Consistently Achieving Goals + Getting Things Done with Notion

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Today, I’m sharing my system for getting things done and achieving goals consistently using the Notion app. While task management in and of itself doesn’t sound super sexy, for productivity nerds it can be really thrilling to hear how others work! And because this has become an essential routine for me and something I look forward to every day and each night before I go to bed, I’d love to share it with you.

I refer to this system now as my Daily Notes. As a system it’s evolved over the past 5 years, and what’s made this most recent iteration so exciting for me is that it not only guides me but supports me.

It allows me to achieve things no matter what’s going on in my life (or the world). When I’m high energy or when I’m depressed and the last thing I want to do is work - my Daily Notes allows me to feel good about what I’ve done each day.

I’m not going to get into the intricacies of how Notion works - there’s enough information and help docs out there - but instead I’m going to go over how this system works for me so you may take some of it and apply it to your task management if you wish.

Some Thoughts on Problematic Productivity

I have a lot of thoughts on problematic productivity advice, and I want to flag these first. We live in a culture where a lot of things become moralized, and productivity is not exempt. I’ve come to approach “productivity” more as creating efficiency so I can enjoy my life not so I can squeeze more work in.

I share about productivity and technology because no one teaches us how to be good at this. I want to help. And I never ever want to make people feel bad or shame for not doing it “right.”

There’s a lot of rise and grind creator horseshit online. I’m pretty sure I parroted some of this stuff early on, but getting burned out and then getting long Covid tends to give one a new perspective on driving yourself into the ground for work: it helps no one.

It’s really easy to feel bad about not getting things done. If you struggle with this, I want to encourage you to fight it. It’s not helpful. I don’t believe in laziness at all. I believe that life is complex and we’re all on our own path. You need to decide where the bar is for you about what you can get done in a day. It’s not a race.

If you take anything from this post, I hope it’s this: the goal is to get things done, not GET EVERYTHING DONE ALL AT ONCE this shift can fundamentally change how you feel about the work you do (and don’t do!).

THE MUST DO IT ALL mind gremlins are a real thing. I have worked on this undercurrent of anxiety for the better part of a decade. I have a feature built into my Daily Notes that gives me a quick overview of what I’ve done. It helps me to deal with the nagging voice in my head that I’m never doing enough, and I hope this will help you too!

How My Current System Has Evolved

I have a lot of strong opinions about Notion (like many 🤣). I’ve used it and abandoned it since 2018. And I recently came back to it after deciding to go solo again.

A screenshot of how I used Capacities calendar feature this summer. LOVE how this works, but I ultimately needed a database option for tasks.

I personally think it's a great tool if you don’t spend all day tinkering with it. But it can be slow and it’s buggy. I come back to Notion because their databases are incredibly powerful and make it very easy to create a dynamic ecosystem. It speaks to a need in me to connect information.

I’ve played around with Craft and Capacities, both newcomers in the note-taking space. They’re really powerful tools in their own right and I recommend checking them out.

Both features have a Calendar area that’s essentially a document linked to a date. It’s a great way to take notes, save things, and just organize your day and have everything attached to a dynamic calendar. I’m embarrassed to say, this feature had never appealed to me until I dove into Capacities this summer.

My old Notion dashboard. All of those toggles are views of databases. It was TOO MUCH! 🥵

Like many Notion users, I’ve relied on creating a personal dashboard. I tend to fill it up with database views, links, and other garbage which makes it visually noisy and eventually makes me feel 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫.

One thing I struggled with constantly with my dashboard was where do I put random notes, thoughts, and links I need right now or later today? To mitigate this, I created a doc called Brain Sweep - cribbed from David Allen’s Getting Things Done. This felt clunky because it was just a static page that would get filled up with things. It just never worked.

The Daily Notes System

Capacities and Craft seemed to have conquered this with their Calendar feature - it was a designated area for journaling. It occurred to me I could set up a similar system by using a Calendar database within Notion. And that’s how my current task management system evolved into my Daily Notes.

Today, this is the core of my system, and it’s where I capture everything in a day. It’s by far the most efficient process I’ve had to date.

It works because I only have what I need in front of me for that particular day. I also have a process for how I work on tasks that allows me to check things off and stay focused on the most important things for that day. It’s a pretty seamless experience!

Properties

Everyday a template populates at 12am ready for me to start my day. I fill this area out throughout the day, and at night I review it before I go to bed.

Let’s go over each section and what they do and why.

An example of a Daily Note - these are the Properties I have added to help me stay focused.

Cover photo: Everyday I try to take a photo. When looking back on my weeks, this creates a nice snapshot of my days. It’s like a visual diary.
Dynamic Date: This dynamically updates to the current day’s date as @today when automated.
Date: Self-explanatory
Progress: Habit trackers tend to make me feel bad, but there are things I want to be sure I do everyday. This progress ring is a formula that fills as Stretch, Walk, Water is ticked off (#9).
Steps + Water oz: As above, I want to measure these activities. These are manual entries for me.
Notes: This is a little space for me to list what happened that day. I usually just list highlights.
Reading: This is a relationship property that links to my Reading database. GoodReads is kind of a hot mess for me, so I track my reading in Notion.
Stretch, Walk, Water: See #4. I check these off when they are complete.
Capture + Notes: Another relationship property. This is where I capture things throughout the day - clippings for the web, notes, ideas, inspiration.
Working On: This is a relationship that is connected to my Projects database. I like to be able to get a quick view of what I’ve worked on that day.

☝️Side bar: Having a Capture + Notes database to capture one off ideas is by far something every business owner/creator should have. Putting these items into a place to simmer for a bit is one of the best things I’ve ever done. I can come revisit them when I have time and see what’s actually doable.

Focus + Scratch Areas

This area is my mini-dashboard. Like I said above, having a massive dashboard for me was just too much for my brain.

If you’re like most people creating things, you have a list a mile long and there are some things you’re excited to do and others you’d rather clean your entire house to avoid.

This section has 2 questions I ask myself every morning:

What’s the primary focus today?
What are the 3 most important tasks?

Asking these questions helps me get clear on what the real focus is and what needs to be done. It also helps center me if I’m overwhelmed with all that there is to do or if I simply do not want to work.

Quick Links

This area houses links I use most throughout the day. Everything else is in my Notion workspace.

They are:

Projects: Every task I do in my business is related to a larger project which is related to a goal.
Content + Events Hub: Events (launches, workshops, etc.) and content get planned here and I write this newsletter and social media posts in here.
Capture + Notes: All captured web content, notes, and ideas go here, I touch on why this is so important above. I use a web clipper called Save to Notion to grab stuff from the web.

Scratch

This by far is the simplest but most helpful area in my Daily Notes. Throughout the day I need to jot things down, they don’t need a dedicated space or to be filed away - but they are necessary to keep me focused. They’re things that would go on a post-it note or scrap of paper.

I can’t tell you the joy this area brings me. I can brain dump here, add things that don’t need a home, and I don’t need to sweat about losing them.

☝️Sidebar: Capacities does an INCREDIBLE job at this. Any links or images you add to your daily notes are saved as objects. You can learn more about them here.

To-Dos + Meetings

This area needs its own post, but I’ll give an overview of how it’s all set up so you might apply this to your own daily workflow. This is the process that keeps me focused and helps me check things off consistently.

My To-Dos database houses every action that takes place in my business (shout out to Marie Poulin for teaching me that less databases are more when it comes to Notion.).

The 4 areas:

Tasks: individual actions - one off, repeat, or part of a bigger action (project).
Personal: As with work, actions that relate to my personal life.
Meetings: All meetings get entered into my To-Do database via 2 automations in Zapier.
Events: Workshops or events like launches.

To-Dos Views

Current: What I’m working on for the day. I try to never add more than 3 tasks at a time. Once things are marked as Done, new tasks get added from Upcoming.

All of the views in my To-Dos section of my Daily Notes

Personal: Self-explanatory.
Upcoming: All upcoming actions. Tasks only get added here that I plan on working on within the coming weeks. Otherwise the list becomes overwhelming and there’s a ton of fake to-dos* in it. The point of this view is to have actions I can skim and pull in to work on.
Done Today!: A dynamic view that pulls in done actions relative to today. This gives me a snapshot of what I’ve gotten done today - when I’m feeling like I got nothing done I view it and see what was achieved.
Done This Week!: Dynamic view that pulls in all done actions relative to the week. Huge support feature when I want to review all that I’ve done.
Done: All done tasks - this database is over 3 years old so it has everything I (and my team) have gotten done in 3 years!
All Tasks: This lists everything and allows me the ability to search everything.

*There’s a joke in the ops/productivity spaces about “made up” or “fake” to-do’s. These are tasks that don’t contribute to the bottom line. Busy does not equate success. Assigning or creating tasks that aren’t current should be avoided until they need to be done.

Meetings + Events

This section is a view of my To-Dos database with a filter set to Meetings and Events. I have this in a toggled so it doesn’t create visual noise.

I’m able to take notes and prepare for meetings this way while having a receipt of discussions to refer back to. Super helpful for client meetings and capturing things quickly.

Things to Keep in Mind

My friend Sarah Dopp created a TikTok a while back where she underlines: what if buying the journal or the new notebook or signing up for the new shiny notes app is part of the process.

This is such a brilliant take. In my experience most people want their daily to-do system to be perfect and to never falter from it. That’s simply not possible.

Figuring out what works and what tools to use is part of the process. For nerds like us, it gives our brain space to build and rest.

Years ago I used to beat myself up for not being consistent in my daily to-dos. I found that once I stopped the self flagellation it allowed me a lot more space to be a human and enjoy the process and find more energy for creation and inspiration.

I once heard a great analogy about failing: if you pull out a dozen eggs from the fridge and you break one egg, you don’t then open the whole carton and throw the rest on the floor. 😉

👋 If you enjoyed this post, and would like access to the free template of my Daily Notes system and a video walkthrough head over to my Substack publication, ✨If Wishes Were Horses and become a member. You’ll get access to all upcoming resources and content!

💌 Check it out here

My Daily System for Achieving Goals + Getting Things Done with Notion