Practice makes perfect, as they say. This post shares how I’ve taken some tools (Notion, TickTick, GTD) and stuck with it.
Notion has become my go to app for notes. When it comes to achieving goals, I’ve found that a simple, yet complex system is needed to keep everything organized and easily accessible. I wish there was a magic app that would do this with little effort or setup, but in my experience it doesn’t exist.
Using Notion is similar to building a website (in fact, you can even do that). So while the learning curve is a little steep, once you do it’s worth it. If you’re new to Notion, it’s basically a spreadsheet database where every row is its own page that you can add more spreadsheets to. Keep this in mind as you continue to read; where I mention different “databases,” or “views,” this is what I’m referring to. This is the magic of Notion and what sets it apart, giving you plenty of flexibility for connecting various info. I’ve found it works better than other more straightforward systems for linking notes (like Evernote’s tag system).
Here’s how I set it up:
My system focuses around a “Notes” database. Notice in the menu pane on the left of the screen (image below), I store this database under “Backend.” That’s because I don’t enter anything directly on this page. Instead, I link different views of it throughout the journal depending on what info I want to see. Information on the Notes page is linked to other databases, including “Notebooks,” “Categories,” “Areas of Focus” (AOF), “Goals,” “Vision,” and “Purpose/Principles.” Some of these are standalone, but others are linked using the Relation property in Notion.
<aside> ☑️ Get my Notion template here
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There are two main pages where I enter most of my notes: the Dashboard and Progress pages
I have a Dashboard where I enter daily notes. A simple calendar view is primarily used for adding new entries quickly, and a separate table view I use to scroll and reminisce. I’m not sure there’s any magic to these views, I just like them. The beauty (and complexity) of Notion is there are many different database views you can choose from (list, gallery, board, etc). If you’re new to Notion, this is just simply a way to view the same info in a different way. Remember, this data is linked to my Notes database. Here on the dashboard, it’s just viewed in a more relevant manner.
Calendar view
Timeline view
<aside> ☑️ Get my Notion template here
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This page is what keeps me on track. Often, goals fail because I may come up with the next big idea that’s going to change my life, but when it comes to doing the actual work I give up. GTD (more on that below) has taught me that I need to simplify this as much as possible; the easier the setup, the smaller the task, the more likely I am to chip away at that big goal. Notes in and of themselves get messy, so this page is a separate database of things I’m working on.