Setting it up
The principles
These are baked into every template:
No-shame language. "Carried forward", not "overdue". "Not yet done", not "you forgot".
Quick wins first. Dopamine before discipline. The hardest thing is never at the top.
Effort-tracked. "You did the thing" matters more than "you did the thing perfectly".
Energy-adaptive. Bad days get less asked of you - not the same volume with a sympathetic note.
Open-ended check-ins. "How are you feeling?", not a scale that reminds you how rough things are.
Follow the guides in order
- Create your project - the home for the whole relationship. About 10 minutes including the settings.
- Connect Notion - give Claude somewhere to keep its memory. 5 minutes. You don't create anything - Claude builds its own pages.
- The first conversation - Claude interviews you, builds its memory pages while you talk, and catches your first brain-dump. About 20 minutes, and the nicest part.
Then read Using it day to day - though by that point you'll already know. Questions along the way: the FAQ.
Start small, grow from there
The essential tier is three files and one conversation to set up - it works from day one. When you're ready for more, the second tier connects Claude to Notion, Todoist, and your calendar, so the system maintains itself: you brain-dump, Claude sorts it, and the right nudge arrives at the right time.
The design principles behind it - and the story of the system it came from - are what Held In Time is about, if you want the deeper background.