CreateSeparateCalendarsForDifferentTypesOfFocus
Okay, let’s just start here: Motion is great until it’s not. It was assigning me three deep writing tasks back-to-back with no breaks, right after a 10AM client call that always drains me. I realized pretty early on that I can’t just dump all my tasks into Motion and trust the automation blindly — it needs guardrails.
What actually helped was building separate calendars based on the *type* of attention a task needs. Not just Work vs Personal. I mean stuff like “creative solo focus,” “calls or meetings,” and “mindless admin.”
So I set up custom calendars outside of Motion (I used Apple Calendar, but Google Calendar works too) called things like ⏳ Deep Work, ☎️ Calls, 🧹 Admin. Then I synced them all into Motion using the Linked Calendars feature. Once they’re pulled into Motion, I turn OFF auto-scheduling for the Admin and Calls calendars. That way, I can *see* them, but Motion doesn’t try to reschedule over them.
Now when I add a task like “write blog draft” or “brainstorm new Notion templates,” I assign it to the Deep Work calendar. If something is just email cleanup or exporting analytics reports, that goes into Admin. The result is that Motion understands the difference, and I don’t end up with two hour-long algorithmic sorting sessions directly after writing something heavy.
You can force stronger boundaries this way — like blocking 1p to 4p only for Deep Work. Motion won’t slide random admin into there unless you’ve explicitly allowed it. Less mental fatigue, less context switching, and once I got this set, I actually started completing tasks *in order*, which never used to happen. 😛
BuildRecurrenceManuallyToAvoidRandomOverwrites
One of the least predictable parts of Motion is its recurring task system. I was double-booked on a Tuesday because Motion decided to stack a weekly admin wrap-up *during* a rescheduled client meeting from Monday. No warning, no prompt, just surprise – now you’re triple-scheduled.
I tried the built-in recurring task feature at first (the “Repeat” option when you add a task), but it feels optimistic. If you skip the task one day, it shoves the recurrence to whatever next day has space — but only according to Motion’s assumptions. Doesn’t respect the original day/time.
So now I handle repetition manually. I set a “seed” task (like “Monthly Finance Review”) on the first of the month in Google Calendar, then duplicate it for the next 3 months using GCal’s own repeat function. I *do not* use Motion’s internal repetition at all for these. Once they show up on my calendar, Motion will see those blocks and treat them as external calendar events, not flexible tasks.
For things that are supposed to happen *on a specific weekday,* like “Every Thursday: Draft newsletter,” I build them out one at a time by duplicating a base template. Yes, it’s manual. But it doesn’t break. And guess what? Manual isn’t slower when you consider how often the auto-repeat breaks 🙂 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
UseMotionTaskTypesToPrioritizeWithoutStress
The best way to deal with Motion burning you out is… make it work *for* your brain, not against it. The default system encourages everything to look equally urgent unless you actively deprioritize — that just creates chaos.
There’s a trick buried inside the Motion interface: task types. You can define what type of energy and context a task needs by setting a category. But the UI makes this feature frustrating. You have to open a task card, click the tag icon, and choose a “type” — and most people skip this. But don’t. This is your only line of defense against Motion shoving your least-favorite work on a Monday morning.
Here’s how I use them:
– Writing-heavy or decision-heavy tasks = Deep Focus
– Admin work, docs, backup planning = Maintenance
– Stuff I want to do but never have time for = Low Priority
– Social cues (replying to DMs, following up) = Quick
The cool part is, you can then filter or view tasks in batch. So if it’s 2PM and I have energy for light admin stuff, I just hit the filter to show “Maintenance” and pick one. It helps fight the guilt spiral of “I should be working harder” because I’ve already framed the task mood.
Also — if you combine this with calendar-based focus blocks, Motion will start slotting tasks into the right vibe zones. It’s like pairing socks before laundry. Optional, but it makes the rest of the day smoother 🙂
PinFocusTimeWhereYouNeverWantContextSwitch
There’s no official way to “lock” calendar chunks in Motion, but the workaround is to create dummy events marked as “focus” and import them from your main calendar. Unlike tasks, Motion treats your external calendar events as unmovable.
Here’s what I did: in Google Calendar I made events called FOCUS BLOCK – DO NOT FIT with a busy status, recurring Mon to Fri at a specific stretch — say, 9:30AM to 11:30AM. When Motion sees that event, it will *not* schedule around it. It just treats it like a meeting.
But here’s the kicker: if you want some flexibility ( like sometimes using that slot for admin vs writing ), name those events differently based on expected type. For example:
– 9:30AM – 11AM: “Focus Writing Time (Hard Block)”
– 3PM – 4:30PM: “Soft Focus (Moveable)”
Set the first to “Busy,” and the second to “Free” in your calendar app. Motion reads that status and won’t schedule over “Busy” ones, but might use “Free” time.
So now I get one real stand-your-ground block every morning where nothing moves unless *I* move it. It acts like an invisible wall for context switching. I stopped ending days with 12 untouched tasks hanging off the side.
Is this fragile? Slightly. If Google Calendar sync fails (which happens), Motion may not respect the existence of the focus blocks. But it still gives you more control than Motion’s “priority drag” system, which I find kinda opaque.
ScheduleIntentionalRestAsCriticalTasks
This one is honestly the reason I didn’t throw my laptop out a window last Wednesday. Motion treats empty space like opportunity, so if your calendar has any gaps, it wants to fill them aggressively. That’s great in theory. But in practice, it ends with 7 straight hours of rescheduled stress.
So I started scheduling naps.
Not kidding — I made a task type called “Rest Block” and assigned it a default duration of 25 minutes. I even labeled some as “Couch scroll w cat.”
Every afternoon I add one somewhere mid-day (like 2:30 PM) with Medium priority. What’s funny is that Motion actually respects it *more* as a named task than if I just left the time blank. So instead of backfilling that slot with something urgent that spilled over from yesterday, it sees Rest Block and doesn’t touch it.
You can even attach a location to trick Motion into adding travel buffer. I once scheduled a rest block “on the porch” and set 5 mins of travel time. Motion added a break before and after it. That’s ridiculous — but it worked. 🙂
The idea here is not to make it cute. It’s to signal clearly that recovery time isn’t something to smush in between other things. It’s a scheduled, protected task. Otherwise, Motion will eat that time like a cookie and forget it was ever free.
UseBreakTimersForTasksYouAlwaysOverwork
There are certain types of work I *always* overshoot. Like writing. Or anything design-related. I’ll say it’s a 45-minute task and then two hours later I’m rewriting headers just because I thought of a new spacing layout.
So for those? I set hard cutoffs.
Motion won’t stop you from continuing a task after the scheduled window. It’ll just darken the time block and keep going unless the next task is urgent. This can get messy.
What I do now is cheat by using Task Timer apps like Be Focused or TickTick in parallel. I’ll say “I get 90 mins max — when it buzzes, I *stop* and write what’s unfinished into a new Motion task.”
No matter what tool you use, just avoid relying only on Motion’s visual block. It’s just not aggressive enough. You’ll ignore it. I used to think “Oh I can just finish this real quick” and boom — next task is cancelled.
The real trick is learning when to stop. Not finish. There’s a difference. And every time I do manage to stop early and park the rest of the task for later, the next work session starts without dread. Like “oh right, I left myself a note, I can pick this back up.” Feels like past-me threw me a lifeline.
MakeAMotionFallbackForWhenEverythingCrashes
This last one is basically insurance.
There was a day last month where Motion kept throwing sync errors and deleting the last 3 tasks I added. I tried restarting, reauthorizing Google Calendar, and even going on another browser. Still buggy.
So now I keep a Notion page called Motion Deadfile. Every Friday I export my upcoming tasks into it – not with integrations, just a good old copy-paste of titles and durations.
If Motion ever breaks again, I have that page open in a side tab and just rebuild my day using Calendar manually. Takes about 5 minutes. It’s also where I leave little notes to myself like:
– “Don’t schedule two calls after analytics export — it’s brain toast”
– “Keep Thurs AM open or burnout level climbs”
It’s not pretty. But it helps. Sometimes the best automation fallback is no automation at all.
Anyway — if I’d known this setup a year ago, I probably would’ve avoided sending that Slack message where I accidentally invited three people to a 6PM “focus rest” meeting. Whoops. 🙂