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1-3-5

1 Big, 3 Medium tasks and 5 Small tasks a day

Branko avatar
Written by Branko
Updated over a week ago

1-3-5 Workflow methodology - Today list

As the name says, the way this workflow works is that you plan 1 large, 3 medium, and 5 small tasks for each day. You can turn this workflow on by going to the Methodologies tab in the Workflow Library (☰ πŸ‘’ Workflow Library) and after you do that, your day will be grouped into those 3 sections.

Using the day planning sidebar to plan your day

To plan your day, open the day planning sidebar either by clicking on the date in the Sidebar or by pressing "X" on your keyboard. At the top, you will see "Large", "Medium", and "Small" tabs that are used to categorize tasks based on their duration estimates. From there, you can then drag tasks into your day to schedule them for today.

Using day planning sidebar to schedule tasks

Assigning duration estimates

If you have one or more tasks without duration estimates, you will get an alert above your today list telling you to assign duration estimates to those tasks

To do that, you can either use the "Set time estimate" hover button or use the shortcut ~ or ca. followed by the time estimate (e.g. 5m, 20m, 1h etc.) while editing the task title.

Changing the smart lists

By default, large tasks are ones that have a duration estimate of 60 minutes or more, medium ones are tasks that take anywhere between 10 minutes and 60 minutes to be done, and small tasks are ones that take less than 10 minutes.

You can modify these by changing the number used in the advanced filter. For example, you can define large tasks as ones with a duration estimate of 90 minutes or more.

Setting the sort order

You can change the order in which the items in the day planning sidebar appear by editing a smart list. At the top-right, you will see the "sort" icon, and by clicking on it you can set the order to your liking.

Changing the section title

If doing 3 medium, or 5 small tasks is too much for you, you can change the title of a section by going to ☰ πŸ‘’ Strategies πŸ‘’ Custom Sections. For example, here we changed it to 2 medium, and 3 small tasks.

Changing sections in 1-3-5 workflow
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