Your First Ten Minutes

Estate planning has a reputation for being heavy. It does not have to start that way. Here is a calm ten minute plan for your first session. You will not finish everything, and you are not supposed to. The goal is momentum.

Minute 0 to 2: lock down your recovery phrase

Before anything else, find the recovery phrase you were shown at sign-up and write it on paper if you have not already. This is the single most important thing you will do today. Everything else can wait. This cannot, because we cannot recover your account without it. Put the paper somewhere safe, then come back.

Minute 2 to 4: take the dashboard tour

Look at your dashboard without clicking into anything yet. You will see the main areas: your will, legacy letters and videos, the digital vault, and the people you trust (executors and recipients). Knowing the map before you drive it removes most of the early confusion. Nothing here is shared or final until you choose to make it so.

Minute 4 to 7: start your will, do not finish it

Open the will builder and answer just the first few questions: your name, your state, and whether you have children. Then stop. You have now done the hardest part, which is starting. A partially completed will is saved privately and encrypted, and you can return to it any time. Most people finish over two or three short sittings, not one marathon.

Minute 7 to 9: write one short legacy note

Skip the big emotional letter for now. Instead, write three or four sentences to one person. It can be small: a piece of advice, a memory, a thank you. You are proving to yourself that this part is doable. You can refine it, expand it, or schedule it for later delivery another day.

Minute 9 to 10: name one trusted person

Add the name and email of one person you would trust to carry out your wishes, your likely executor. You are not granting them access to anything yet, and they are not notified. You are just no longer leaving the most important role blank.

What you have accomplished

In ten minutes you protected your recovery phrase, learned the layout, started a real will, wrote a real message, and named a real person. That is more estate planning than most adults have ever done. Close the tab and come back when you can. The work is saved, encrypted, and waiting, and you are already ahead of where you were this morning.