Over the last 20 years I've used a heap of different productivity tools and methodologies. A key part of my love for Notion is how it empowers me to create my own tools based on an integration of the methodologies that work for me.
📍Connected databases provide the structure
The 5 databases below are the organising framework I've created to structure my work and life. Everything within the workspace hangs off them. This provides a tightly integrated workspace. Despite the vast differences in content and use cases, everything has its right place in the framework.
Open the toggles below to explore each database. Open them all at once to see how they're interconnected.
This is a demo of the structure, not the complete functionality. For the sake of clarity I've stripped out all the other properties that help each database play it's function and only shown the properties that aid with the structure.
These are the silos of my life. I use this database to separate data into the broad categories that I live and work in.
| Name | Core |
|---|---|
Family | |
My Business |
Check out the page below for a more thorough dive into how this database is setup.
This database organises my Projects, Areas, Resources and Archives. Nothing is actually stored in here. These are just the organising framework.
| Name | PARA | Client | Memory | Action | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Business | Area | ||||
Enrol my son in High School | Project |
Check out the page below for a more thorough dive into how this database is setup.
I've spent most of the last 20 years using GTD. These days I have a very revised version that breaks a bunch of the rules but the world has changed and I find it honours the intent and delivers the outcomes.
| Name | Core | Client | Memory | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hone Sales Pitch | ||||
Make sales calls | ||||
Call Vice Principal back |
Check out the page below for a more thorough dive into how this database is setup.
Inside the pages of this database is where almost everything actually lives. It's the resource management database and I find it helpful to think about it like the memory of a brain.
Check out the page below for a more thorough dive into how this database is setup.
A global tag database that's related to everything else. Again nothing is actually stored inside here but it has the potential to create some very powerful views on all the data held across the workspace.
Check out the page below for a more thorough dive into how this database is setup.
📍Simplicity on the other side of complexity
This has been a key focus. It's way too easy to end up with a complex and convoluted workspace with a bunch of features you don't need but want because all the cool kids have them. I started with a heap more databases and have worked hard to combine as many as possible.
For example I had a Tags and a People database that are now contained in one. I had several different knowledge management databases that I've worked down into one. This has proved to be especially useful in day to day usage, it's far more sustainable to manage 5 than my original 8.
