Hourly Focus Anchoring Without Shame
You meant to spend the morning on one thing but lost an hour to Slack. Every hour, get a simple WhatsApp question: 'Still on focus task?' Tap yes and keep going. Tap no and refocus.
Trigger
Recurring schedule
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Action
Send interactive buttons
Send an interactive button message to a whatsapp number. button messages allow users to quickly respond by tapping up to 3 predefined buttons. perfect for yes/no questions, quick choices, or call-to-action scenarios. note: the message will be delivered to the recipient only if they have texted first.
Why this helps
Context-switching is your kryptonite. You have good intentions, but Slack, email, and your own brain pull you off track. By 4pm you've done 8 things at 50% instead of 2 things fully.
- Gentle hourly anchor to your main task
- Catch drift before you lose an hour
- No shame—just a question and reset
- Builds focus stamina over time
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect WhatsApp to Notis (Slack optional for logging).
- 2Create automation: 'Every hour from 9am to 5pm, send me a check-in: Am I still on my main task?'
- 3Notis pings you on WhatsApp with a 'Yes' or 'No' button.
- 4Tap 'No' and Notis asks: 'What's your focus task for the next hour?' Respond in plain language.
- 5Notis logs your focus blocks to Slack if you want team visibility, or keeps it private.
Questions about this workflow
Will this get annoying after 3 days?
Maybe. Tell Notis: 'Change to every 2 hours' or 'Only during my morning focus block.' Adjust and try again.
What if I can't answer in an hour?
Tell Notis: 'Skip the check-in if I'm in a meeting' or 'Only check-in at 9am and 2pm.' It's flexible.
Does my team see my focus log?
Only if you want them to. Keep it private by default; ask Notis to share a weekly summary if it's useful.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Slack to Whatsapp. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Slack triggers
Whatsapp actions
New Channel Created Trigger
Triggered when a new channel is created in Slack.
Create message template
Create a new message template for the whatsapp business account. templates must be approved by whatsapp before they can be used. templates are required for marketing messages and messages sent outside the 24-hour window.
Channel Message Received
Triggered when a message is posted in a Slack channel (public, private, or multi-party IM). Does NOT match direct messages.
Delete message template
Delete a message template from the whatsapp business account. this permanently removes the template and it cannot be recovered. only delete templates that are no longer needed.
Direct Message Received
Triggered when a new direct message (DM) is sent to a user in Slack. Catches all DMs across all DM channels.
Get business profile
Get the business profile information for a whatsapp business phone number. this includes business details like description, address, website, and contact info.
Message Reaction Added
Triggered when a reaction is added to a message in Slack. Supports optional filtering by channel and emoji name.
Get media
Get information about uploaded media including a temporary download url. the download url is valid for 5 minutes and can be used to retrieve the actual media file. this is useful for downloading media that was sent to your whatsapp number.
Message Reaction Removed
Triggered when a reaction is removed from a message in Slack. Supports optional filtering by channel and emoji name.
Get media info
Get metadata about uploaded media without generating a download url. this is useful for checking file size, type, and hash without downloading the file. use get media if you need the actual download url.
Reaction Added Trigger
DEPRECATED: use `SLACK_MESSAGE_REACTION_ADDED` instead. Triggered when a reaction is added to a message in Slack.
Get message templates
Get all message templates for the whatsapp business account. templates are required for sending messages outside the 24-hour window and for marketing/utility messages.
Reaction Removed Trigger
DEPRECATED: use `SLACK_MESSAGE_REACTION_REMOVED` instead. Triggered when a reaction is removed from a message.
Get phone number
Get details of a specific phone number associated with a whatsapp business account.
New Bot Message Received Trigger
DEPRECATED: use `SLACK_CHANNEL_MESSAGE_RECEIVED` with `is_bot_message=true` instead. Triggered when a new bot message is posted to a Slack channel.
Get phone numbers
Get all phone numbers associated with a whatsapp business account (waba).
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
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When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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