We’re going to do something a little different today. Typically, on this blog, I like sharing advice and reviews of various products that help you organize your digital life. Today, I’d like to share a case study of how I used Notion to stay organized and what steps I took to get everything working correctly. I love me some serious levels of organization, but I also love the coordination of tasks. This is where Notion comes in because I am (now) able to make big moves with my life, and all I have to do is plan it out in my system. There are a lot of moving parts, but at the end of the day, I am hopeful that it will all make sense to you, and you may even want to give it a try yourself. There are a few levels for the tasks I do in my life, and each one has its table, but it works out really well.
1) Daily wins – We all have stuff to do every single day. I rely on my daily to-do list because it serves as a reminder of what I need to accomplish on any given day. I like to call it my “daily wins” because every time I scratch something off the list, it feels like a win for me. I also feel like reframing a “to-do list” into a “Daily Wins list” makes it more engaging. I fully recognize that this is a mind trick, but it works for me.
2) Yearly plan – I think that we have established that I am very goal-oriented. I like goals cause they give me a sense of accomplishment and achievement. When I started using Notion, I figured out that I could make a few goals for myself that I would do throughout the year. These yearly goals meant I had to do an annual review, of course, but that’s something I enjoy. My yearly plan typically has about four or five “Big goals” with a bunch of different subtasks that I will do throughout the year. Most of the time that I plan these things out, I have a bad habit of front-loading a bunch of tasks for the first few months of the year. This truly bit me in the butt for a couple of years because I got overwhelmed with all the things I “Had to do.” The trick, if you want to develop your yearly plan, is to spread out your subtasks as much as possible. Remember, this is going to take 12 months, so it doesn’t all need to be done today.
3) 10-year plan – Here we are in 2025, and this is the first time I’ve attempted to create a 10-year plan. I honestly don’t know how or even if it’s going to work out for me. What I did was think big. REAL big. These goals are going to take me years to get sorted, and frankly, we are dabbling in “not going to happen” territory, but I figure that if I don’t try, then they definitely won’t happen. What I love about Notion is that I can create goals and set myself tasks to achieve them over the next ten years. At the end of this year, I can set up my yearly goals based on my ten-year plan. This will then translate back even further into my Daily wins list.
4) The Done List – This is kind of a new concept for me. I’ve been creating yearly lists for the past five or six years, and I’ve been adjusting my daily wins list like I’m playing checkers. The problem is that it’s hard for me to see everything that I have done throughout the year because when I mark it as done, it goes away. What I have done in Notion for this is create a list that tracks everything marked as “Done” from January 1st to December 31st of this year. To be clear, the concept of a “done list” isn’t new; I’m just giving it a go for the first time myself. I’m hopeful that by the end of the year, I’ll be able to look back on my done list and take pride in all that I’ve accomplished. I will report back on how that goes for me.
5) A visual worker – I’m one of those kinds of people who, if you don’t staple it to my forehead, I have a real hard time getting things done or remembering to accomplish tasks. Having Notion allows me to keep my tasks in a place that’s always in front of me, and it also gives me access everywhere I go. I’ve also installed a template called “Quick Drop,” which enables me to quickly add tasks and ideas to my Notion interface, preventing me from losing any ideas when I’m on the go. I’ve used this on several occasions when I’m on the subway and need to capture an idea that I’ll forget later. Having templates like that in Notion allows me to plan things out that I usually would have missed.
I know that all of this seems like a lot of planning and work, and it is. This is why I like using Notion so much. Although it looks like I’d have to spend all my time setting everything up and managing it, Notion makes it unbelievably easy. This is why I like using Tables, Templates and everything that Notion has to offer. Using Notion has really moved the needle for me as far as keeping myself organized day-to-day, which is why I decided to kick it to the next level to help me plan my future. The fact that Notion’s systems allow me to weave my goals for today, the year and my longer-term plans together allows me the ability to plan things out more comprehensively. It also makes it so that WHEN (and not if) I have to adapt my plans to a change in circumstances, changing things is seriously easy. Using Notion is a great tool to plan your life, and I recommend using it.
What tool or tools do you use to plan your life?
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Very instructive, Jason!
Thanks