The idea has spread like wildfire through the world of technology and the productivity application is found in more and more workflows around the world. But it’s not just for work: throughout 2024 I used their free version to plan and track virtually every aspect of my life, including my wedding.
What is the notion?
Notion is a flexible cloud-based productivity app that lets you create your own databases and more. It has a wide range of features and views that make it ideal for organizing almost anything. While there are business-focused subscription options, there is a free option for personal projects.
I’m almost embarrassed to say that I haven’t spent a penny on Notion yet, as its free version has proven to be powerful enough for my needs so far. I’ve even used Notion to manage my small business, including deadlines and invoicing.
What exactly is Notion? It’s often loosely described as a “productivity app,” but it can do so many things that it’s hard to pigeonhole it. When you initially open the app, it may seem like a simple note-taking app or a document management tool, allowing you to jot down almost anything. However, with some time and guidance, it can become almost anything you need.
Hardcore Notion fans have created entire project management suites and task managers within the app, but you don’t have to go that far to benefit from its productivity powers.
Here’s how Notion has been a big help to my life during 2024 and how it could do the same for you next year.
1. Set your goals
At the beginning of 2023, I sat down and outlined a series of goals to achieve. These ranged from planning and paying for a wedding to buying a new car and more.
I created a simple task list for this and posted it on my Notion ‘Personal Dashboard’ page so it’s always front and center, but it’s easy to create a task manager within the app.
By pressing the ‘/’ key you can open a series of blocks, and the to-do list will allow you to create a list of tasks. Having it on hand on any given day is ideal as it allows me to jot things down quickly.
Similarly, you can create pages of notes and then sort them into folders and link them from anywhere else in Notion. That lets you do almost anything, from quick doodles to creating entire wikis.
2. Choose a view
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What separates Notion databases from more traditional spreadsheets is their Views. Notion can turn data into easy-to-use options, such as a Kanban board, calendar, or simplified tables.
For example, I’m a freelance writer and I have a huge spreadsheet I call a planner. It has client information, what I’m writing, deadlines, rates, and everything included, but from the user’s perspective it’s a bit messy like a spreadsheet.
However, with a couple of clicks I can turn it into a Kanban board (think Trello) and move projects from planning to completion to billing as I work on them, with color-coded labels as they move.
I can even switch to a nifty calendar view to see when things are due, or what I’ve completed in a given month, or switch to a preset that shows only the most important information for when I’m sorting out my taxes. .
Other views include charts, timelines, and even a gallery option.
3. Share a space
Like Google Docs, you can use Notion to collaborate with colleagues and team members.
With the wedding planning section I created, my now wife and I were able to see upcoming payments, emails we had received, and more.
We even set up a gigantic checklist, divided into sections, to help everything run smoothly, and if we’d wanted, we could have shared it with the venue and vendors too.
The notion can be as open or as restrictive as you like. There are plenty of wedding planning templates (like the one above) to get you started.
4. Find a template or create your own
The open nature of Notion means it can seem a little overwhelming at first when you look at all that free space, but Templates make it easy to import tools from creators around the world.
That can get you started and then you can share your own custom templates in the future.
Notion is so confident in its ability to create beautiful pages that it can publish them to the web as entire websites created within the app.
But a good place to start is Notion’s best templates for setting New Year’s goals or the leaked list of New Year’s templates. Start with your broader goals first and then drill down to setting monthly goals and habit trackers.
For starters, there are over 1,500 free templates dedicated to New Year planning.
5. Integrate a calendar
Notion launched its own Calendar app this year, which means that with one click in the menu bar on my Mac I can see all my calls for the day.
It has built-in scheduling and time zones and looks great too. The best part is that it links to the main Notion app, meaning you can drag and drop information between the two, or even integrate your calendar into your home page so you can see everything booked on a given day.
The team also plans to introduce an email client in the near future. But for now all these existing tools are more than enough to make you a highly organized traveler by 2025.
