Most calendars are passive logs of what already happened. Reclaim AI flips that by actively defending focus time, auto-scheduling your priorities, and reshuffling plans when reality changes. Used well, it becomes the autopilot for your week: habits land in the right windows, task blocks expand or contract, meetings get buffers, and your team can book you without crushing deep work. This guide gives you a production-ready setup for small and medium teams—covering event policies, habits vs tasks, scheduling links, Slack integration, and metrics—plus a two-week rollout plan.
What Reclaim actually does (and how it’s different)
- Autonomous time blocking: you define tasks with estimates and deadlines, Reclaim places and re-plans blocks automatically across your working hours.
- Habits with flexibility: recurring activities (writing, planning, workout) get priority rules and can shift within a window instead of hard locks.
- Meeting defense: “no-meeting hours,” buffers, travel, and auto-declines outside windows.
- Team coordination: smart scheduling links and shared calendars that respect your focus policies.
- Stack integrations: sync tasks from Asana/Jira/Todoist/Linear; update status via Slack; show reality in Google Calendar.
Think of Reclaim as a programmable layer on top of Google Calendar that aligns time with priorities without manual drag-and-drop.
First principles: event taxonomy and policies
Before clicking buttons, define a simple taxonomy and policies so automation has rules to follow.
Event types
- Focus: deep individual work. Private by default. 60–120 minute blocks.
- Collaboration: 1:1s, workshops, reviews. 25/50 minute defaults.
- Admin: planning, email triage, expense reports. 15–30 minute blocks.
- Recovery/Personal: lunch, commute, workout. Treated as Busy during work hours.
- Habits: recurring Focus/Admin/Personal events with flexible windows.
Policies
- Working hours: e.g., Mon–Fri 9:00–12:00 and 13:30–17:30.
- Meeting windows: e.g., 10:00–12:00 and 14:00–16:00. Outside windows → auto-decline unless #override.
- Daily focus target: 3–4 hours for ICs; 1.5–2.5 for managers.
- Speedy meetings: 25/50 minutes; 5–10 minute buffers before/after.
- Two scheduling links: 15-min triage and 30-min sync. Nothing else.
Write these in a short “How we use Reclaim” page and keep it pinned.
Setup in 30 minutes: the essential configuration
- Connect Google Calendar (and any shared calendars you need to respect).
- Working hours & location: set real hours by weekday; add a secondary time zone if you collaborate globally.
- Focus time policy: choose a daily target and flexibility (how much Reclaim is allowed to move blocks). Allow “soft holds” so meetings can steal time only if necessary and Reclaim will re-place your block later.
- Meeting windows & auto-declines: define allowed hours for external bookings. Turn on polite auto-declines outside windows with a note to use your link.
- Buffers: default 5 minutes before + 10 after collaboration events; 0 for focus blocks.
- Habits & tasks: create your first 3–5 habits (below), then add 5–10 tasks with estimates and deadlines.
- Integrations: connect your task system (Asana/Jira/Linear/Todoist) and Slack. Map fields: title, due date, priority, estimate.
Your calendar will immediately populate with blocks; expect shuffling for the first day while Reclaim finds equilibrium.
Habits vs tasks: when to use each
Habits are recurring commitments with flexible windows and priorities. Examples:
- Daily writing 90 minutes, window 9:00–12:00, priority High, may split into two 45s if needed.
- Inbox zero 20 minutes, window 16:30–17:30, priority Low, can skip on heavy days.
- Weekly planning 30 minutes, Fridays 16:00–17:30, must happen before weekend.
- Workout 45 minutes, Mon/Wed/Fri 12:30–14:00, can shift by ±60 minutes.
Tasks are one-offs or finite units with estimates and deadlines. Examples:
- “Draft onboarding email v1 — 90m — due Thu”
- “Refactor pagination — 3h — due next Wed — P1”
- “Prep Q4 roadmap review — 2h — due Fri — P2”
Rules of thumb
- If it repeats every week, it’s a Habit.
- If it has a deliverable and a due date, it’s a Task.
- When in doubt, start as a Task; if it recurs three weeks in a row, convert to a Habit template.
Modeling tasks: estimates, priorities, and chunking
Reclaim works best with honest estimates and constraints:
- Estimate range: use 25, 50, 75, 100, 120 minutes. If a task is >2 hours, check “allow multi-blocks” and let Reclaim split it (e.g., 2 × 60).
- Priority mapping: P0 (urgent same-day), P1 (this week), P2 (next week), P3 (someday). Reclaim will pack higher priorities first.
- Hard vs soft deadlines: mark only immovable deadlines as hard; soft deadlines give the engine more flexibility.
- Must-be-morning/afternoon: add placement constraints for creative or review work.
As you complete blocks, adjust remaining estimates. Reclaim learns nothing from wishful thinking—feed it reality.
Defending deep work without being the calendar police
Three features make focus time stick:
- No-meeting hours: create a shared calendar event “No-meeting mornings” 9:00–11:00 for the team; Reclaim respects it and scheduling links won’t offer those slots.
- Polite auto-declines: set rules to decline invites outside windows with instructions to book via your link or suggest two alternatives. Add
#overrideto the event title when you want to accept exceptions. - Priority collisions: if a P0 arrives, Reclaim will bump a P2 focus block automatically and re-place it later—no manual dragging.
You’ll still need judgment for true emergencies, but day-to-day defense runs itself.
Scheduling links that don’t wreck your week
Publish exactly two links:
- 15-minute Triage: mornings only; 12–24 hour minimum notice; 10-minute post buffer.
- 30-minute Sync: Tue–Thu, afternoon window; 15-minute pre buffer.
Settings that matter:
- Max per day caps (e.g., 4). After that, links show no availability.
- Invitee questions: “What decision should we reach?” and “Must-have attendees?” Low friction, high clarity.
- Time zone auto-detect and human-readable confirmation text.
Put links in your email signature and Slack profile. Don’t paste raw slots in DMs.
Slack + Reclaim: cut the back-and-forth
Turn on the Slack app to:
- Show Now/Next status (what you’re working on) in your profile.
- Snooze Slack automatically during Focus blocks, with exceptions for VIPs.
- Convert messages to tasks with a click; they land in your Reclaim inbox with a default estimate.
- Receive daily plan summaries at 8:30 and wrap-up prompts at 17:00.
Encourage the team to check someone’s Slack status before pinging; it’s a social contract around focus.
Useful integrations beyond Slack
- Asana/Jira/Linear/Todoist: two-way links so completing in the task tool checks off the Reclaim task. Use a default estimate per project to reduce typing.
- Notion: paste working doc links in task descriptions; open them from the calendar event with one click.
- Readwise/Obsidian: for research habits, insert session templates (“Today I’ll learn…”) and link outputs to projects.
Integrate only what replaces repeated copy-paste.
Metrics that keep the system honest
Track a few weekly numbers (Reclaim provides most of this; a simple Google Sheet works too):
- Focus ratio: deep-work hours / total work hours. Targets: ICs 35–50%, managers 20–35%.
- Plan accuracy: planned focus hours vs completed (≥80% is healthy). Low accuracy means estimates or meeting windows need adjustment.
- Meeting hours: watch trend; replace status meetings with async updates.
- Carryover rate: % of task time pushed week-to-week. Keep <30% on average.
- Habit adherence: % of scheduled habit blocks that happened. If <60%, reduce habit targets or widen windows.
Use these in a 15-minute Friday review; change one thing per week.
A two-week rollout plan
Days 1–2 — Foundations
Define event taxonomy, working hours, meeting windows, daily focus target, and two scheduling links. Connect Google Calendar and Slack.
Days 3–4 — Habits
Create 4–6 habits: Writing (90m), Deep work (2 × 60m), Inbox triage (20m), Weekly planning (30m), Workout or walk (45m). Set flexibility and skip rules.
Days 5–6 — Tasks
Import 10–20 real tasks from your PM tool. Add estimates and priorities. Allow multi-blocks for anything over 2 hours. Watch the calendar populate and tweak placement constraints.
Day 7 — Team norms
Publish a one-pager: no-meeting hours, buffers, auto-declines, two links, and how to use #override. Leaders model scheduled send for after-hours messages.
Days 8–9 — Meeting cleanup
Collapse or cancel low-signal recurring meetings; replace with Slack clips or written updates. Expand buffers on the few you keep.
Days 10–11 — Analytics
Review focus ratio, plan accuracy, and carryover. If accuracy <70%, inflate estimates by 25% and reduce daily target by 30 minutes.
Days 12–13 — Integrations
Connect your task tool; create one automation (e.g., Jira label P1 → Reclaim task with 90m estimate). Add Notion links to big tasks.
Day 14 — Tune & lock
Prune habits you didn’t use. Tighten meeting windows. Write a 200-word “How we plan the week” and pin it.
Common pitfalls (and quick fixes)
- Overstuffed days: you set a 6-hour focus target as a manager. Fix: cap at 2.5 hours and widen windows.
- Blocks constantly move: too many hard deadlines. Mark most as soft and let the engine breathe.
- Estimates are optimistic: multiply by 1.25 for two weeks; recalibrate later.
- Scheduling links offer your best hours: constrain links to meeting windows only; mark mornings as focus.
- Task sprawl from Slack/email: require a label or project on capture and a default 25-minute estimate; triage daily.
Where this leads when it sticks
After two weeks, your calendar stops being a guilt factory. Habits anchor the week, tasks land in realistic blocks, meetings cluster into humane windows, and your team knows how to reach you without derailing focus. Reclaim AI doesn’t do the work for you; it ensures your time mirrors your priorities and keeps reshaping the plan when life happens—so you ship more of the right things with less chaos.