There are templates built into Notion you can use off the peg, but it’s really part of the app’s appeal that you can create your own. You can view your databases in a variety of ways an they can be linked or embedded or something, but this served my purposes. I noted that it looked just like an Excel spreadsheet – because that’s pretty much what it was. I was pleased with my creation, though, and it did function very well. I like things fast and light and streamlined, and Notion seemed anything but. I know you can use or ignore such tools as you wish, but just the fact that they were there bugged me a bit. At this rate I was going to be doing more admin and data input than actual creative work! I guess that could be useful for some people, but to me it felt like just another push to add more information. And for every new entry in the first column of this table, Notion created a page. And there, in the just because, lies one of the problems. Right from the start I felt that I was tracking much of this information just because I could: the YouTube people kept a lot of information in their Notions, so I was of the notion I should do the same with my Notion. My blog tracker in Notion, some elements removed At one point I even kept a record of the image source if it wasn’t one I’d created myself. I added a “notes” column, where I put comments, for example if I’d changed the title. First in were basics such as each post’s title and theme. It was fairly easy to create a table with various columns and rows and drop-down lists. Notion looked like a good fit for creating some kind of status tracker. There were a lot of variables to track, especially given my tendency to overthink, over-compartmentalise, and generally over-egg pretty much every pudding. When I first started on Medium, I found it really challenging to keep track of my articles: what I’d written, what stage each post was at, where I eventually published it, and so on. I planned to use it for a particular purpose that would be very useful, but if for some reason I lost everything, my life wouldn’t disappear in a puff of smoke. So while I eventually gave Notion a go, I decided I wouldn’t put anything in there that I’d be devastated to lose. Some people on the internet put their “whole life” in Notion I don’t know about you, but I’d be wary of putting my whole life into anything, especially something I don’t really have any control over. What did bother me was the possibility that I invest a lot of time in this platform, only for the service to fold or change or revert to a subscription model I don’t want, and that in such circumstances I can’t get my stuff out. It wasn’t the inability to access data offline that bothered me: that’s a very rare situation. If my understanding is correct - and feel free to set me straight if it isn’t - none of the actual information you put into the app is held locally. Sure, there are apps for Mac and iOS, but these are just interfaces. This was largely due to the discovery that all data in Notion is stored online. But even with all those YouTube people singing Notion’s praises, I was cautious from the get-go. I could see a lot of potential uses for Notion. It’s a cross-platform web app that’s got databases and pages and tables, nested things and blocks! Oh, the blocks. I don’t know about you, but I’d be wary of putting my whole life into anything, especially something I don’t really have any control over With some considerable FOMO and more than a little WTF, I thought I’d better take a closer look. Then I saw Craft, which is also receiving a lot of attention. Blimey, I thought, that must be some app. They could not run their businesses or, indeed, their lives without it. Several people spoke very highly of this application. I first became aware of Notion because I watch a lot of productivity, creativity and various other tivity videos on YouTube. Screenshot courtesy of the author Craft and Notion icons via craft.do and notion.so
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