Notion has been spreading like wildfire by the tech world, with the productiveness app being present in increasingly workflows the world over. Nevertheless it is not only for work – throughout 2024 I used its free model to plan and monitor nearly each a part of my life, together with my marriage ceremony.
What’s Notion?
Notion is a versatile, cloud-based productiveness app that permits you to create your personal databases and extra. It has an enormous vary of capabilities and views that make it superb for organizing absolutely anything. Whereas there are business-focused subscription choices, there’s a free possibility for private initiatives.
I’m virtually ashamed to say I haven’t spent a penny on Notion simply but, with its free model proving to be greater than highly effective sufficient for my wants to date. I’ve even utilizing been Notion to handle my small enterprise, together with deadlines and invoicing.
What precisely is Notion? It is usually nebulously described as a ‘productiveness app’, however it may possibly achieve this a lot that it’s laborious to pigeonhole it. Once you open the app initially, it may possibly really feel like a easy note-taking app or doc administration software, letting you jot down absolutely anything. With a while and steerage, nevertheless, it may possibly flip into absolutely anything you want it to.
Hardcore Notion followers have constructed complete venture administration suites and process managers inside the app, however you do not have to go that far to profit from its productiveness powers.
Right here’s how Notion has been an enormous boon to my life throughout 2024, and the way it might do the identical for you this coming yr.
1. Set your targets
Initially of 2023, I sat down and plotted out a sequence of targets to perform. These ranged from planning and paying for a marriage, to purchasing a brand new automotive, and extra.
I created a easy process record for this, and dropped it onto my ‘Private Dashboard’ Notion web page so it’s all the time front-and-centre, but it surely’s straightforward to create a process supervisor inside the app.
By hitting the ‘/’ key you’ll be able to convey up a sequence of blocks, and the To-Do record one will allow you to create a listing of duties. Having it helpful on any given day is good, letting me shortly jot issues down.
On an analogous be aware, you’ll be able to create be aware pages after which kind them into folders and hyperlink to them from elsewhere in Notion. That permits you to do absolutely anything from fast scribbles to constructing complete wikis.
2. Choose a view
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What separates Notion’s databases from extra conventional spreadsheets are its Views. Notion can swap information into easy-to-use choices like a Kanban board, Calendar, or stripped down tables.
For instance, I’m a contract author, and I’ve an enormous spreadsheet I name my planner. It has consumer data, what I’m writing, deadlines, charges, and every part included, however from a consumer’s perspective it’s a little bit of a multitude as a spreadsheet.
With a few clicks, although, I can flip it right into a Kanban board (assume Trello) and transfer initiatives from planning to completion and invoicing as I work on them, with color-coded labels as they transfer.
I may even swap to a nifty calendar view to see when issues are due, or what I’ve accomplished in any given month, or swap to a preset that reveals solely a very powerful items of knowledge for once I’m finding out my taxes.
Different views embody Charts, Timelines, and even a Gallery possibility.
3. Share a House
Very like one thing like Google Docs, you should use Notion to collaborate with colleagues and crew members.
With the Wedding ceremony planning part I constructed, my now-wife and I have been in a position to see upcoming funds, emails we’d acquired, and extra.
We even set a mammoth guidelines, divided into sections, to assist issues run easily, and if we’d wished to, we might’ve shared it with the venue and suppliers, too.
Notion may be as open or as restrictive as you’d like. There are a number of marriage ceremony planning templates (just like the one above) to get you began.
4. Discover a template or construct your personal
Notion’s open-ended nature imply it may possibly really feel a bit of overwhelming at first once you’re taking a look at all that clear house, however Templates make it straightforward to import instruments from creators across the globe.
That may make it easier to get began, after which you’ll be able to share your personal customized templates in future.
Notion is so assured in its capacity to construct great-looking pages you can publish them to the online as complete web sites constructed inside the app.
However a very good place to get began are Notion’s finest templates for setting new yr’s targets or the filtered record of New 12 months templates. Begin along with your broader targets first, then drill down to creating month-to-month targets and behavior trackers.
There are over 1,500 free templates dedicated to New 12 months’s planning for starters.
5. Combine a calendar
Notion launched its personal Calendar app this yr, which means with a click on of my Mac’s menu bar I can see all of my requires the day.
It has built-in scheduling and time zones, and appears nice, too. One of the best half is that it ties into the primary Notion app, which means you’ll be able to drag and drop data between the 2, and even combine your calendar in your begin web page so you’ll be able to see every part booked on a given day.
The crew plans to introduce an e-mail consumer within the close to future, too. However for now all of those present instruments are greater than sufficient to get your 2025 off to highly-organized flier.
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