Notion — A Review

Rucha K
Rucha K
Nov 1 · 3 min read

A couple months ago I posted an article about how I organize my life. Shortly after, I asked my friends if they had any suggestions for me to try out. One of my friends highly recommended Notion to me. Notion is a very customizable, clean note taking, schedule organizing, list making platform.

I was quickly drawn to downloading it because of its beautiful user interface, and endless templating possibilities. However, within 10 minutes of installing it, I realized that it was actually a bit intimidating. Sometimes, when something is so flexible, it takes longer to learn and setup. I see the app as a directory of multiple workspaces. Each workspace has multiple pages in it. Each of these pages is highly customizable, with the option to add checklists, bulleted lists, images, KanBan boards, and so much more.

It took me at least a week to figure out the full functionality of the app. After playing around with the different features, I figured out what worked best for me. Now, I have a couple of different “workspaces” : recipes, working out, medium, to name a couple. I love the fact that you can attach a little emoji to your workspace.

Each of my workspaces has a different feel depending on the purpose of the topic. For example, “Grocery” is a basic checklist with what I want to get for the week. I also have an archive page embedded into my Grocery workspace that contains all the things I have checked off my grocery list in the past. I really wish Notion had a built in archive feature so that I could easily view the tasks I have completed in the past.

Another feature I really love is the ability to add KanBan boards to each page. This allows for simple visibility for the status of projects. I like using this for longer term projects that I am working on.

Notion has now become a pretty integral part of my organization methods. Essentially, I have moved some of the things I used to keep track of on Notes to Notion. I prefer it to certain parts of Notes because it is a very beautiful, clean workspace. There are no real frills, and the aesthetic genuinely makes me feel calm.

However, Notion has not taken over all organization methods in my life. I find it annoying to use because it does not open up as quickly as Native Apple apps. It has a loading time, and is slow in that sense. Notion is free for basic users, and free for students which is wonderful!

Overall, I really love Notion and would recommend it to people to try out. There is a definitely learning curve, but I think it is a great addition to any existing organization methods you may use for your day to day life!

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