Notion has been spreading like wildfire through the tech world, with the productivity app being found in more and more workflows the world over. But it isn’t just for work – during 2024 I used its free version to plan and track virtually every part of my life, including my wedding.
What is Notion?
Notion is a flexible, cloud-based productivity app that lets you create your own databases and more. It has a huge range of functions and views that make it ideal for organizing just about anything. While there are business-focused subscription options, there is a free option for personal projects.
I’m almost ashamed to say I haven’t spent a penny on Notion just yet, with its free version proving to be more than powerful enough for my needs so far. I’ve even using been Notion to manage my small business, including deadlines and invoicing.
What exactly is Notion? It’s often nebulously described as a ‘productivity app’, but it can do so much that it’s hard to pigeonhole it. When you open the app initially, it can feel like a simple note-taking app or document management tool, letting you jot down just about anything. With some time and guidance, however, it can turn into just about anything you need it to.
Hardcore Notion fans have built entire project management suites and task managers within the app, but you don’t have to go that far to benefit from its productivity powers.
Here’s how Notion has been a huge boon to my life during 2024, and how it could do the same for you this coming year.
1. Set your goals
At the start of 2023, I sat down and plotted out a series of goals to accomplish. These ranged from planning and paying for a wedding, to buying a new car, and more.
I created a simple task list for this, and dropped it onto my ‘Personal Dashboard’ Notion page so it’s always front-and-centre, but it’s easy to create a task manager within the app.
By hitting the ‘/’ key you can bring up a series of blocks, and the To-Do list one will let you create a list of tasks. Having it handy on any given day is ideal, letting me quickly jot things down.
On a similar note, you can create note pages and then sort them into folders and link to them from elsewhere in Notion. That lets you do just about anything from quick scribbles to building entire wikis.
2. Pick a view
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What separates Notion’s databases from more traditional spreadsheets are its Views. Notion can switch data into easy-to-use options like a Kanban board, Calendar, or stripped down tables.
As an example, I’m a freelance writer, and I have a huge spreadsheet I call my planner. It has client information, what I’m writing, deadlines, fees, and everything included, but from a user’s perspective it’s a bit of a mess as a spreadsheet.
With a couple of clicks, though, I can turn it into a Kanban board (think Trello) and move projects from planning to completion and invoicing as I work on them, with color-coded labels as they move.
I can even switch to a nifty calendar view to see when things are due, or what I’ve completed in any given month, or switch to a preset that shows only the most important pieces of information for when I’m sorting out my taxes.
Other views include Charts, Timelines, and even a Gallery option.
3. Share a Space
Much like something like Google Docs, you can use Notion to collaborate with colleagues and team members.
With the Wedding planning section I built, my now-wife and I were able to see upcoming payments, emails we’d received, and more.
We even set a mammoth checklist, divided into sections, to help things run smoothly, and if we’d wanted to, we could’ve shared it with the venue and suppliers, too.
Notion can be as open or as restrictive as you’d like. There are a host of wedding planning templates (like the one above) to get you started.
4. Find a template or build your own
Notion’s open-ended nature mean it can feel a little overwhelming at first when you’re looking at all that clear space, but Templates make it easy to import tools from creators around the globe.
That can help you get started, and then you can share your own custom templates in future.
Notion is so confident in its ability to build great-looking pages that you can publish them to the web as entire websites built within the app.
But a good place to get started are Notion’s best templates for setting new year’s goals or the filtered list of New Year templates. Start with your broader goals first, then drill down to making monthly targets and habit trackers.
There are over 1,500 free templates devoted to New Year’s planning for starters.
5. Integrate a calendar
Notion launched its own Calendar app this year, meaning with a click of my Mac’s menu bar I can see all of my calls for the day.
It has built-in scheduling and time zones, and looks great, too. The best part is that it ties into the main Notion app, meaning you can drag and drop information between the two, or even integrate your calendar on your start page so you can see everything booked on a given day.
The team plans to introduce an email client in the near future, too. But for now all of these existing tools are more than enough to get your 2025 off to highly-organized flier.
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