I’ve seen thousands of comparison videos about Notion with other project management software, but this one remained a valuable tool to operate my personal and professional life.
I know I needed to be more organized and have a system when I worked from home. It was not easy, though. So, if you’re feeling a little crazed with planning your tasks and finding your notes from a recent meeting, you’re not alone.
Since I wasn’t much of a paper-kind-of-gal, I tested different software I could get my head on because I needed to find out what would work for me as a brain-dumping system fast.
What I’ve been using to take notes and organize my tasks:
- Google Keep
- Evernote
- Trello
- Google docs
- Apple notes
- Yahoo notes
There’s more to this list actually, but I’m unable to recall all of them as my brain becomes foggy after a while, and not everything registers for a long time. As you can see, my brain is scattered everywhere.
My brief verdict on these apps:
Google Keep, though it’s simple and very straightforward to use, it lacks some features that I hoped the developers would carry out in the future. It lacks multiple notebooks and no rich-text editing which for me is what I really need for research notes.
With Evernote, I was on and off from it. The interface looks great. However, I don’t think I need a monthly or yearly subscription just so I could customize how I want to see things on the first fold.
I hate the search feature of Trello, and the project views are limited. I’m not looking for an enterprise-type feature for a project management tool, but it’s still agonizing that the only thing available for you is the Kanban board view.
I treat Google Docs as a writing tool for essays, articles, and email drafts where I can easily see what to edit and proofread stuff. But it’s not necessarily made as a tool to manage things in your life. I know I should’ve known this, but it was the first thing I thought I could use as a system for my work.
Apple Notes is great if a random thought comes to my mind, and I could just easily pull it up on my computer when needed. But so far, it’s designed only for dumping your thoughts into oblivion. Just kidding!
Let’s forget about Yahoo Notes. It’s basically an old note-taking feature that is part of the email service, but I doubt if it’s still alive today.
These tools didn’t provide me with the features that I need. I was looking for a lot of classification, taxonomy, or organization, and unfortunately, none of these tools suffice that need for me.
When I started using Notion, after watching several productivity videos on Youtube, I figured I should try it out. Notion is incredibly different from what I used before. It’s packed with so many features and requires a learning curve. I really had no patience back then to understand a new software, so I pushed it aside for a few weeks. It was a love-hate relationship for me and Notion, to be frank.
It took me a few months before my brain slowly started loving Notion. As it was in life, you have to give things a second chance, and so I did – With this software.
I’m currently using Notion as part of my day-to-day task organizational tool. I know there’s still a lot more that I need to master from using this software, but I can definitely say that it’s worth a try. This is what my Notion homepage looks like as of writing this post:
Top features that I really love after a few months of using Notion
- Database creation. You can set your database in whichever view you like, such as a table, board, calendar, gallery, and list view. The best part is you can create multiple databases depending on your preference.
- The Text Editor. Editing information/data in Notion is indeed easy. You can transform texts into different forms, such as lists, headers, links, dividers, quotes, and callouts.
- Saving and displaying bookmarks. I installed a notion extension on my browser, and it’s surprisingly cool to know that it allows me to save/bookmark any articles I find interesting to a database that I created for various content in Notion. Whenever I bookmark a page to Notion, the software auto-populates the content of that particular page without doing a manual copy-paste.
- Everything is customizable in Notion. Customization is the feature that beats the heck out of every other project management/note-taking software out there. Whether you use a template that’s readily available or create something from scratch is up to you.
They say that Notion was designed for content creators, solopreneurs, or if you have a small team collaborating on different projects. But I believe anyone who wants more structure in their life can take advantage of the features that Notion is offering. So if you’re wondering if Notion is for you, then go ahead and try it.
Signup with Notion here and start re-organizing your online and offline life!
As for me, this software is slowly making my life a little bit easier as it serves as my second digital brain. I cannot foresee whether Notion will stay longer in the tech world, but as long as it’s here, I will continue using it for free – no strings attached.
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