Lesson 1 - The Operating System

Bulletproof Notion Work Management System

For Accountants and Bookkeepers

The first thing I want you to do is rename this whole template (once you’ve made a copy).

I know you are anxious to get started, but it is really important that you follow my directions on this. I promise you this is to ensure maximum efficiency, and minimum confusion.

So before you continue, make sure your template does NOT say ,”My Firm (BPN v2.0).”

If your firm is called, “Gentle Frog Bookkeeping” (Hi Rachel) then this page should read, “Gentle Frog Bookkeeping Main Menu” or something like that.

Next I want you to fill in your Firm’s website and physical address like mine has:

I know what you’re thinking (some of you). I want to customize this and make it my own.

Please hold off on that. I promise you will thank me for this later. I need you to trust me here. This will save you time going back to do things the way I had suggested.

This has already happened.

I promise that I will empower you to do ALL of that, but first I need you to understand the basic mechanics of this system. It’s like trying to learn to become a mechanic, without first knowing how to drive the car! How can you learn to fix something without first understanding what you are fixing?

Get it? Got it? Good!

I want you to ignore much of the rest of what is in the top region of your firm’s Main Menu because it will make a lot more sense later when you have a bunch of other stuff filled in and set up.

Daily

I hope this is obvious but this section should be opened first thing in the morning every single day.

Body

The first thing of the first “things” every day should be your plan for some kind of physical activity. I left the space for you to add or link to a page that outlines your regimen for this. Since this is personal in nature (while it most definitely affects your productivity) I am not building out templates for you on this one.

Mind and Spirit

Daily Journal

Your Daily Journal is your timeline for everything you do and everyone you talk to and in some cases think about throughout the day.

Read Aloud Daily

We’ll talk more on this later, but ripped right from Think and Grow Rich, this is where you write out your goals, specific as to timing and amount, what you plan to give up in exchange for them, and read it aloud daily.

Time

This covers one of the two main dimensions in which your brain operates; Time. Further down I will get into the second dimension of how our brains work (regardless of what KIND of brain you have).

Start right now by adding an entry and follow the instructions in the template.

Please follow the instructions on how to title the entry. You will thank me for this later when you see how easy it makes it to (eg) find something that you know happened on a “Tuesday” but you’re not quite sure WHICH recent Tuesday it happened on.

And please take the time to update the cover photo to something that inspires you.

Use Unsplash and search for things like, “Serenity, Inspiration, Mountains, Cabin, Beach…” This makes your journal more interesting, and when you look at that Gallery view it really comes to life.

I like to do “dumb” things like every Friday my wife and I order in, and we always get dessert. So I’ll update my cover image to reflect what that was. Last Friday (as of this writing) was Blueberry Cheesecake! So every Friday I have a photo of some dessert.

Friday March 22 I had my favorite; Oreo Cookie Cheesecake.

On the 29th they screwed up and gave me Blueberry.

I didn’t care, it was still delicious!

On March 21, I am guessing there was something significant about the music I was listening to…

… and on March 24 I may have been feeling sluggish.

YOU would never get the significance of these, other than maybe a guess, but that doesn’t matter. I know what it is, and even if I am not 100% sure I can promise you that a quick glance into that day will remind me instantly.

You do YOU. THIS is where you can do what suits you best.

Later in the course you will learn how to change or even create your own templates. But for now please just go with me on this. There is a method to my madness and many of you will want to stick with me on this once you understand the logic behind how this works.

Many of you will be thinking, “but Seth I have my own way of doing things, or my brain works differently” or something like that.

I would submit to you that one of the reasons you are likely here is that “your way” has not been working, or it isn’t optimal.

This whole system is designed to optimize everything for retrieval. Most of your systems are better optimized for transmission.

The system is also designed based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology which is based on the science and psychology of how our brains work.

The goal is to reduce and then eliminate the stress associated with your brain reminding you of everything because it does not trust your system.

The goal is to have you working in a system that your brain can trust.

Once you are familiar with my setup and how everything works, and especially how everything connects, if you still want to change the structure of your Operating system, I will teach you how to make this all your own.

As I said earlier, I have to teach you how to “drive the car” before I can teach you how to be a mechanic!

Back to Your Daily Journal

Start writing daily, even if you just answer the 4 questions that I start every single day answering. You will be amazed at how clarifying these questions can be when you take just 5 minutes to answer them before you dive into anything.

Further down I have it broken down into 3 parts of the day for your thoughts; morning, afternoon, and evening.

In section 1, expand each toggle and answer the questions. Don’t write a novel. Just a quick high level answer.

If you are feeling motivated to write more (as I often am) then use section 2 below.

The last section at the bottom is quite optional, but whenever I take the time to do it, I am reminded of how useful it is - especially in terms of how it helps me focus the next day!

When you go to sleep with THESE thoughts in your head instead of the usual shitstorm that most of us do, you will see an incredible boost in your productivity.

This next section (Links) is super handy for any links you need to quickly bookmark during the day so you don’t have to worry about where to put it.

Then later you can go back and clarify where this link should live. And again this often gives you the timeline of when you discovered something, which sometimes is just interesting and other times it is incredibly useful.

Space

When you clarify where the link or anything else you write in your daily journal is, you put it there and link to it from your journal. Space is the other dimension in terms of how your brain works.

Time and Space.

At the end of the (literal) day, your journal should be peppered with links to people, places, and things that you referenced.

This includes clients, meeting notes, and anything else that you think may either be useful or interesting. The video for this lesson will give you a deeper run through of all of this.

Global Firm and Task Views

Next for now I want you to scan down to the Global views. These will make a lot more sense as you go through the coming lessons, each of which will focus on one of these areas and teach you how to “drive” this thing.

And how everything connects will come together along the way!

UP NEXT: LESSON 2

How to Setup and Manage Clients

See ya in the next lesson ;-)