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My mornings used to start with something probably familiar to most people: the daily hunt.
Track down today's tasks. Search for that document I knew I saved somewhere. Scan through notes trying to find important follow-ups. Double-check my calendar to see what else I might need to prepare for. Assemble my agenda and at some point actually start doing some work.
Some mornings the hunt was quick. Other mornings I'd waste precious time searching for things I knew existed but couldn't find. And inevitably, something would slip through – ambushing me later in the day when it was almost too late.
It was hugely frustrating & time consuming. But when I started using Tana things started to change. I could easily mark things for a future date and then pull in everything I needed on the day with very little effort. Instead of going hunting each morning, the information I need for the day comes to me exactly when I need it.
I've affectionately called this the Push/Pull Daily Planner Method.
I push things forward to dates. And then Tana pulls those things together on the dates when I need them.
The method feels deceptively simple (which is how all great systems should feel), but eliminates all that busy work of collecting things for your daily agenda and simply deposits them on the day you need it. Here's how the Push/Pull Method works:
Every time I open my day page everything I need is waiting for me. It's brilliant. And it's also super easy to setup. Here's How:
This entire system runs on a single master date field in Tana. By having a master date I can easily setup a simple searche on the day page to find anything that has a date of today in that field. There are no complicated live searches here. It also means that I can add the master date field to any node or Supertag and it will show up in the search.
When I'm capturing stuff I immediately put a date in the field if I know I'll need to do it (or see it) on a certain day. This eliminates any extra processing later. I do this for 90% of things that I capture so I can eliminate end of day or weekly reviews.
(I wrote about this No Inbox Capture method here)
Once your master date field is set up, using the system couldn't be more easy. Here's what it looks like in practice:
When I book a hotel, I don't just file it away in a travel folder – I add the check-in date using my master date field. Three weeks later, when I open my daily page on check-in day, there are my booking details, right alongside my other tasks and notes.
The same goes for:
This is where the magic happens. On my day page Supertag I setup a simple search that finds anything that has the master date field with PARENT. It's really that simple. The parent search only works on the day page Supertag as it searches for the parent which is the next node up, which = that day.
That search pulls in everything I need for the day without me having to go hunting. Then I sort, organise & prioritise what I need to do. This has saved me so much time in planning my day. I probably spend less than 5 minutes prioritising what I have to do for the day. Compared to 20-30 minutes previously when I had to hunt for everything.
Plus it's not something I dread each morning. I actually look forward to it.
I mentioned that 90% of things I capture get a date assigned. For the other 10% I use my weekly review to push things forward to dates in that week. Usually on a Monday morning I'll scan through my task list quickly and choose what I need to work on that week and assign a date to each task.
The true power of this method isn't in its technical setup – it's in the peace of mind it creates. Opening your day page and finding everything prepared feels like having a highly organised assistant who knows exactly what you need and when you need it.
No more nagging feeling that you're forgetting something important. No more morning scavenger hunts. Just the quiet confidence of knowing that when you need something, it will be there waiting for you.
So stop The Hunt and use the Push/Pull Daily Planner method instead.
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