I've used Notion for 1,207 days. Not kidding—I checked my purchase history.
It's what keeps my life together. Here's how I use Notion every single day:
Journaling 📓
I’m not consistent with journaling.
In a given month, I’ll probably make 5-10 entries. In these entries, I talk about my ideas, thoughts, reflections, memories, and experiences.
When I do make entries, however, they're surprisingly helpful.
Journaling is useful in a couple ways: I can write everything down to help me understand whatever I’m thinking about and I can reflect on what I wrote down weeks, months, and even years later.
For instance, I usually take note of activities I do whenever I travel. By journaling, I can keep track of memories from places I traveled to years ago.
I’ll also write about regrets I have and mistakes I made. This helps me reflect on what I did wrong and how I can do better in the future.
In particular, I love jotting down nostalgic memories. Every now and then, I see something that reminds me of a core childhood experience. I absolutely love keeping track of these.
Blog 📝
Though I don't use Notion to write blog posts anymore, I still use it to organize the boring stuff.
This includes:
Blog post ideas: things I randomly come up with throughout the day
Growth strategies: newsletter growth ideas I randomly come up with throughout the day
Content buckets: the categories of iPad content I want to cover
Lead magnets: a little snippet of text asking people to subscribe to my newsletter
Sponsorships: a little snippet of text asking people to check out my amazing sponsors
Expansion ideas: aspirational ideas I'll probably never go through with but are fun to think about (like an iPad podcast)
Organizing projects is Notion's strength. It's where Notion's true potential lies.
Goals 🥅
I love using Notion to track things.
When it comes to tracking my goals, nothing changes.
I use Notion to track my personal goals, whether it's fitness, finances, or relationships.
At the moment, my personal goals are mostly financial. I'm keeping track of:
My current income
My target income
My current net worth
My target net worth
Potential money-making ideas
Career 👨💻
Again, Notion is amazing at tracking things.
When it comes to career stuff, I use Notion to track things I can do to improve my skills, such as:
Practicing for internship interviews
Developing personal projects for my resume
Taking free courses to develop my skills
Book Notes 📚
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book outside of school-required reading (as I’m writing this, I realize that I should probably get back into the habit).
For a while though, I was reading on a consistent basis. Think every night before I went to sleep.
Depending on the type of book, I would take different types of notes.
For books with general concepts, like So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport, I would take high-level notes. I would cover major concepts in a few sentences and reflect on what I’ve learned.
I find that these types of books tend to stretch ideas longer than they need to. It's easier to summarize and look back on my notes than it is to re-read the book itself.
For other books with specific concepts, like How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes, I take detailed notes. In that instance, I took a couple sentences of notes on each tip.
For How To Talk to Anyone, I went through the first few tips slowly. I applied them in practice, and they actually worked (at least from what I observed). I reflected on what I had learned and noted these points as well.
For ideas on how to set up book notes, you can check out Ali Abdaal’s template. The core idea behind the way we take notes is the same, but his template is more organized.
College 🏫
Notion has been insanely useful in college.
In high school, I could get away without using a planner. But in college, it's an absolute necessity.
By using Notion, I haven't missed a single assignment.
And on top of making sure I turn everything in on time, it's also made me more productive. There hasn't been a single night where I've rushed to turn something in before 11:59 PM.
That's how awesome Notion has been: it's killed procrastination.
Final Thoughts 🧠
"For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned"—Benjamin Franklin
Thanks for reading!
Adi
Concepts
Concepts is an "unlimited canvas" note-taking app I've used for years (if you don't believe me, check my post history). I use it to take notes, brainstorm article ideas, and come up with startup ideas.
It's one of the few apps I highly recommend for every iPad user out there. And I genuinely believe this (again, check my post history if you wanna verify this claim).
Concepts has been kind enough to offer a free 30-day trial. And no, you don't have to enter your credit card info.
Show Concepts some love ❤️—they're amazing sponsors.