From Chaos to Control: How Notion Can Help You Be More Productive
I was always an organized person. Or at least I thought I would be.
I always kept neat notes in university, wrote notes in a physical notebook, and even tried Evernote as a note-keeping app.
In the end, nothing seemed to stick, neither in my head nor as a system that was useful in daily life.
I have read books on productivity such as 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, but what really stuck with me was the system by Tiago Forte from his book Building a Second Brain.
Tiago calls his system of note-keeping: CODE
Capture: Only Capture what truly resonates with you and leave the rest aside. When I look at my old notes now, there is a lot of information in it but
Organize: Save your notes in terms of actionability and organize the information in terms of utility e.g. how you can use this note, idea, etc. for one of your projects.
Every time you take a note, ask yourself “How can I make this as useful as possible for my future self?” — Tiago Forte
This point was key for me, as I had taken notes before but I would never really use them.
Having a system in place also helps me that I can just take notes whenever they appear in my head e.g. right before I go to sleep or while shopping in the supermarket.
Recently, I also started to keep notes on my inner thought process. What stories are important to me and what insights did I have? This helped me to use ideas for projects or blog posts.
The book explains this in more detail and the way I do it may also be different from the ideas of the book.
I think you’ll need to find a system that works for you.
Distill: Find the essence of your notes. I do this once a week (mostly Sundays), where I look at the notes that I have jotted down throughout the week and organize, delete, and revise them. This really helps to better understand my thought process and remember what I have written.
Express: In his book, Tiago mentions that you should shift your focus from consuming to creating by showing your work. This also helps you to better understand your notes. This is also one of the reasons why I have started writing on Medium.
“A common challenge for people who are curious and love to learn is that we can fall into the habit of continuously force-feeding ourselves more and more information, but never actually take the next step and apply it.” — Tiago Forte
But how do I use this system now?
I am using Notion for this which is a 100% free note-taking app that you can use on your phone or any other device. There is a lot of information on how to use Notion on Youtube.
This is my current list of the categories that I use, I have created databases, templates, tables, and more as sub-categories.
One of the most used parts for me is the Quick Notes section where I just jot down anything that comes to mind.
If I have an idea for a Blog post and I only have a few seconds, I just quickly put it on my Quick notes and organize it when I have the time.
Another section I often use is the Reading List.
I have created a database that includes all books that I have read, my notes on them, their status, and if I liked them.
In the Travel section, I organize all my travels — from itineraries and invoices to tickets and must-sees. This really comes in handy when you are in an Airport without the internet.
What is also helpful is that you can share that info with your friends, or you can look up how the name of the place that you really liked. (I always forget the names).
Amongst others, I also organized my recipes, fitness journey, and to-dos with Notion, so let me know if you are interested in more detailed information on the other categories. I am also really interested in how you organize your Notes, so leave a comment and share your thoughts.
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