
type: task
status: Next
energy: Low
minutes: 10
area: Home
due: 2026-10-15
focus: false
---
Smallest first step: find last year's form.

Write the smallest first step in the note. “Renew the car registration” is a project; “find last year’s form” is something you can start now.

filters:
  and:
    - type == "task"
    - '!file.inFolder("Templates")'
formulas:
  size: if(!minutes, "", if(minutes <= 5, "⚡ 5 min", if(minutes <= 15, "15 min", if(minutes <= 30, "30 min", "1 hr+"))))
  effort: if(energy == "Low", 1, if(energy == "Medium", 2, 3))
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Task
  formula.size:
    displayName: Time
  note.energy:
    displayName: Energy
views:
  - type: table
    name: Focus today
    filters:
      and:
        - status != "Done"
        - focus == true
    order:
      - file.name
      - formula.size
      - energy
    sort:
      - property: formula.effort
        direction: ASC
  - type: table
    name: Quick wins
    filters:
      and:
        - status != "Done"
        - status != "Waiting"
        - if(minutes, minutes <= 15, false)
    order:
      - file.name
      - formula.size
      - energy
      - area
    sort:
      - property: minutes
        direction: ASC
  - type: table
    name: Low energy
    filters:
      and:
        - status != "Done"
        - status != "Waiting"
        - energy == "Low"
    order:
      - file.name
      - formula.size
      - area
    sort:
      - property: minutes
        direction: ASC

• Quick wins lists anything that takes 15 minutes or less, shortest first.
• Low energy lists easy tasks for when you’re tired, so you can still move something forward.
• The size formula turns minutes into a label like “⚡ 5 min”. Each nested if() handles one size.
• Waiting tasks are left out of both lists, since there’s nothing you can do about them right now.

Step 3: Pick up to three for today

Each morning, tick focus on no more than three tasks. The Focus today view lists them, easiest first: the effort formula turns Low, Medium and High into 1, 2 and 3, and the view sorts by it.

Three is a limit, not a target. One finished task beats five started ones.

Step 4: Bills and life admin, two weeks ahead

Give each bill, renewal or appointment a note with type: admin, a due date, the amount, and an autopay checkbox. This Base shows the next 14 days with a traffic light:

filters:
  and:
    - type == "admin"
    - '!file.inFolder("Templates")'
formulas:
  alert: if(!due, "", if(date(due) < today(), "🔴 Past due", if((date(due) - today()).days.round(0) <= 7, "🟡 This week", "🟢 Later")))
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Item
  note.amount:
    displayName: Amount $
  formula.alert:
    displayName: Alert
views:
  - type: table
    name: Next 14 days
    filters:
      and:
        - if(due, (date(due) - today()).days <= 14, false)
    order:
      - file.name
      - due
      - formula.alert
      - amount
      - autopay
    sort:
      - property: due
        direction: ASC

Past-due items stay on the list (their days are below zero), marked 🔴. When a bill is paid, move its due date to the next one, so the same note works every month.

Step 5: The Today page

Make a note called Home (or Today) and embed the four lists:

## Focus today (up to 3)
![[Tasks.base#Focus today]]

## Quick wins (15 minutes or less)
![[Tasks.base#Quick wins]]

## Brain dump to sort
![[Inbox.base#To sort]]

## Bills and admin, next 14 days
![[Life admin.base#Next 14 days]]

Pin it in a tab (right-click the tab, then Pin) and it’s the first thing you see. Everything else, from goals to habits, can live one click away.

A 20-minute weekly reset

Once a week, empty your head, look back and look ahead. A template for it:

## 1. Clear your head (5 min)
- Brain dump everything into the inbox.

## 2. Look back (5 min)
- What went okay:
- What was hard:
- One small change:

## 3. Look ahead (10 min)
![[Life admin.base#Next 14 days]]

- Three things that matter this week:

Missed a week, or a month? Skip the catch-up. Sort the inbox, pick today’s three, and start from here.

Mistakes that cost us time

• A Today page too long to read. Keep it to these four lists; the full list lives in the base.
• Tasks too big to start. If a task has no obvious first step, write one, or split the task.
• Your templates showing up as tasks. The !file.inFolder("Templates") filter fixes it.
• Sorting the inbox every time you capture. Capture now, sort once a day.
• Focus on everything. If more than three tasks are ticked, untick the extras.