Drag-and-drop Tasks from Notion into Your Calendar - Notion Calendar Database Integration
The feature explained
You know how sometimes a Notion page in a database that contains a Date property doesn’t have the Date property filled out? For example, a Task without a “Do Date”, a Project without a “Start Date”. When this happens, you can find the page on the dedicated left sidebar of Notion Calendar and easily drag and drop the page to a specific date or time.
You can also update some page properties (status, date, select) directly in Notion Calendar, making the integration deeper than it used to be.
These features present two main advantages from my point of view:
We can make updates to Notion pages directly from the calendar, which reduces the need to shift apps. This can be especially useful for Tasks and other status-driven initiatives that we show on the calendar.
We can easily time block via a simple drag and drop from the sidebar into the desired time slot on the calendar.
Regarding point #2, this is nice, although there is a use case worth exploring further: say, we use Notion Calendar to time-block Tasks. Some Tasks take multiple sessions to complete (i.e., multiple time blocks across days). How can we track each session in our calendar? Using a simple “Do date” and/or “Due date” is not enough, unless we are okay with updating them each time and losing track of all the time block instances of the Task.
So, we can achieve this multi-instance time-blocking with a “third” database related to “Tasks”. Let’s call this database “Activities”. One Activity is linked to one Task. One Task can be linked to multiple Activities across multiple days. Each Activity has a Date. This way, we can create an Activity, link it with a Task, and time-block the Activity in Notion Calendar. When the task is complete, we will mark it as such in Notion, and no more Activity will be required for the Task. As long as a Task is not complete, it can have a new Activity related to it and time-blocked for execution. We can create Activities every day or at the start of each week, depending on preference. I explained a practical application of this system here.
Psychological & Philosophical Considerations
Some time ago, I wrote about Notion Calendar and how it can be useful for time blocking initiatives from Notion in a way that allows you to consistently execute on your goals instead of filling your calendar with reactive responses to external requests. A key factor in achieving what you say you want seems to be the ability to differentiate between signal (high value activities) and noise (fillers of time that are not high value), and to work 80% of the time on signal.
Though this is a mindset switch at its core, the tools we use can facilitate the implementation of the mindset and principles involved. If you use Notion for tracking your projects, tasks, goals, meetings, and any other initiative that involves a date, you may find Notion Calendar very beneficial to visualize your endeavors on a calendar, plan your day, weeks, months, and life.
When you connect your Notion account in Notion Calendar, any database that contains a Date property can be displayed on your calendar, alongside your Google Calendar events. This means you can visualize both your events and your initiatives in one single calendar. So, time blocking becomes quick, smooth, and simple to do. Then there is certainly execution left, which Notion Calendar doesn’t help with, and it’s your job—and likely the most important one—but this post isn’t about that.
The practice of time blocking can be powerful because it is proactive and intentional. You time block the activities in advance, and then follow the plan to execute and make progress. Over the long term, this consistent practice can lead you to achieve virtually anything you want, assuming you know what you want.
On the flip side, you may get stuck in this practice and develop a certain compulsion about it. You may build the habit of time blocking and then do it reflexively as a way to soothe your anxieties, despite the practice may not fit your current needs any longer. Everything is always changing, and that is okay.
The ability to not time block is just as valuable: can you live without time blocking? This is a worthy practice, too, because in the process of practicing time blocking, you may get stuck in it like an ant caught up in a spider web. Then you develop a certain degree of background anxiety if you don’t time block and you don’t fill your time with pre-scheduled activities that give you a sense of perceived safety. In such a situation, time blocking becomes a crutch instead of a tool to facilitate effective execution.
Another approach to time blocking is retrospective. You time block what you actually did at the end of each day. This is a good practice to perform an audit on your actual behaviors, and compare them to what you say you want to do. So you can understand how you are complicit in preventing the achievement of what you say you want, and then adjust your vision or your actions accordingly.
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