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Want to Boost Personal Productivity?
The best way that I have found to boost my own personal productivity is by keeping organized and having everything all in one place. For me, that means being able to see my long-term goals but also the daily/weekly important tasks I need to accomplish to reach those goals.
A personal productivity system if you will.
Now, this blog is all about the digital nomad lifestyle combined with the principles of financial independence. Those two things are the best way I have found to design a life with more freedom, excitement, and greater joy.
Staying organized and working towards your goals is a significant component of creating a free life for yourself.
I have found Notion to be the best tool for me to stay organized and work towards my goals. See below for some of my top productivity tips while using Notion.
Why I chose to use Notion for Personal Productivity
I absolutely love Notion for all things note-taking and personal productivity! When I started using Notion I was able to streamline and get rid of 3 separate apps- a task tracker, a habit tracker, and a notes app.
It has almost replaced my calendar as well!
I found out about Notion awhile ago and was reluctant to make the switch as I had been an avid Evernote user. But finally, the syncing issues between Evernote Mobile and Desktop and issues syncing with a VPN became unbearable.
The fear of switching platforms was unfounded, and Notion seamlessly imported all of my Evernote notes and my tasks from Asana.
If you struggle with organization, task management, or personal productivity, I truly believe Notion can help you out!
I’ve been using it for a few months now, and it really streamlined my long-term goals with my daily actions.
I should mention that Notion has a huge database of templates that you can duplicate to your personal workspace for whatever you may need: content calendar, reading list, travel planning, etc.
The 5 Ways to Boost Personal Productivity Using Notion
1. Vision and Long-Term Planning
This is where the magic happens!
How can you get to where you want to be if you don’t know what that is?
I borrowed this concept from Taylor Pearson where he talks about long-term vision setting coupled with quarterly planning and 90-day sprints.
During this part of planning, I set ONLY two big goals, one personal and one for this blog/podcast for Q1 2020.
To reach these goals, I then broke it down into smaller tasks, some one-off and some reoccurring using the Master Task List discussed below.
2. Master Task List
Using this Master Task list has completely replaced my reliance on Asana or any other To-Do List or Task Tracker. It has anything you would expect from a task tracker, and you can set reminders.
Two of the biggest things I enjoy about using Tasking Tracking in Notion are:
1. Embed within different pages
To make sure I’m tracking the same thing in all locations, I can link to the master task list in all of my weekly planning templates (see below).
I can also set a custom view to only filter by tasks that are not complete for the current week!
2. Change views instantly
Prefer just a list view for task tracking, a Trello style board, or a calendar view?
It doesn’t matter with Notion; you can easily switch between views seamlessly.
I personally like the calendar view so I can see all of my tasks and when they’re actually due throughout the week/month. You can also easily add/ rearrange tasks on the calendar view, which I found easier than just the straight list view.
3. Weekly Template and Daily Planning
This is where the magic happens for me in Notion!
So I’ve already done my Yearly/Quarterly plan, discussed above, now I need to make sure I’m executing on a daily/weekly basis.
I journal and take notes in this template and then also use it to plan out my days/week.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Lao Tzu
The BIG goals that you set in the Yearly/Quarterly planning template can be broken down into smaller tasks.
Notion has custom weekly planning templates you can import to your workflow.
I used the template below that was recommended by Danny Forest.
4. Habit Tracker
This is embedded in the weekly planner. (Template above ⬆️)
As James Clear, the bestselling author of “Atomic Habits” has said:
There are three main benefits to tracking habits.
- It reminds you to complete the habit
- It motivates you to continue and not want to break the stride of consistency
- It’s rewarding and motivates you to continue with the habit
The habit tracker is pretty straightforward, but it’s nice that you can easily customize it and it’s embedded right into the weekly habit tracker.
It’s motivating to see if you are tracking on your goals and establishing healthy, productive habits on a daily basis! This feature helped me get rid of a separate habit tracking app that I had been using.
5. Topic Specific Note Pages
This is pretty straightforward.
It’s nice to have a place to take notes, journal, or write down ideas. Even better is having them all stored in one place and syncing seamlessly across all of your devices.
I also love that with Notion you can embed pages inside of other pages like a wiki page. This is very appealing to me as a visual person. So you can have sub-note sections on one master page. I have different notes for the podcast, ideas, and then for personal things like fitness.
Here’s an example from my podcast notes page:
The main topic is The Nomad on FIRE Podcast, but then there are sub-pages for specific topics or ideas.
Pricing
Notion has updated their pricing structure and now the free version lets you have unlimited blocks!
They also have a Personal Pro plan, which I am currently using. It costs $4 per month and has some bonus features.
If you sign up for Notion using my link you get a $10 credit to get started and test it out for two months!
You can also earn additional bonus credits by signing onto Notion from different devices and importing notes from Evernote.
Other Great Resources
- One Tool To Rule Them All by Marie Poulin from The Oki Doki Blog. This is an awesome article and really helped me get setup using Notion and staying organized
The Most Powerful Productivity App I Use – Notion by Thomas Frank great video where Thomas shows how he uses Notion - A Beginner’s Guide to Notion by Matt Ragland great guide for Notion beginners
I hope you enjoyed this article! If you have any questions on using Notion please feel free to reach out to me here.
And, if you’re interested in signing up, please consider using my referral link!
- All About Van Life with Casey Hogan of Towing Wild Oats | NOF #85 - October 6, 2021
- Traveler vs Digital Nomad, Freedom and Balancing Work While Traveling with Rax Suen of Nomads Unveiled | NOF #84 - October 4, 2021
- Real-Estate Investing, Turnkey Rentals and How to Stop Trading Your Time for Money with Eric Martel of Martel Turnkey | NOF #83 - October 3, 2021
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