I love visible deadlines. A ticking timer focuses attention, reduces dithering,
and nudges momentum. When the countdown lives inside Notion, it becomes
part of the daily workflow you already use for notes, tasks, and reviews.
In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to embed a live countdown timer into
Notion using Blocky (https://blocky.so), an official Notion integration.
You’ll learn the quick setup, design variations, advanced time-zone and DST
tips, and how to share it with your team without breaking anything.
Why a Notion Countdown Works (and When to Use It)
Deadlines create urgency. A visible countdown replaces vague intention with a
clear, time-boxed target. It’s simple psychology: when the clock is present,
focus improves and procrastination has less room to hide.
Timers also dovetail with time-boxing methods like the Pomodoro® Technique
(Pomodoro Technique). Whether you’re
shipping a feature, revising for exams, or preparing a launch, a live timer
embedded in Notion keeps the “when” front and center.
Quick Start: Add a Countdown to Notion in 90 Seconds
- Open Blocky (https://blocky.so) and create a Countdown widget.
- Pick your date/time, label, and style. Save to generate an Embed Link.
- In Notion (https://www.notion.so), type
/embed, paste the link, and
press Enter. Resize the block to fit your layout. Done.
That’s the core loop. If you prefer the sidebar, click the + on any empty
line, choose Embed, then paste your Blocky link. You can move, duplicate,
or wrap it into toggles and columns like any other Notion block.
Full Blocky Setup: Build, Style, and Embed Your Timer
1) Choose Your Target and Flavor
Decide what you’re counting down to: a product launch, exam day, sprint demo,
or trip. In Blocky (https://blocky.so), select Countdown and enter
the target time. Add a short label like “Launch in” or “Exam Day”.
2) Pick a Variant and Customize
Choose between Minimal, Digital, Circular, Holiday, or Space
styles (examples below). Tweak font weight, unit labels, separators, and
animation. Stick with your brand colors to make it feel native in your pages.
3) Save and Copy the Embed Link
Click Save. Blocky generates a secure Embed Link built for Notion
embedding. Copy it to your clipboard—no code, no iframes to struggle with.
4) Embed in Notion
Go to your page, type /embed, paste, and hit Enter. Drag corners to
resize. Place your timer at the top of a project page or inside a status
dashboard section for maximum visibility.
5) Optional: Add Multiple Views
Duplicate the block for alternative views: one timer in your Home dashboard,
another inside a project doc. Because Blocky renders live, every instance stays
in sync automatically.
Pricing: Free to Start, Simple to Scale
You can try Blocky’s Free tier to test the waters. It includes up to 2
charts and 5 total widgets (charts count as widgets). For creators who
need more, the Standard plan offers 5 charts and 10 widgets at
$3.99/month. Power users and teams usually pick Pro—unlimited
everything for $5.99/month.
If you’re running launches, sprints, and study schedules in parallel, Pro is
the “set and forget” tier. Your timers, charts, and study widgets can scale
without you babysitting quotas or deleting older embeds.
Design Patterns You Can Steal (With Variants)
Minimal (Clean & Calm)
A tight, typography-first design that melts into dashboards. Turn on subtle
separators and lower opacity labels for a “native” Notion feel.
Digital (Bold & Deadline-First)
Large digits and crisp unit labels—great for weekly reviews or status pages.
Use contrasting colors for big milestones to command attention.
Circular (Visual Progress)
A ring that fills as the deadline approaches. Perfect for OKRs, sprints, or
events where visual progress nudges momentum.
Holiday (Festive & Seasonal)
Delightful by design. Pair it with your holiday launch or back-to-school plan.
Sprinkle it into your team home to keep spirits high.
Space (Playful & Eye-Catching)
A stylized, animated theme. This is your “look at me” timer for culture pages,
announcements, or internal town halls.
Time-Zones & Daylight Saving Time: Set It Right the First Time
Pick the Correct Time-Zone at Creation
Always set the countdown’s time-zone in Blocky before you embed. This prevents
off-by-one-hour drift when teammates view the page from different regions.
Plan for DST (Daylight Saving Time)
DST can shift local clocks forward or backward. If your countdown spans a DST
change, confirm the time-zone setting and lock your event to the intended local
time. If your region changes clocks, a one-hour discrepancy can appear if you
treat the deadline as pure UTC unintentionally.
Quick Rules of Thumb
- Anchor the event to its local time (e.g., 9:00 AM New York).
- Communicate the time-zone in the timer label or nearby text.
- For global teams, add a small note with UTC equivalent.
If you ever need to sanity-check DST behavior, tools like
Countdown & DST can
help you think through transitions. For sleep and schedule impacts during DST
switches, Sleep Foundation’s guide
is a useful reference.
Collaboration, Permissions, and Sharing
Share the Notion Page
Your timer inherits the Notion page’s visibility. If the page is private,
guests can’t see the embed. Share the page with your team or stakeholders
first, then confirm the timer is visible in their view.
Copy Links for Stakeholders
Create a dedicated “Launch Hub” page with your timer at the top. Share the page
link with execs or clients. Because Blocky links render live, you’ll avoid
screenshot churn and keep everyone aligned on “when”.
Practical Use Cases and Page Layouts
Product Launch Countdown
Pin a bold countdown at the top of the roadmap page. Add sub-blocks with
critical milestones (“freeze,” “review,” “QA,” “announce”) and link to tickets.
Make the timer the first thing the team sees during standups.
Exam & Study Sprints
Students can add a timer to their semester dashboard. Combine it with habit
trackers, flashcards, and a weekly plan. A visible ticking goal prevents
cramming and spreads preparation into smaller, consistent sprints.
Events, Webinars, and Live Streams
Add a timer to your public notes or community hub. Include a call-to-action
link under the timer (register, buy tickets, subscribe). Duplicate the block
into a checklist doc for the hosting team.
Sprint Demos & OKR Reviews
Set a timer for end-of-sprint demos. Add a circular variant to show progress
filling up as you approach the date. Pair with a chart to track deliverables.
Team Rituals and Announcements
For monthly all-hands, recurring releases, or seasonal campaigns, put a timer
on the homepage. It quietly keeps momentum between meetings.
Blocky + Notion: What Else You Can Embed (Beyond Countdowns)
Blocky isn’t just timers. You can add World Clocks, Pomodoro timers,
and Stopwatches to Notion for deep work sessions (Blocky:
https://blocky.so). For study workflows, you’ll find Habit Trackers,
Flashcards, and Progress Bars. For reporting, add Bar, Line, Pie,
Area, and Radar charts that pull from your Notion data.
Everything fits the same flow: configure in Blocky, copy the Embed Link,
paste with /embed in Notion, resize, and you’re done. You can even create
a “widgets” section in your dashboard to group multiple tools in a tidy grid.
Troubleshooting: Embeds, Visibility, Refresh, and Links
The embed shows a gray or empty box
Confirm the page has permission to display external content. Re-paste the
Embed Link using /embed. If you changed the timer in Blocky, refresh
the Notion page or toggle Reload via the block’s menu.
Teammates can’t see the timer
Check Notion page sharing. If the page is private, invite teammates or
switch to team-visible. The embed uses the page’s visibility rules.
The time looks off by an hour
This is almost always a time-zone or DST issue. Verify the timer’s
time-zone in Blocky and ensure stakeholders are reading it in the intended
local time. Add a short note like “9:00 AM ET (13:00 UTC)”.
The embed is too small or crowded
Drag corners to resize. Use a Minimal variant, shorten the label, or hide
units you don’t need (e.g., hide weeks for short deadlines). Keep the timer
above the fold so it’s always seen.
Advanced Tips: Pro-Level Finishes
Use Visual Hierarchy
Give the timer room to breathe. Surround it with white space, a subtle divider,
and a short label. Use consistent color tokens so it feels native—not bolted on.
Create a “Deadline Dock”
Pin one master countdown in your Home dashboard, then mirror shorter timers in
project pages. The big date stays central; satellite timers keep teams aligned.
Pair with Checklists & Charts
Under the timer, add a checklist and a lightweight progress chart (Blocky
charts integrate with Notion data). The timer says “when,” the checklist says
“how,” and the chart says “how far”.
Add a Pomodoro Corner
Right under your countdown, embed a Pomodoro timer for focused bursts on
the next task. Big deadline, small sprints—this combo is potent.
Step-by-Step (Screens-Free) Walkthrough You Can Copy
- Open Blocky (https://blocky.so) → New Widget → Countdown.
- Set Target Date/Time and pick a Time-Zone.
- Choose a Variant (Minimal, Digital, Circular, Holiday, Space).
- Style (font, size, label, separators), then Save.
- Copy the Embed Link.
- In Notion, type
/embed→ paste link → Enter. - Resize and drop the block where you want it.
- Duplicate the block to other pages as needed.
- Add a small note with the local time-zone if your team is global.
- Celebrate one task: add a confetti emoji next to your label for fun 🎉.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I run multiple countdowns on the same page?
Absolutely. You can embed multiple Blocky timers—each with its own event and
style. Arrange them in a two-column grid for a clean dashboard feel.
Will the countdown update in real time?
Yes. Blocky renders live inside the Notion embed. If you edit a timer’s date
in Blocky, the Notion embed reflects the change on refresh.
Can I link a database to start/stop a timer?
Countdowns are date-targeted, so they don’t “start.” But you can place your
database date property next to the timer to show the source of truth.
Does the timer support mobile?
Yes—Notion’s mobile apps render embeds. Keep the timer compact and avoid super
wide labels for smaller screens.
What happens when the timer hits zero?
The timer reaches 00:00 and can display an “It’s time!” message. You can
swap the block for a celebratory image or leave it as a record of the moment.
A Note on Embeds Inside Notion
Notion supports embedding via the Embed block and the /embed command. If
you’re ever unsure about a site’s support, try pasting the link into an Embed
block first. Official integrations—including Blocky—are designed to work
seamlessly in Notion and appear in the Integrations gallery.
You can find Notion’s up-to-date embed instructions and examples here:
Notion Embed Help.
Blocky’s official listing sits in the Notion Integrations directory, which is
the best way to verify you’re using a trusted tool.
Wrap-Up: Make Your Deadline Visible—and Motivating
A well-placed countdown in Notion turns a plan into a promise. With Blocky, you
can set it up in minutes, match your brand, and share it with teammates.
Pick a variant that fits your vibe, lock the time-zone, and pin the timer at
the top of your page. Then let the clock do what it does best—pull you forward
toward the moment that matters.
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