Using Notion to Organize Your Life

Messiness and disorganization is detrimental to a positive mental health journey. We’ve all been bombarded with endless tasks needing to be finished, yet they never do. Unfinished projects and a messy room may be contributing factors to negative moods, sadness, and pent up stress. Motivation is the key to success in this case, as it can mean the difference between a safe environment and a stressful one. In my mental health journey, I found that putting all my thoughts in one place helped ground me everyday, especially dealing with school during a COVID-19. Honestly, keeping up with a weekly planner is one of the most useful tools you can use in order to increase productivity.  

I highly recommend Notion, since it is super easy to use and helps you organize school assignments, self-care journals, and more. The possibilities are truly endless with Notion, so here are some useful ways to use this free website

Organization

On the Notion homepage, you can see a plethora of templates to start off with. I recommend using one that contains at least a planner and daily to-do list. Every night, you can start reflecting on what you are going to do the next day, even if it’s a lazy day. Start your day with positive intentions and affirmations! Organize a self care day by making a list and checking off the boxes! It’s very satisfying once you get in the rhythm of completing tasks.  

Mental Health 

Notion can help track symptoms related to mental illnesses. For example, if you feel particularly anxious one day and angry or numb the next day, Notion allows you to log your feelings. WorkBrighter recommends “Keeping a log of different emotions you feel, symptoms you experience, triggers you face.” 

Academic Benefits

College students benefit greatly from Notion, as the website allows you to attach files directly to any page. I added links to journal articles that were corresponding to each week and it was much easier than going back to my student portal to review a reading. Additionally, the table widget is perfect for creating easy to use budget sheets and grocery shopping. 

More than anything, it’s important to have fun with it! I love to jot down interesting words from books, so I created a dictionary using the table tab. Notion also allows you to add any gifs or pictures (Yes, your pet Baby Boy Pickles can be shown far and wide) as title pictures. Maybe you can write down any significant dreams from the night before when you wake up!

In conclusion, I recommend researching templates using Google, then customizing the widgets to your liking. Soon, your life might start to seem a little less chaotic.