So I started using Notion this week and here’s what it looks like at the moment. (Yes, feel free to zoom in and read my notes. I promise I won’t be mad.)
Moving forward, I refuse to spend more than the 2 hours I admittedly DID take to set it up, so it’s a very rudimentary but functional system at the moment. I am doing my utmost best to suppress my need to have all systems perfect before running them and plan to just make changes as I go. You’ll know what I mean if you’ve ever launched the tool for yourself. It’s based on a really cool, limitless concept of “databases” and is therefore a rabbit hole waiting to happen. Just saying.
I’ve been seeing Notion everywhere this past year, especially as a lot of people in the study/bullet journal/organization niches online have started using and promoting it.
It’s also cloud-based, so I often access it on my phone when I’m away from my desk. (Source)
It’s commonly used as a full-on task management system. However, I still plan to use my analog bullet journal for that. Instead, I’m using it as an “interim journal” of sorts. It’s basically an organized, categorized, calendar view inside my brain for content & inspiration purposes.
Here’s how I’m using it:
- I write down random ideas I have, discussion topics, or photos/articles/podcasts/Instagram posts that I saw and that inspired me.
- Then, if it’s something I want to share with you guys, I duplicate and transfer it to my Content Calendar where I can draft posts!
- I also have a section for our new Facebook Book Club (link in bio) so that I can collect cool things to share and space them out a bit.
- Finally, bringing it back to the “interim journal” – when I ever have time to sit down and journal privately, I can look back at a calendar map of my brain, so to speak, so I remember what I wanted to digest further or write about.
In many ways, I’m using it as a replacement for this excellent but highly impractical idea I tried in my bullet journal last year:
As I mentioned, it’s still a rudimentary system-in-progress. I’ve definitely been using it consistently for a week and it’s been a hugely beneficial tool for my creative and blogging process. But I can definitely add more to it.
On that note, there are 2 questions I’d love to discuss with you:
- How do you use Notion, if you use it?
- Do you also keep track of “ideas” and “content consumed”? If so, how do you do it?
