Notion Is the Tool I Wanted All Along

I feel like I need to talk about Notion.

Because I LOVE Notion.

And the more I learn how to actually use it, the more I keep thinking...

WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!

I originally learned about Notion through an affiliate marketing Skool group I was in. They were teaching people how to use Notion and create templates they could sell.

And almost immediately, I knew I had found something.

Not the make-money-selling-Notion-templates part.

No thank you. 😂

I didn’t find that interesting at all.

I just needed NOTION.

Notion was basically the tool I’d been wanting for years without knowing what it was called.

A place for notes.

A place for information.

A place for projects.

Databases.

Links.

Ideas.

Random crap I don’t know what to do with but KNOW I’m going to want again six months from now.

ALL OF IT.

The problem was... now I had to figure out how the hell to organize it.

Enter PARA

Somewhere along the way, I found Thomas Frank on YouTube and learned about the PARA method.

PARA is an organizational system created by Tiago Forte, and it stands for:

Projects — things you’re actively working on that have a specific outcome or endpoint.

Areas — ongoing parts of your life or work that you need to maintain. Home, finances, pets, business, health, etc.

Resources — information you want to keep because it’s useful or interesting, but it isn’t tied to something you’re actively responsible for.

Archives — things that aren’t active anymore but that you don’t necessarily want to delete.

Simple enough, right?

Well...

😂

I HIGHLY recommend following one of Thomas Frank’s Notion/PARA videos if you’re interested in this. Actually building the system along with someone helped me understand how Notion databases could connect to each other.

I got it set up.

And then proceeded to use it... sort of.

My Semi-Organized Dumping Ground

This is where things got interesting.

I had a PARA system.

And then I basically had another organizational system sitting beside it.

Because I didn’t really understand how I was supposed to use PARA in everyday life.

So I kept putting things where they made sense to me.

Which isn’t necessarily bad.

Actually, I’m a HUGE believer that a system should work for the person using it rather than forcing the person to work for the system.

Except...

Mine wasn’t really a system.

It was more like:

“I know I put that somewhere in Notion...”

😂

Some things were beautifully organized.

Some things were in databases.

Some things were pages.

Some things were buried three levels deep inside something else.

Some things were probably duplicated.

And some things were sitting there because apparently Past Lianne had a very clear organizational philosophy that Present Lianne could no longer decipher.

Notion had become a semi-organized dumping ground.

A very USEFUL semi-organized dumping ground... but still.

And because I could usually find what I needed eventually, I kept going.

Until something changed.

Notion + ChatGPT

THIS.

This is where things have gotten REALLY interesting for me.

I’ve been working on cleaning up and reorganizing my Notion lately, but this time I’m not trying to follow someone else’s system perfectly.

I’m having conversations with ChatGPT about it.

And that distinction is HUGE.

Instead of watching a video where someone says:

“Here’s how you should organize your Resources...”

I can say:

“Okay, here’s what I actually have. Here’s how I use it. Here’s what makes sense to my brain. Where should this go?”

And then we can talk about it.

I can explain why something doesn’t feel like a Project to me.

I can explain how I actually look for information.

I can say, “Nope. That doesn’t make sense.”

And we try something else.

The system gets adapted to ME.

THAT is what I’ve been missing.

I’m finally understanding what belongs in Projects versus Areas versus Resources. I’m cleaning up databases. I’m changing views so I only see the properties I actually care about. I’m connecting things that should have been connected all along.

And suddenly PARA doesn’t feel like this organizational system I’m supposed to use.

It’s starting to feel like my Notion.

And Then I Took It a Little Further...

Because obviously I couldn’t just stop at organizing things. 😂

I’m part of an AI mastermind group with calls and training sessions that contain a TON of information.

More information than I can possibly absorb in real time.

And I’ve been trying to figure out:

How do I keep up with this without making keeping up with it another full-time job?

So...

I started experimenting.

With ChatGPT helping me figure out the technical pieces, I started building a system that can pull information from those calls, create a useful briefing for me...

AND PUT THE INFORMATION INTO NOTION FOR ME.

Come ON.

THIS is the stuff that makes my brain ridiculously happy.

I don’t just want AI to summarize something and give me another chunk of text that I then have to figure out what to do with.

I want the information to go where I need it.

I want it organized.

I want to be able to find it later.

I want my tools to actually work together.

And we’re getting there.

This Is What I Wanted

That’s what keeps hitting me.

Notion was always the tool I wanted.

I just didn’t completely know how I wanted to use it.

And AI is becoming the missing layer.

Not because ChatGPT magically knows how my entire life should be organized.

It doesn’t.

But because I can think WITH it.

I can dump the messy problem out.

Explain how my brain works.

Push back when a suggestion doesn’t fit.

Ask why something should go here instead of there.

Work through one little piece at a time.

And gradually build something that makes sense to ME.

That’s a very different experience from downloading somebody else’s “Ultimate Life Dashboard” and trying to cram my life into it.

I don’t want someone else’s dashboard.

I don’t want someone else’s brain.

I want tools that help my brain work better.

Apparently what I needed all along was Notion...

...and then an AI I could argue with about where to put everything. 😂

And I’m only scratching the surface of what these two can do together.

That might be the part I’m most excited about.