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Getting Started with RightNow: Your First Day

This guide walks you through your first day with RightNow: enough to get a working setup without reading a manual.

First Launch: Setting Your Daily Capacity

When you first open RightNow, you’ll see a capacity bar at the top of the Today screen. This is the heart of the app - your daily time budget.

graph LR
    A[Open App] --> B[See Capacity Bar]
    B --> C[Tap to Edit]
    C --> D[Set Your Hours]
    D --> E[Start Planning!]

How to Set Your Capacity

  1. Tap the capacity bar at the top of the screen
  2. Enter your available hours (we recommend starting with 6 hours)
  3. Hit save - you’re ready to go

Be realistic here: if you have 8 hours at work, you probably have 5-6 hours of actual productive time after meetings, breaks, and interruptions.

Creating Your First Tasks

Now add some tasks:

  1. Tap the task creation bar at the bottom
  2. Type your task (e.g., “Review project proposal”)
  3. Set a duration using the quick buttons (15m, 30m, 45m, 1h)
  4. Hit enter - your task is created
graph TD
    A[Task Creation Bar] --> B[Type Task Name]
    B --> C{Choose Duration}
    C -->|Quick| D[15/30/45/60 min buttons]
    C -->|Custom| E[Type any duration]
    D --> F[Task Added to Backlog]
    E --> F

Understanding the Main Screens

RightNow has four tabs along the bottom:

🌅 Today

Where you work from:

📋 Inbox

Your complete task backlog:

📅 Calendar

Your tasks laid out across days, handy for spotting overloaded ones before they happen.

⚙️ Settings

Your First Workflow

Here’s a simple workflow to get you started:

Morning Planning (5 minutes)

  1. Open RightNow
  2. Review what’s already scheduled for today
  3. Check your capacity bar
  4. Add 2-3 important tasks from All Tasks
  5. Start your first task
graph TD
    A[Morning] --> B[Check Today Screen]
    B --> C{Capacity Available?}
    C -->|Yes| D[Add Tasks from Backlog]
    C -->|No| E[Review & Prioritize]
    D --> F[Start Working]
    E --> F

During the Day

End of Day Review (3 minutes)

  1. Complete or reschedule remaining tasks
  2. Take a second to notice what you finished
  3. Quick look at tomorrow’s capacity

Power User Tips

🏷️ Use Tags Effectively

⏰ Time Tracking Best Practices

🎯 The 80% Rule

Common Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Over-scheduling

Mistake: Filling your entire 8-hour capacity
Fix: Start with 6 hours and adjust based on experience

❌ Vague Task Names

Mistake: “Work on project”
Fix: “Draft introduction section of project proposal”

❌ Ignoring Time Tracking

Mistake: Never using the timer
Fix: Track at least 3 tasks per day to improve estimates

❌ The Everything Bucket

Mistake: Adding every tiny task
Fix: Batch small tasks or use subtasks for micro-items

Your First Week Challenge

Try this progression over your first week:

  1. Day 1: Add 5 tasks, complete 3
  2. Day 2: Compare a couple of estimates against reality
  3. Day 3: Try the refinement games
  4. Day 4: Create and use 3 tags
  5. Day 5: Review your analytics
  6. Weekend: Plan next week using what you learned

Troubleshooting

“I keep exceeding my capacity!”

“I never know how long tasks will take”

“Too many tasks in my backlog!”

Next Steps

Now that you’re up and running:

  1. Make the refinement games a ritual: Friday afternoons work well
  2. Check analytics: learn from your patterns
  3. Customize settings: make it yours
  4. Send feedback from inside the app: I read all of it

📱 Get Started:

*Previous: Development Journey ← Next: Core Features Deep Dive →*