These are notes I made on watching this 1 hour 14 min. YT video of Marie Poulin interviewing Tiago Forte on how he uses Notion.

See my notes on my Notion page. The link should let you view the page whether you have a Notion account or not.

Overview

Time management

In addition to Notion-specific information, Tiago answered questions about his workflow, his weekly review, and how he manages his time. His answer to this last question was very interesting:

  • Q: How do you manage your time between management /admin stuff and creative work?
  • A: Anything that is a time-specific obligation, I do on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’m very religious about this. Tue and Thurs are my “starving Parisian artist” days when I often sleep in. I can’t be creative in a 45-minute (pre-defined) time-slot. Weekly Reviews are done on M, W, F. NEVER on a creative day (Tue, Thur). I don’t even look at email on those days!

About Notion

and learning it, starting out, he said,

I advocate a just-in-time approach where you only add as much structure as is needed to solve the problem at hand.You’re creating structure on demand in response to a real need.”

(Marie): Notion seems very complex, but it’s so easy to move data in Notion, so you can move things around and change things, so you don’t have to get it perfect right off the bat. You can adapt on the fly. Be a little messy as you go.

(Tiago): The question is, What is the correct amount of structure for the task at hand?

YouTube – Notion Office Hours: Tiago Forte

Saving time with text expanders

He uses TextExpander A LOT (a Mac/iOS app. For Windows, there is PhraseExpress). See my Notion page for screenshots.

On GTD’s Weekly Review and Next Actions

Discussing his weekly review he revealed a relaxed attitude. In particular, I remembered, he does not review all his Next Actions: “that would take hours! Put on this list what you’re already going to do anyway!” and ” Only sort things, NOT do things. Clear email inbox does NOT mean responding to email. If you start doing that, you’re lost!”

Book recommendations

  1. https://youtu.be/sDNooHDj2Dk?t=1692 Book #1 mentioned is “Work the System : The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less” (affiliate link) by Sam Carpenter  (2014) (Kindle Edition)
  2. https://youtu.be/sDNooHDj2Dk?t=1776 Book #2 mentioned is The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want (affiliate link) by Elaine Pofeldt (Kindle Edition)
  3. https://youtu.be/sDNooHDj2Dk?t=1785 Book #3 mentioned is  Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business (affiliate link) by Paul Jarvis   (Kindle Edition) 

See more on my “What I Learned…” Notion page.