How Notion Helps Boost Productivity

A second brain? An everything app? A productivity tool that feels like LEGO? 🤔

Starting out as a note-taking app, Notion, today has evolved to be an “everything app” for many avid users. From setting goals to managing projects, the app could truly be anything you need and want it to be, thanks to the numerous advanced and easy functionalities the platform has.

If you are new to Notion, the amount of customizations it has to offer could be overwhelming for some. But with the plethora of templates available within the platform, matched with the helpful community of creators ready to guide you through their tips or walkthrough videos, getting into Notion is easier than ever. In order to get started, first, you would have to figure out your reason for using Notion. What purpose do you want it to serve you? To me, it has become my partner in productivity and getting things organized!

Centralized place for everything

There’s a reason why many refer to Notion as the “everything app”. Whether you need to take notes, keep track of tasks, or even set up a gantt chart - all of these are possible in Notion. Unlike Google where you have to jump from Docs to Sheets to Slides, you are able to do a plethora of tasks in just one platform, heck possibly even in one page! It’s a great tool to have everything in one place.

Personalized home dashboard

One of the popular things you’ll see as you search up Notion on YouTube is the beautifully curated dashboard of content creators. They are either super fun and creative or minimalistic in design–whichever you prefer, these dashboard serve a key purpose: your very own home page to easily access whatever you need in one place. Having this page not only boosts your productivity by having a quick reference to your most important pages, but also encourages you to be more creative. There is a very high chance that you will be viewing your dashboard the most out of all the pages you’ll have set up on your Notion workspace. Thus, people love to personalize theirs, to make it more functional yet creatively yours. Definitely do not shy from adding some personal touches to your own home dashboard. Go crazy, have lots of fun with it, but don’t forget to ensure it is functional for you!

Task management

Whether you are managing a project or just organizing daily to-do’s, Notion has some really powerful and easy to use capabilities to aid you in task management. What I personally love is how easy you can switch views from a regular table set up to a calendar to even a kanban style - it’s perfect for anyone who’s still figuring out which layout they’d be most productive in, without the hassle of having to build something from scratch every time. On top of that, these features are available to be set up in a full page view or as an “inline view”, providing a quick snapshot on your home dashboard! Once you’ve gotten the hang of playing or switching around these features on Notion, the possibilities are endless!

Create your own templates

Let’s say you are setting up a page for a class course. In it, you want a section for all your lecture notes, reviewers, and class deliverables you’ll be working on. Of course we don’t want to make the same set up from scratch, rather we want to be efficient! Enter Notion’s build your own template feature With just a click of a button, you can have the same set up for all your course’s pages! It’s such a simple feature but it’s something not many platforms like Notion has and you have no idea how much time you save by using this.

Easy collaboration

Oh, and did I mention you can work with other people on Notion too? Yes, it’s easy to use and it’s real-time. Unfortunately, you may have to subscribe to one of their plans to fully utilize this feature but once you get to try it, you’ll be amazed on how convenient it is. So if you need one of your classmates or co-workers to keep one of your project trackers updated, they can just jump into you Notion page, make the necessary changes, and it should instantly reflect on your screen too. It may not be as revolutionary as this already exists in other platforms like Google Suite, but it is fairly smooth + Notion is always more fun to use.

Whether you need to track your goals, collaborate with a team, or manage projects, the possibilities are endless. I personally love how you can make your dashboard as personalized and as creative as you want it to be. Once you have a clear understanding of what job you want Notion to do for you + lots of navigating around the platform, it eventually because second nature to use. It’s truly a great productivity partner to have, be it for school, work, or personal stuff. Trust me, I’ve gone through various iterations to keep myself organized and productive. From notebook and pen to different digital tools, Notion is just a great “everything app,” keeping it all in one place while still having a dash of my own personality on the pages.