The Founder’s Productivity Stack

Author

Aaron Hayslip

Published

May 29, 2026

Read

10 min

Practices

Plan, Architect

Most founders I know operate without a system, and honestly it’s worked out okay to this point.

It’s the story I hear from all my clients - they built to 7 figures by working long hours and being incredibly responsive to their clients and employees.

But you’re starting to break down, because two things are happening at once:

• The goal post is moving. What got you here won’t be enough to get you there.
• You’re getting older. You can’t grind all night, it’s harder to stay fit, you want to be present for your family, and your finances are becoming more complex. Everything is harder.

The truth is, you need a productivity system to keep it all together and make sure you’re getting the most out of your time.

But “Getting Things Done” was written in 2001. There was no Claude, no one who wasn’t a Fortune 500 CEO had their own assistant, and almost no one worked remotely from a computer.

I’ve built a system that solves for this. It:

• Is simple enough that you don’t need to read a 300-page book to adopt it.
• Is robust enough that you can fully trust it to be your second brain.
• Connects your massive life-goals to today’s next actions.

Ultimately, the entire system is a series of 5 databases that nest inside each other: Tasks roll up into Projects, Projects ladder up to Goals and OKRs, and each week your Big Three pulls from the top to tell you the only three things that really matter this week.

A Second Brain You Trust

Storing your goals, projects, and tasks has little value on its own. It’s the habits and behaviors you build around them - capturing, reviewing, and triaging every week - that turn five databases into a second brain.

Your brain wasn’t designed to do more than one thing at a time, yet most of us are distracted and anxious because we’re trying to hold everything together in our heads.

But that’s what makes this system so powerful - it enables you to focus, with full trust, on only what you need to focus on in this moment: whether it’s a meeting, deep work on a project, or having dinner with your family.

The two primary mechanisms that make this work are:

1. Quick capture into one source of truth - one inbox where every anxious thought, task, or idea can be dumped instantly into a trusted system. No organizing, no deciding. Just capture and move on. At 2pm, or 2am.
2. A weekly review meeting with yourself - a time once a week to process everything, categorize it, and put it in a place where you KNOW it will get done.

Once you have a system like this you trust, you can be confident that you’re always working on the right things and that any looming, anxious thoughts can be immediately eliminated - allowing you to be fully present and fully productive.

And the structure that makes all of this trustworthy is the five databases. Let’s build them.

The Five Databases

I keep all of these tasks, projects, and goals organized inside Notion, but you can recreate these “databases” anywhere you want.

We’ll start from the bottom with tasks and work our way up.

Tasks

Tasks are the atomic unit of your system. They’re the smallest thing you can do - one action, one step.

I keep two task databases: one for work, one for personal. You could use one database with a tag if you prefer.

A great system will help you connect the dots from a high-level goal all the way down to the best next action. It will basically tell you what to do next.

Every task has a few properties:

I have about 10 areas for personal (health, finance, family, spiritual, etc.) and 10 core functions for work (sales, operations, marketing, etc.). These let me filter views quickly - “show me all the finance tasks for home” or “what are the sales tasks that need attention?”

Most tasks start in the inbox with zero organization. They get categorized during your Weekly Review.

Projects

A project is anything that takes more than one step to complete.

“Send invoice” is a task. “Launch new pricing page” is a project - it has multiple tasks inside it.

I have two types:

The distinction matters because it tells you what to work on. If a project is current, it has a next action - which means you can make progress on it right now. If it’s someday/maybe, it’s parked until you decide to activate it.

This is the most important rule in the system. A project without a next action isn’t a project - it’s a placeholder. The next action is what turns intention into motion.

And here’s the constraint that keeps things honest: every current project must connect upward.

Personal projects must be tied to a goal. Work projects must be tied to an OKR or outcome.

If a project doesn’t connect to something strategic, it’s either a someday/maybe or you haven’t set the right goals.

Goals

On the personal side, I set “goals.”

I set about 25 goals per year across my areas of life - health, wealth, relationships, spiritual, etc. Each one follows the basics: specific outcome, measurable, with a deadline (end of year, worst case).

You may have fewer goals. You might do them quarterly instead of annually - the important piece here is that you set big goals that are measurable and time bound.

The key rule: every active goal must have at least one current project.

If my goal is “reach 10% body fat,” the project might be “cut to 175 lbs by August.” That project has tasks like “meal prep Sunday” and “log macros daily.” Goals don’t own tasks directly - they own projects, and projects own tasks.

If you look at your goals and one of them doesn’t have an active project attached, one of two things is true:

1. You haven’t created the project yet - do it now.
2. The goal isn’t actually important to you right now - put it on hold.

Either answer is fine. What’s not fine is an “active” goal with no project moving it forward. That’s self-deception.

OKRs

On the work side, I use OKRs instead of personal goals. Same concept, different framing.

As a company, we set a 10-year target, a 3-year picture, and a 1-year plan. Our OKRs are derivatives of the 1-year plan.

Outcomes are the 3-4 big results I’m responsible for this quarter. “Close X number of new sales.” “Launch the referral program.” “Hit 85% client retention.”

Objectives are the measurable lagging indicators underneath - what does “achieving this outcome” actually look like? Think of them as the milestones or proof points.

Projects on the work side ladder up to either an outcome or an objective. Same rule as personal: if a work project doesn’t connect to an OKR, it’s a someday/maybe - or it’s a sign your OKRs aren’t complete.

I’m not going to go deep on OKR methodology here. There are a million frameworks - rocks, traction, whatever you want to call them. The point is: your quarterly work priorities are defined, and your current work projects connect to them.

Big Three

This is where the whole stack comes alive.

Every week during planning, I pick my Big Three - the three most important things I’ll focus on that week. Each one is a derivative of a current project, which connects to a goal or OKR.

Think of it as: what is one milestone I can achieve this week to move serious progress on this project?

Each Big Three item gets a 3-hour deep work block on my calendar. That’s at least 9 hours of focused, strategic work per week - before meetings, email, Slack, or anything else touches my morning.

This is the keystone habit. Everything else in the system exists to make this decision clear: what are the three things that matter most this week, and when am I going to do them?

I share my Big Three with my team every week. Now everyone knows what I’m focused on.

The Weekly Planning Ritual

Every Friday morning, I plan the next week during my “Weekly Review.”

This is a meeting I have with myself that makes everything else work. I cannot miss this meeting.

Ideally I would do Friday afternoons because technically I’m planning the next week before this week is over (I have the rest of Friday). But I’m usually too tired at the end of Friday so I choose the morning.

I prefer this over Sunday or Monday because it allows me to go into my weekend with confidence - my upcoming week is already fully planned. In other words, I rest easy knowing that I have a killer plan for being productive next week.

Here are the steps I take during this ~60 minute meeting:

Step 1: Brain Dump

I simply think through anything that’s currently on my mind that I think needs to be processed and put it in my inbox.

Step 2: Review Last Week’s Calendar

I walk through each meeting from this last week and make sure all loops are closed (follow-ups, etc.). If they are not, I add tasks to my inbox.

Step 3: Review Last Week’s Big 3

I look at last week’s “Big 3” and note progress. Did I finish them? If not, why? Anything to change?

Step 4: Look at the Upcoming Week’s Calendar

I look at the meetings that are already scheduled for the upcoming week and ask, “should I prep for this?” If yes, I add action items to my inbox.

Step 5: Triage the Inbox

This is where most of the work happens. You go through every item in your inbox and assign it exactly one of four fates - the 4 Ds: Do, Delete, Delegate, or Defer.

To figure out which D an item gets, you run it through a quick decision tree:

Start by asking: is it actionable? If there’s nothing to actually do - it’s noise, a stray thought, or a someday idea - it’s a Delete (trash it or park it in Someday/Maybe).

If it is actionable, ask: can I do it in under 2 minutes? If yes, it’s a Do - knock it out right now.

If no, ask: is this mine to do? If someone else can handle it, it’s a Delegate.

And if it’s actionable, takes longer than two minutes, and it’s truly yours - it’s a Defer.

That’s the whole tree: actionable → 2 minutes → mine → and you’ve landed on a D. Here’s what each one means in practice:

Do it - if it takes under 2 minutes, just knock it out right now. Don’t defer a 30-second email reply into your system. That’s overhead, not organization.

Delete it - if it’s not actionable and not worth saving, kill it or add it to a “someday/maybe” project. Most inbox items are noise.

Delegate it - if it’s actionable but someone else can do it, hand it off. I delegate to my assistant or teammate. Tag it as “delegated” or “waiting” so you remember to follow up.

Defer it - if it’s actionable and it’s mine, assign it to the right project, tag the area or core function, and move on. It’ll show up as a next action when you review that project.

Keep going until the inbox is at zero. This is non-negotiable.

Step 6: Review Current Projects

Go through each current project - work and personal.

Remember, “current work projects” HAVE to be related to an OKR and “current personal projects” HAVE to be related to a goal.

Step through each project and ask: is there a next action defined?

If yes, great - keep moving. If no, either define one or demote the project to someday/maybe. A current project with no next action is lying to you about being current.

Also check: is anything stale? If a project hasn’t moved in 2+ weeks, something’s wrong - either the next action is too big, the project isn’t important, or you’re avoiding it.

Steps 7-8: Review & Promote

These steps are quick passes:

• Goals & OKRs - Is every active goal/OKR backed by a project? Anything at risk?
• Waiting items - Am I still waiting? Time to follow up?
• Someday/Maybe - Anything ready to promote to current?

Step 9: Big Three + Schedule

This is the payoff. Based on everything you just reviewed - your projects, your goals, your OKRs, what’s coming up on the calendar - you pick your Big Three for the week.

Each Big Three must be tied to a current project (which is tied to a goal or OKR). Then you put them on the calendar as 3-hour deep work blocks (or however much time you can afford to budget).

That’s at least 9 hours of focused, strategic work per week - before meetings, email, Slack, or anything else touches my morning.

This is the keystone habit. Everything else in the system exists to make this decision clear: what are the three things that matter most this week, and when am I going to do them?

Step 10: Schedule Time Sensitive, Other Projects and One-off Next Actions

I keep an “Ideal Week Calendar” which dictates how each week is architected. This tells me where I have pockets for different levels of deep work and “next actions.”

I typically either block all mornings for “deep work” (no meetings) or I’ll have days that are fully meetings that are alternated with days with 0 meetings.

After I’ve blocked time off on my calendar for my “Big 3 Items”, I’ll look through all my “Next Actions” and other projects to see what needs to be done this next week and when I can do it. Here’s how I prioritize:

Time Sensitive: If there are “Next Actions” on my list that are time sensitive (they have a due date) they go on the calendar first. I’ve already prioritized the important over the urgent with my “Big 3”, but I must account for the urgent as well.

Other Current Projects: I’ve only prioritized 3 of my projects this week, but I may fit other projects onto my calendar for this week too as I have room.

Batched Next Actions: Many of the items on my task list do not have a project, but all have an “Area” or “Core Function.” For these items, I try and look at all my next actions to see if I can batch them all and then I’ll block off a slot to work on them.

For example, I may have 5 finance tasks that are not part of a project, so I’ll add a calendar block on Monday to knock them out since I’ve decided in my ideal week calendar that Monday’s theme is “finance.”

Remember the Rules

Your turn to implement the system. If you remember nothing else, save these rules in a place you can review them again:

1. Every current project must have a next action. No next action? It’s not a current project. Move it to Someday/Maybe or define the action right now. This single rule eliminates 90% of the “I don’t know what to work on” problem.
2. Every project must connect upward. Personal projects tie to goals. Work projects tie to OKRs. If a project doesn’t connect to something strategic, you’re busy but not productive.
3. Inbox zero every week. Not email - your task inbox. Every thought, idea and follow-up gets captured and then triaged during your weekly review. Nothing lives in your head.

Build Your Own System

You don’t need to build all five databases before you start. Here’s what to do right now:

1. Set up a capture inbox. One place where everything goes - a Notion database, Apple Notes, a physical notebook. Doesn’t matter. Just pick one and start dumping every open loop out of your head into it.
2. Block 60 minutes on your calendar this Friday. Label it “Weekly Review.” This is the single most important appointment of your week. Protect it like a meeting with your most important client and then follow the steps outlined above.
3. Pick your Big Three. Before you close this article, write down the three most important outcomes for your week and make sure they’re connected to projects that bubble up to goals or OKRs. Put them somewhere you’ll see them every morning.

That’s it. Inbox, weekly review, Big Three. You can add the rest of the stack over time. But if you do just those three things consistently, you’ll already be operating with more clarity than most founders ever will.

Six months from now, you’re either still juggling everything in your head - lying awake at 2 AM, forgetting follow-ups, reacting to whatever’s loudest - or you’re running a system that tells you exactly what matters and when to do it. The difference is 60 minutes a week.

Now you know what to work on every week. Next week, I’ll show you how to know what to work on every day - with the Workday Startup and Workday Shutdown routines that turn your weekly plan into a daily practice.

Don’t want to build this yourself? My team at FreedUp will set up your productivity system, run your weekly review alongside you, and handle the tasks you shouldn’t be doing in the first place.