Taking my UX Writing Checklist To The Next Level With Notion
A behind-the-scenes look at how and why the UX Writing Checklist has been transformed into an interactive Notion template.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a referral fee if you choose to purchase something or subscribe on a paid plan. Costs the same to you, and helps support my work.
I was looking at my calendar and realised that I’ve been focused on Notion for about 6 months now. In that time period I’ve launched a couple of templates, I passed the Notion Essentials Certification exam and I’ve made almost 100 Things.
So six months in, this feels like a pretty good time to share some of the lessons I’ve learned through it all.
Why I started using Notion?
If you read my yearly review, you already know that in 2023 I was itching for a career change. I’ve enjoyed being a copywriter and a UX writer, but I was ready for something different.
I took a few months to go down random rabbit holes of potential new career, and it’s while looking into all things AI that I stumbled into Notion. And when I did, I realised that I had actually had a Notion account for over a year (maybe even two) but I simply wasn’t making the most of it.
While Notion’s new AI feature are what caught my attention, it’s the potential of personalising the use of the tool, the supportive community around Notion and the pathway towards getting an official certification that got me hooked.
Without too much hesitation, I stopped my research into future careers, and decided that 2024 would be the year I’d be making a living while making the most of this tool, as a consultant or a template creator. Maybe both.
Six months on, this is what I’ve learned so far:
It’s easy to go from excited to completely lost at the beginning
At first Notion can be really exciting.
There are so many ways you can use it: for your personal life, business, your side-project, your studies, your meal planning, etc.
There are so many templates to choose from: the ones from the app itself plus all the ones sold by template creators like.
You can make it look however you want (within reason). Add emjois, icons, change the covers, add cute widgets or even gifs in the middle of your pages.
You can create automisations, link to third-party apps, use Notion Calendar too. Then add a layer of formulas and buttons and you’ve got yourself a pretty powerful tool.
Except, when you’re just getting started, the transition from “this is so exciting” towards “there’s no way I can learn how to do all this on my own” could make you want to run away from Notion.
There’s a great Notion community to help you learn to swim (figuratively speaking)
One way to get out of this feeling of overwhelm is to turn towards the ones that have been there before. And like I said earlier, Notion’s community is a solid one that feels encouraging, supportive and positive.
In these last few months, I’ve learned to connect with a large community of Notion-enthusiast through
- Social media (Twitter, Instagram are the most active places I found)
- Notion Mastery (a course and community created by Marie Poulin and Ben Borowski)
- The Smooth Ops Notion Lab (a brand new Skool community started by Tim Jeffries form The Good Cup)
You have to figure out your system first, then you build and customise it
Before you find a template that works for you, or a “system” of sorts to help you make Notion the tool that’ll increase your productivity and give you back some of that sweet freedom you’re chasing, you have to decide what you really want top use Notion for, and what type of process you’ll use to arrange your information.
In six months I’ve probably gone through 3-4 variations and I’ve landed on a system that works for me. To get there, I had to answer a few questions:
- What do I really want to get out of Notion? More time? Clarity on projects and goals? More precise task management? More collaboration from people I work with?
- How much time do I actually want to spend in my own Notion space, vs helping others figure out their own systems?
- Which productivity principles do I follow? Which ones do I wished I could do better? And which ones don’t work for me?
So what’s next?
A few more lessons I suspect. More templates. And hopefully I’ll start clocking in a few more hours as a consultant, helping other people make the most of their Notion workspace.
If you’ve given Notion a try and feel a bit stuck, why don’t we chat about it. Book a free 30-minutes call with me and together we can figure out how to make it work for you.
After all, just like I said before, it’s the help from the community that I’ve found the most valuable, so let me give back this way.
Related Posts
Making 100 Things on Notion
To learn how to make the most of Notion, I challenged myself to make 100 things on Notion, big and small. This is what I learned from it.
How I Chose My 2024 Goals With Notion
The details behind the Notion system I used to choose, set and plan goals for 2024.
Made with Bullet