Mastering Your Week with NoteDex: How I Use the Canvas View to Plan Like a CEO
- Prem Sundaram
- Jun 25
- 4 min read
As the Founder and CEO of NoteDex, I spend a lot of time thinking about productivity, clarity, and making things simpler. I’ve tried countless productivity tools over the years, from calendar apps to Kanban boards like Trello. While each has its strengths, I always felt something was missing: a visual, flexible, and intuitive way to plan my week across multiple projects and categories.
That's where NoteDex—and more specifically, our new Canvas feature—comes into its own.
In this post, I want to give you a peek into how I use NoteDex’s Canvas to plan my week. It’s simple, visual, and powerful. And it’s a template that you can copy and make your own. Whether you're managing a startup, juggling freelance gigs, or organizing your personal life, this method can bring a sense of structure and flow to your week.
Why Traditional Tools Fall Short
Calendars are great for fixed events and meetings. But they’re not ideal for flexible, shifting to-dos. Tasks end up buried among events, and it becomes easy to lose focus.
To-Do Apps just don't cut it for me, not visual enough and don't help me see when I need to do something
Kanban boards, like those in Trello or other project tools, are great for visualizing tasks in a workflow. But they’re one-dimensional—often showing just one axis, like status or priority. They don't give you that “across the week” view I crave.
I needed something that gave me:
A view of each day
A view of each major area of my life and business
The ability to move things around easily
A visual and tactile experience
This is exactly what NoteDex Canvas delivers.
A Weekly Planner That Mirrors How I Think
Each morning, I open up a special Canvas that I’ve titled Weekly Task Planner. It’s a single board that holds my entire week at a glance. Here’s how it works:
Layout
Columns represent the days of the week—Monday to Friday.
Rows represent the major areas of focus: Development, Marketing, Personal, etc.
This gives me a 2D grid: days across, projects down.
Each card is a task. Tasks are color-coded based on category (green for Development, blue for Marketing, purple for Personal). I can:
Drag cards to another day if I want to reschedule
Add a new task on the fly
Delete tasks I’ve completed
Drop in existing NoteDex cards (from other stacks!) as white cards—perfect for tasks that involve reviewing a document or researching a saved link
This way of planning keeps me grounded. I know what I need to do today, but I can also see what’s coming up across the week.
Why It Works
It’s Visual I can see my week. Instead of a vertical list or a cluttered calendar, I have a visual grid that mimics the way I mentally organize my tasks.
It’s Tactile There’s something powerful about moving a card from Tuesday to Thursday. It makes task management feel active and intentional.
It’s Flexible I might wake up Wednesday and realize I need to shift a Personal task to Friday. No problem—I just drag the card. Done.
It’s All in One Place Because I can drop existing cards from other stacks (white cards in the image), I’m not duplicating information. I’m linking to research, notes, or resources I already have in NoteDex.
It Reflects Real Life Life isn’t linear. Plans change. Urgencies shift. A system that lets me adapt without losing sight of the big picture is essential.
A Real-World Example
Let’s look at my current Weekly Canvas (see image). You’ll notice:
Development Tasks like “Test Updates on Mac,” “Plan out next tasks,” and “Review Azure Logs” span the early part of the week. This keeps engineering time focused and productive.
Marketing Tasks include updating the website change log and support articles, writing a blog post, and brainstorming ideas like “The Infinite Workspace.” These are spread out to allow creative space.
Personal Tasks like “Complete Taxes,” “Send Letter to UK,” and “Review Workout Plan” help ensure I’m also looking after myself.
Each morning, I review the board. I ask: What’s on today’s column? Is there anything I need to move? Do I have time to add something new?
If I finish a task, I delete the card. That visual reduction of clutter is deeply satisfying.
Customizing Your Own Canvas
Want to try this yourself? We’ve made this Weekly Task Planner template available in the Canvas Templates section inside NoteDex.
You can use my method—days across, categories down—or flip it! If you prefer your rows to be days and columns to be projects, go for it. That’s the beauty of Canvas: it adapts to your way of thinking.
Tips:
Color code by project or priority
Use existing cards from other stacks to avoid retyping or losing links
Use the menu to 'half-height' tasks if you want to fit a few closely together
Make it part of your morning routine
At the end of the week, take a moment to archive or clear your board and duplicate a clean template for the next week, of if you prefer use it as a rolling view so, say you are already on Thursday, just add a task on Monday and you know that means next week (which I do).
Final Thoughts: Gain Control, Stay Focused
This weekly planning approach using the NoteDex Canvas has been a game changer for me. It gives me clarity, flexibility, and focus.
As a founder juggling multiple priorities, I need to see my week and interact with it in a meaningful way. This method gives me that sense of control without overwhelming me.
Try it. Open NoteDex, select the Weekly Task Planner template, and start planning. You’ll be surprised how something so simple can make such a big difference.
And if you discover your own twist on this method—share it! We love seeing how our users shape their productivity with NoteDex.
Let’s master the week together!
— Prem, Founder & CEO, NoteDex
