I know that everyone has been talking about Notion lately, but I still wanted to share how my pages are setup because I’ve been using Notion for nearly a year now and have figured out a system that works really well for me!
I want to start out by saying I don’t use Notion for daily planning, or even weekly/monthly for that matter. I do track a few things weekly/monthly, but my daily schedules and to-do lists are done physically in my planner!
Alright, let’s get into it!
Home
First up is my home base! I keep track of some weekly and monthly goals that I want to accomplish, usually related to school or blogging. I also have a spot for ongoing tasks- it’s a place for me to brain dump things I want to get done that don’t have a specific due date.
Underneath that, I have a list of mantras. This is just nice to see every day. It’s a good reminder to stay present and mindful during my day. I’ll change these out every few weeks or so.
Finally, I have a list of daily habits and my ideal morning routine. This is not something I always stick to, but seeing it laid out makes it easier to remember.
Overall, this page is just a grounding page to keep my head clear!
Mind Space

The next page I have is called ‘mind space.’ Here is where the majority of my actual notes are! I use Thomas Frank’s template, which basically consists of three parts:
- Notebooks: This is where all of your actual notes live! You can create as many as you want. I have four, and I’ll go into each in more detail later!
- Status Dashboard: This is a database of all of the notes in each of your notebooks! It allows you to see all of your notes at a glance, which can be very helpful at times. I personally don’t make too much use out of it, but you can use it to assign a status to each note (open, urgent, or archived), as well as assign a category for each note as well. If you want to use Notion to keep track of projects for school or work, this feature would be perfect for that!
- Inbox: The inbox is basically a quick note! If you are trying to quickly create a grocery list, you can just click the “new” button, write your list, and then when you have a chance, you can just drag it into the notebook it belongs in!
The first notebook I have is for all of my life stuff, and it’s the notebook I use the most! Some of my pages include my workout routine, my monthly budgets, a wish list, and a grocery list. Basically, I just keep a lot of lists here!
Then, I have a page for school stuff, but this is more so just school planning- I have a page for all of my Thesis notes and sources. I also have a page for me schedule & requirements for the rest of my time in undergrad, and I have a list of potential grad schools! I don’t keep actual class notes on Notion- I do those on Word!
The next notebook I have is for blog stuff! I mainly just use it to keep track of some book notes, post ideas, and my favorites for my quarterly favorites post!
Finally, I have an Inspiration page! Here, I keep track of my quarterly goals and I have an “impossible list,” as well as a five year plan. This is one of my newer notebooks, so there isn’t much in it yet, but I plan on keeping track of my favorite quotes in here, creating vision boards, and saving anything interesting I find!
Archive

The final page I have is just an archive of past notebooks that I no longer use, but that I don’t want to lose completely. For instance, I have some notes from a PR course I took over the summer that I may want to look back on in a few months, so I have them stored here.
Do you use Notion? What are some ways you organize your pages?
What other organizational tools do you use?
Jessica this is so cool!! I haven’t heard of Notion before reading your post and I’m definitely going to look it up. I usually keep my assignments in a paper planner and use Calendar on my phone and computer to keep track of appointments!
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You need to look into it! It takes a bit of playing around with, but it is phenomenal! There are tons of youtube videos on it, too :)
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Oh I love a good planning video 🤩
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Thai is beautiful! I’m gonna start my own notion set up soon and this gives me great ideas 😊
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Ahh yay I’m so glad! Thank you :)
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I love notion! I’ve started using it in September for the new semester and I’ve since completely transferred all my planning to it – blogging, health-related appointments, university projects and deadlines… I love how flexible and adaptable it is, and the android app is a great addition to its practicality!
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I completely agree! It has so many amazing features and they are constantly improving it, which is amazing! I love seeing the ways in which other people make it their own, too 🤩
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I’ve found that Notion works best for me as an organiser for my bigger school papers!! I had two major research papers last semester, and my use of Notion was a lifesaver for organising my primary and secondary sources. Other than that, I do so much of my planning & goal-writing on physical planners or notebooks, so I don’t use it for those purpose. I started taking a few online, free courses over the Summer, and I opted to use Notion for that as well! It’s such a great
“app”. I can’t believe I didn’t use it before. I love that template you use, I’m going to have to look into it for myself, and see how I can adjust it for my purposes!
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Ooo that’s great! I did try using Notion for organizing my Thesis notes, but for the most part I don’t do too much essay planning on there. I’m a big physical planner, too, so I mainly use Notion for keeping track of lists! I’m glad you like it!
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Ah I love that you did this Jessica!! I also jumped on the Notion train and honestly haven’t been using them recently. Just because I’ve like ONLY been focusing on my school work welp. But your setup is so cool. Mine are a lot less… neat and tidy haha.
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Thank you! It definitely took a lot of time to get to this point, some of my pages are very messy!
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