I’ve always been a pretty organized person. In fact I enjoy organizing. I like things in their right places, and I keep track of a lot. As someone who runs my own business, being organized is essential to smooth project processes, client communications and administrative tasks.
So, I’ve always thought I was a pretty well organized person, but when I discovered the app called Notion my organizing reached a whole new level 🤯 😄. Today, I can’t imagine my life without this app. I use it in so many contexts. In this article I’ll share some primary ways I use Notion to stay organized, and I hope it’ll kickstart ideas for you to also reinvent your organizing of information.
What is Notion?
Notion is a productivity tool that provides a digital workspace to organize “everything that matters,” as their website notes. You can think of Notion as like having your own website and something you can build on without code. Its structure is based on creating pages that contain information types like text blocks, tables, to-do lists, galleries, and files to name a few.
The most powerful feature of Notion is the ability to create database tables. These are not your standard x and y-axis tables that remain static. Notion allows you to create dynamic tables. Each row in a table can be opened to pop up a window that contains more information. You can nest information as deep as you’d like. In addition, adding fields (or columns) to a table is super easy, and they can include information like project status, dates, tags, numbers and more.
You can get really complex and link table information together and do mathematical calculations. The unique factor about Notion is that all of your data is within a database. Notion is basically one large database of all your information, and you can see this structure if you dive deep into Notion pages.
To preface, I’m not getting paid to praise Notion, but I am a huge fan. There are other similar tools out there, but from my research and experimenting nothing tops Notion. If you want to improve your organizing and productivity, try giving Notion a try. There is a free version, and I recommend using the desktop app for quick access to your information. There are plenty of templates to help get you started, but creating your own is a great way to learn Notion.
So, now that I’ve talked enough about the Notion product, let me share with you how I use it!
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
David Allen
Weekly Sprint
I have a strong morning routine, and it includes planning my day. I have a page in Notion called “Sprints” which outlines my week, and I plan day by day throughout the week. Each day includes to-do’s within a toggle of four categories:
- Meetings: What appointments do I have for the day?
- Messages: What priority messages do I need to send or reply to?
- Tasks: What must I get done today?
- Chores/Errands: What regular life tasks do I need to take care of?
Next, I scroll further down the page and complete my time-blocking. While I rarely meet my blocks to perfection, this process still provides a good guide for my day. Building the habit of a great morning routine has helped me so much over the years, and I recommend having one if you haven’t given it a try.
Business Administrative
I used to keep track of all my administrative information in separate spreadsheets and docs. While this worked out okay, the ability to access information more quickly by just clicking a few page links within Notion made my life easier.
Within Notion I have a business dashboard that keeps all of my administrative stuff in one central place. This dashboard contains content like a client list, income and expense tracking, vendor tracking, and more. And if I do require the viewing of a spreadsheet or doc, I simply have it linked from my Notion page so it’s still just a click away.
As someone who is running two businesses, staying organized of general information like this saves tremendous time and headache.
Business Strategy
For the most part, I’m a heavy planner. I like to think things through, and I also like consistency. Planning out ideas helps clear my thoughts so I can better assess what my next steps are. Strategy should stem from having a plan, and Notion is a great tool to keep this information together.
I use Notion to keep track of my one-pager overview plans and detailed business plans. This includes information like my products and services, pricing, customer segments, marketing strategies and more. It’s far more in-depth than the screenshots I am showing here.
I also use Notion to hold information about the brand messaging for my businesses. I use my own strategy for developing brand messaging and keep it in accessible reach so that I don’t have to think too hard about the copywriting for marketing collateral and digital presentations. Having consistent messaging is so important for a brand, and I use my own advice and spend great time on this.
(➡️ By the way, I teach seminars and workshops on developing brand messaging and created a course in the BrandRoots On-Demand Library. If you’re unsure of where to start in building your brand’s story and copywriting, connect with us!)
Project Management
Projects that have a good workflow have good project management. I use Notion to keep track of project creative briefs, timelines, research, designs and other deliverables. I also use it to keep track of campaigns and their analytics. A one-page dashboard that outlines all the pieces of your project is a great time-saver. And because Notion pages can be shared, it’s a great resource for your clients too.
In a years time you can easily look back at the work you’ve done and update your portfolio along the way. The archiving that can be done in Notion is just so cool.
Project Documentations
Notion is an awesome tool for creating identity design style guides, mood boards, and branding guides. It’s easy to create documentation about colors, typography, photography, logos, voice and tone, and all the components that go into a visual guide. While there are paid products out there for this, Notion does just as great a job, and it’s beneficial to have all your information in a central system.
In addition to style guides, Notion is a great tool for documenting web/app development information. I use it to document various code processes and tutorials. This not only refreshes my memory if I need to on a project, but it’s something that can be shared with other team members and your clients. For example, if a client wants editing access for their website, I provide them with a knowledge base of tutorials I created in Notion specific for their website.
Writing
I write a lot, and Notion makes this organization so much easier. When it comes to client projects, I use Notion to type up copywriting needed for areas of their website or other collateral. For BrandRoots, I write my articles in Notion, and I can tag them as an idea, draft or published. With Notion tables, there are endless ways to sort, filter and search your content.
In this way I also use Notion to write book projects I’m working on. For example, I’ve been writing an autobiography for a few years now, and Notion provides an interface that makes it super easy to jot down ideas, write content and move my chapters around as needed. Notion has made a lot of improvements over the years for writers.
Design Inspiration
I visit a lot of websites for design inspiration, but I also use my own curated gallery. If I come across a website that has a cool layout, nice color palette, or great user interactions I’ll make note of it in Notion. It’s far easier than going through an endless list of browser bookmarks, a terrible system I once used in the past.
You can create galleries in Notion, and this provides a great way to bookmark websites, paste in screenshots and organize them all with tags that are searchable.
Study Notes
Studying is a regular habit of mine, and it’s been easier because I can keep all the notes that I take within Notion. Whether I’m taking an online course, reading a book, or going through a tutorial, Notion allows me to create my own knowledge base of study notes that I can easily reference in a few clicks.
I still do take handwritten notes, but transferring them into Notion later has been a great review process for my learning and trying to understand the material that much more. I found that by being organized in my note-taking, I am more apt to taking notes rather than not.
Other Use Cases
The ways in which you can use Notion are endless and up to your imagination. If you’re looking for other ways to organize information, perhaps this list may inspire you to use Notion for:
- Lesson Planning
- Podcasting Planning
- Video Script Writing
- Habit Tracking
- Goal Tracking
- Content Calendar
- Meeting Notes
- Budget Tracking
- Employee Onboarding
- Shopping Lists
- To-Do Lists
- UX Research
Closing
Like with any system it takes time to learn Notion. However, it’s a lot easier than you think. The most challenging part is not actually learning how to use Notion, it’s how to organize your information. Notion isn’t going to tell you how to organize your information. That’s something you need to think of and do. There are a lot of awesome templates in the Notion Template Gallery though to get you started.
If you’re curious to really dive into Notion but need help thinking how to organize it, let us know. We provide seminars and workshops and creative coaching if you need individualized guidance on your Notion setup.
Happy organizing!
