Notion Template
You already know what's due.
That was never the problem. First Step gives every assignment a first move small enough to actually start — not another deadline tracker.
Get First StepWorks on the free Notion plan. No setup, no automations.
I've never lost track of a deadline in my life. I always know what's due — that was never the problem. The problem is opening the document. Every planner I've tried was built for tracking: due dates, streaks, colour-coded tags. None of them touch the moment things actually fall apart — which isn't the deadline. It's five seconds earlier, staring at "write the essay" as one giant grey block.
The whole product is one column.
Next move doesn't show you the task name. It shows you the sentence: open the PDF and read one page. Once something's started, it just says keep going.
This is the entire product.
Before and after a single task gets a first step:
Nothing in here ever turns red.
Late work reads Still open · 4 days ago. Never a red badge, never "overdue." A late assignment doesn't need a reminder that you're behind — it needs a next step.
A real system, not a to-do list.
One dashboard: what to start, what to dump, what's further out, and a focus timer — all without an endless scroll. A page for every course. A weekly reset that takes about ten minutes.
How it works
- 1 Duplicate First Step into your Notion — the free plan works, nothing to install.
- 2 Add your courses, then work through your syllabi once — drop in assignments with their due dates.
- 3 Open the dashboard — instead of a task name, you get one small action.
One-time purchase. Free updates forever.
- The First step field on every task
- Next move column — the action, not the assignment
- "Started" tracked as its own stage
- Past-due work reads "Still open" — nothing turns red
- Three-second capture, zero required fields
- Works on free Notion — no automations, no setup
FAQ
No. Everything works on the free plan. There are no automations and nothing to connect.
About ten minutes: add your courses, then work through your syllabi once. You do not need to write first steps for everything — three is enough to start.
Nothing breaks. There are no streaks to lose and no rollover to run. Open Pick one thing, pick one line, do the first step.
Yes — rename any field. Brain load, First step, Next move are just labels; use whatever your brain answers to.
It was designed around task initiation, which is an ADHD-specific bottleneck. But nothing in it is diagnostic or exclusive — if you're a chronic procrastinator, it's built for the same moment.
Yes — free updates to this template, whenever it's refreshed.
I built First Step because I needed it myself — knowing what's due was never my problem; starting was.