Three views I keep returning to

I’ve made and unmade a lot of views since I started building Sift. Most don’t stick. The ones that do are boring on paper and load-bearing in practice. Here are the three I rebuild every time I set up a new device.

1. This week, in person

Keywords: a short list of place names and people. Calendars: my work and personal calendars, no shared ones. Date range: the next seven days.

This is the view that answers “what do I actually have to show up for?” Not the calls. Not the optional drop-ins. The blocks that need a body in a chair, a coffee in hand, or a train caught.

I keep it on the Lock Screen. The countdown does most of the work. If I see “in 2h”, I leave the desk. If I see “in 3 days”, I stop checking until tomorrow.

2. Recurring, but not background

Therapy. The standing 1:1. The monthly call with my mum. Things I want to think about a little before, not five minutes after.

This view exists because recurring events disappear into the calendar after a few cycles. The brain stops registering them as upcoming. Sift’s countdown rescues them. Two days out, I get a small nudge in the form of a number on the Home Screen. That’s usually enough.

If you have Sift Plus, Per-view alert lead time is the upgrade for this one. Set it to a day or two before, and the heads-up arrives early enough to actually do something with.

3. The “soon-ish” view

Keywords: a few personal anchors (a friend’s wedding, a flight, a deadline). Date range: the next 90 days.

This isn’t a working view. It’s a horizon. I add things to it when I notice myself worrying about them, then let the countdown carry the weight. It’s the calmest view I have. The countdown answers the anxiety before the anxiety has time to spiral.

A small trick: I name this view with one word, the soonest thing on it. When the soonest thing changes, I rename it. The friction of renaming is the prompt to actually look at the view.

What didn’t make it

I’ve tried “all meetings”, “everything tagged work”, and “my partner’s calendar, alone”. None of them earned their slot. The pattern is the same: if a view doesn’t change my behaviour when I glance at it, I delete it. Three views is the count that fits the Free tier and, more importantly, the count my attention can hold.

If you’re starting out, copy these three. Replace the keywords with yours. Then delete one in a week if you don’t miss it.