Try this simple 7-step framework in Notion.

(And if you want some help getting this setup in Notion? Choose your own adventure: Hire me to build it for you, or follow these 7 steps to build it yourself)

I’ve been experimenting with Notion’s new AI meeting notes feature. And it’s pretty impressive!

See how you can use it in your setup to improve your meetings today.

A quick message from my friend Gannon.

He helps you turn your website popups into high-converting assets that actually turn visitors into buyers (without bribing people with discounts).

Every other week, he breakdowns one DTC popup that's bleeding money and show you how to transform it into a subscriber-capturing, sale-generating machine. Real examples with visual fixes you can steal.

→ Get the fixes now

Lastly, is your productivity suffering because of burn out or bored out? Know the difference so you can start steering your life in the right direction.

That’s it for today!

Janice

(P.s. I hope you’re taking some time to rest and relax during this summer. I’ll be taking some time off to travel and explore over the coming weeks)

(P.p.s But if you want to re-start in Notion the smart way? Get a free diagnosis call on me)

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Notion has added yet another database layout view—the Feed view!

See how exactly it works, including example use cases, so you can build it into your own Notion setup.

Here’s one way I’ve been using it in my content system for my Substack side project.

(if you’re like me to help with getting this or anything else set up in Notion, reply to this email)

Want to turn emails into actionable tasks in Notion?

Try this hack, all you need is Notion Mail and the Save to Notion browser extension (both are free!).

One quick tip, if you’re struggling with a cluttered and messy Notion sidebar, try this.

Lastly, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, try theming your days.

It sounds counterintuitive, but structure gives you more freedom and mind space, rather than take it away.

See you next week!

Janice

(p.s. Want to re-start in Notion the smart way? Reply to this email with your situation and I’m happy to some give you some specific suggestions for your situation)

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Here are the first 5 things I would do to save me time and effort.

Today's email is brought to you by my Writer’s Hub OS template system & mini-course.

A done-for-you content system to manage your social content, newsletter and blog posts in one place in Notion.

If you’ve considered it but not sure if it’s for you, reply to this email and let me know what’s holding you back—happy to answer any questions you have.

Notion database & views has been REDESIGNED with a cleaner and sleeker look—with even more customisation. Take a look at this along with 7 other Notion updates.

I’m really digging the more refined database look!

Lastly, here’s a simple and proven way to experience happiness on demand.

See you next week

Janice

(p.s. want to re-start in Notion the smart way? Get a free diagnosis call on me)

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If you want to improve work life balance, start tracking your most important areas of life. I’ve built this into my Annual Review template in Notion and do this once a year (but you can also do this monthly or quarterly if that works for you).

Tracking my Wheel of Life scores in Notion

And if you would like something like this in Notion, I can help—just reply to this email

Don’t have time or struggling to build your own Notion databases? You can now use the new feature AI Databases to build it for you.

If you have a newsletter:

Would your readers would like my newsletter?

Would my readers would like your newsletter?

If yes, lets do a cross-promotion to help each other grow. Reply if you’re interested!

The secret to having endless ideas to share…

It's not more knowledge, expertise or experience. It's having a system that makes sharing thought leadership and creating content easy.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading.

Janice

(p.s. Want some Notion help? Book a free call)

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Hey friend,

You don't need another Notion template.

You need a system and a workflow that works for you.

This week, I want to talk about how you can get more out of the time and effort you already put into Notion.

Let’s dive in.

If you’re like me 5 years ago when I discovered Notion…

You’ve downloaded a bunch of free, pretty templates (it ended up cluttering your Notion).

You’ve captured and saved lots of notes and ideas into Notion, but you can’t seem to find them when you need it!

You’ve spent more time tweaking your Notion layout, pages and databases, than using Notion to help you be more efficient with your working hours.

You’ve tried to build a “perfect” Notion setup, but got really overwhelmed with complexity. And it slowed you down (instead of speeding you up like all the Youtube videos promised).

After 5 years of using Notion to manage and track all aspects of my work and life, and helping dozens of clients do the same…

Here’s the big realisation.

The problem isn’t Notion (it’s just a tool).

The real problem is a lack of simplified workflows and systems that work for you.

The problem with Notion templates

Lets talk about the elephant in the room.

I’ve got a love hate-relationship with $20 Notion templates.

Don’t get me wrong, I think templates are great if you’re:

• Happy to use it exactly as it is.

• Able to take time to tinker and play around with templates.

• Trained on how to use it and can adapt it to your personal workflows.

• Experienced enough with Notion to know how to customise it to suit your needs (so you're not starting from zero).

• Using it as inspiration and a learning tool to see how it was designed on the back-end, so you can build or improve your own Notion setup.

Template are not great if you're:

• New to Notion (it can be overwhelming).

• Lacking in time to experiment and build something you like.

• Looking for customised workflows and systems in Notion that will work for you (because you’re struggling with your productivity right now).

• Not comfortable or experienced enough to adapt templates to make it work for you (you'll end up frustrated and feel like it’s a giant waste a lot of time).

What to do instead

Design a smart Notion setup that is a system with effective workflows, that work for you. This setup should focus on:

1. Giving you clarity

It should help you see at a glance the tasks and projects on your plate right now, in a clean and focused way.

My daily planner in Notion.

2. Interconnected systems

What matters in your life should be connected in one integrated system, so nothing gets lost in the weeds.

That means your task, projects, notes, content creation, ideas, clients information, travel plans, household management etc. should be connected to each other where it makes sense and is within context.

So that relevant information is automatically resurfaced, when you need it.

(By the way, if you want to simplify, streamline and fix your Notion setup in 5 days, you’ll find my free course helpful)

3. Structure

The biggest mistake people make in Notion is having no structure for how data and information is organised.

Setting up the right structure from the start makes your Notion setup easily expandable and changeable as your goals, needs and wants changes in your life and work.

A client’s back-end database setup in Notion

My Notion setup 5 years ago is quite different to what it is today. I’ve easily adapted my setup and workflows to adapt to the needs of my work, life and business.

4. Built for planning and taking action

The goal isn’t to use Notion.

The goal is to leverage Notion as a tool for getting the right things done, effectively and efficiently—so you have more time for life outside of work.

That means having a purpose for every database, page or dashboard you create.

And designing a workflow and process within Notion that helps you make plans and take action without burning out, getting overloaded or overwhelmed.

5. Run repeated actions on autopilot

There are workflows and routines in our life and work that can run on autopilot using built-in database templates, automation or AI tools in Notion.

Once you get clear on what happens regularly, you can turn those actions into autopilot process in Notion to save time and mental bandwidth.

For example, I’ve set up an automation in my Notion task database to automatically add routine tasks into my weekly plan at 3am on Sundays.

So when I sit down to complete my weekly review and planning process on Sunday afternoon or evening, those routine tasks are already in my calendar, and I plan the rest of my week around them.

Your next step: do this 5-Minute Notion audit

Not sure if your Notion setup could be more organised, efficient and productive?

Ask yourself these 5 simple questions:

• Do you have all your original database in one spot?

• Does each Notion Dashboard have a clear purpose?

• Do you feel no friction or frustration with using Notion?

• Can you find what you're looking for in under 3 seconds?

• Do you have a quick and easy way to capture new tasks, ideas, notes etc. into Notion?

If you answered NO to any of these, your Notion setup could use some improvement.

You can easily save 7 hours a week with some simple changes and tweaks to the structure, systems and workflows in your Notion setup.

That’s it for this week!

Want to help to get more out of the time, effort and resources you put into Notion?

Reply with your situation and I’m happy to send over some suggestion to help make Notion work better for you.

See you next week,

Janice CK

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Internet famous creator Tiago Forte decided to do just that, using a combination of Notion, Notion Mail and Notion Calendar. Find out what happened in 17 minutes.

Want more clarity on what’s not working with your Notion workspace and a personalised advice on how to fix it?

Reply to this email and I'll give you a suggestion.

If you’re an ambitious individual like me, productivity guilty is a real feeling.

But there’s a simple question we can all ask ourselves to keep it in check: Are you doing what can, with what you have?

Capturing tasks, ideas and notes into Notion? That’s easy.

Staying on top of it and re-surfacing what matters when you need it is a bit harder. Here’s how you can spend less than 5 minutes each week to stay organised in Notion.

That’s it! Thanks for reading.

See you next week

Janice

(p.s. Want some Notion help? Book a free call)

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Is Notion’s new AI Meeting Notes a game changing for your meeting workflow? Watch this 14 minute walkthrough that breaks down everything you need to know.

Including whether it will eliminate the need for tools like Fathom or Otter AI. And the exact workflow you can set up in Notion yourself to start using it for client or work meetings.

(Nb: You’ll need a business or enterprise Notion plan to get access to this super feature)

If you’re wondering how I help busy, overwhelmed individuals fix their Notion problems and boost their organisation and productivity in Notion. I laid it all out here.

If you do a task on repeat, you should have a doc or SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) for it—especially if it’s for work or business.

Clear documentation boosts your efficiency when carrying out the task. But more importantly, gives you the ability to delegate it to someone else!

Here’s an in-depth guide on how to create them and put them into Notion for easy reference.

Feeling a bit frustrated with your Notion setup? Try this 5-minute Notion workspace audit and see how you can get more out of the time and effort you put into Notion.

That’s all for this week!

(One last thing, I started a fun Substack side project all about travel, photography and optimising travel points—including how I use Notion to do all that. If that sounds interesting, check it out, would love to have you!)

Janice CK

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Hey friend,

This week I want to talk about treating your task list like a suggestion list.

It sounds controversial, but hear me out.

I’m a recovering “completionist”—once something gets on my to-do list, I used to have a strong urge to get it done.

So for years, I treated my task list like a list of must-do obligations. Every day felt like a battle to get this never-ending list down to zero to feel like I’m on top of things.

The weight of this to-do list felt crushing.

And if you’re a busy individual who is juggling work and life—a manager, coach, consultant, solopreneur—you probably know exactly what I mean.

Spoiler alert: Chasing “task zero” was a loosing battle, and a one way road to burnout.

It made me feel anxious and added to my mental load.

And the kicker is when I look back through my list of 100+ tasks, some of them became irrelevant after 6 months!

Your task list is not a iron-clad contract with yourself

I finally realised, treating my task list like an unshakable iron-clad contract with myself was the wrong way to go.

A task list is simply a list of suggestions.

Take a moment to that that sink in.

Your task list is a collection of task ideas that you thought were important or relevant to your projects and goals in the moment. So you captured that onto your list.

But they’re just suggestions of what you could do—not what you must do.

Because those task ideas might change as your make progress on your projects or goals in work and life.

The key is to review your projects and goals regularly (I do this monthly), and make sure those tasks are still relevant. If they aren’t simply delete them.

After embracing this fresh perspective on tasks list, I felt the burden of having a long list of tasks lift.

This is one of my favourite quotes from Burkeman’s book.

It’s telling us to embrace the finitude of life. And instead accept the reality that we can’t do everything we want.

Instead, focus on doing what truly matters, and let go of the rest.

Here’s the exact system I use in Notion (and what I coach my clients on)

But this process can apply to any tool, including a paper notebook!

1. Freely add tasks anytime they come to mind

Don’t overthink it.

Don’t organize them.

Just capture them into Notion to get them out of your head.

2. Once a week, pull in relevant tasks into your weekly plan

Review your suggested task list.

And pull the most relevant tasks into your weekly plan. I focusing on pulling in tasks related to the projects and goals I’m working on right now in my work or personal life

✅ Be ruthless about what makes it to your weekly plan.

✅ Tasks should be aligned to your current priorities.

✅ Let the rest of the tasks sit.

Weekly Planning: Pulling tasks into my Task Calendar in Notion

I do this every Sunday evening (or Monday morning) as part of my weekly review and planning process.

I filter and sort my tasks in Notion by Goals & Projects, and then pull tasks from the list onto my Task Calendar in Notion to schedule them out for the week.

Want a detailed breakdown of how I plan and review my week? Here’s it is:

• Plan your week in Notion like a pro in 15 minutes

• Review your week in Notion like a pro in 15 minutes

3. Once a month, do a Task Clean Out

I’m ruthlessly with de-cluttering my task list.

And feel no guilt about it.

Once a month, I do a Task Clean Out. It’s part of my Monthly Planning and Review process.

Filtered view of my Notion Task Database, showing me my oldest tasks

I sort my Notion task database by the date the task was last “touched” or modified, oldest to newest.

This gives me a filtered view of my oldest tasks at the top of the list.

Then I ask myself: “Is this still relevant?”

If not? Hit delete button.

If a task has been sitting there untouched for months, it’s probably not a priority anymore. And that’s OK.

You have permission to eliminate it from your life.

(By the way, if you want to setup something like this in Notion but don’t know how, reply to this and I can give you some suggestions)

4. Trust that the right tasks will resurface

If a task is truly important to your life, goals or priorities, it will come back around.

Because it will keep popping into your head, nagging at you.

When that happens, just capture it back into your task system.

I use a Quick Capture page (I call it my Inbox in Notion) to quickly add new tasks, notes, ideas into the right Notion databases.

Quick Capture Inbox in Notion

This is just a simple page containing a list of Notion buttons.

Making it easy to capture new information into Notion whether it’s in your web browser, Notion desktop app or Notion mobile phone app.

This system gives you:

• Mental space: You’re no longer burdened by 137 “someday” tasks that must be checked off.

• Clarity: You pull in tasks that are relevant to your priorities, so you’re working on what matter right now.

• Permission: You’re allowed to let go of what no longer fits into you life.

The best part?

This system and approach to task management releases you from the Completionist Trap of holding onto your task too tightly when it’s no longer serving you.

Embrace your Task Backlog

The goal isn’t “task zero”.

The real aim is to focus your attention and productivity towards what matters right now—the real priorities in your life and work.

Set your goals on a monthly or quarterly time scale, but plan and tackle your tasks one week at a time.

This avoids overwhelm or attempts to make a “perfect” plan.

This mindset shift has helped me and so many of my clients to breath better when we open up our task list.

So get comfortable with a "back log" of tasks.

Not everything needs to be done.

So I’m curious…

How are you currently managing your tasks? is it working for you or stressing you out?—Reply to let me know, I’m happy to give you some suggestions to improve how you can manage your tasks in Notion.

See you next week,

Janice CK

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Sometimes, the harder we try the, the more we fail. Try these 4 practical ideas to overcome the law of revered effort, when you feel like you’re hitting against a brick wall.

Morgen and Notion in combination is a powerful way to manage my calendar and Notion tasks.

In particular, I love using Morgen to time block plan my Notion tasks and visualise my day on a calendar. So if you struggle with a daily planning ritual, this 23 minute video breakdown can help.

Do you feel like your Notion a bit of a mess and things are hard to find?

Here’s how I spend no more than 5 minutes each week “organising” in Notion.

Not all goals are meant to be achieved. It's just as important to know when to stop chasing a goal, if you have to be productive with your time, energy and attention.

Use Annie Duke’s mental models to figure out when to cut your losses.

That’s it for this week,

See you next week.

Janice

(p.s. Are you an ambitious individual struggling with a Notion problem? I can help, book a one-off coaching call)

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📨 It’s official, Notion Mail just dropped this week.

It’s a Notion experience for your email inbox. Like in Notion, you can set up custom views using filters and sorts, use AI to craft your emails and automatically sort and label. Calendar scheduling is even built right into your emails too.

Get a 11 minute first-look into Notion Mail to see if it’s for you.

✍️ Today’s email is brought to you by my Writer’s Hub OS Notion template system & Mini-course.

A plug-and-play content system in Notion & a bonus mini-course to breakdown everything you need to know to build a Notion setup that works for you.

📱 I gotta admit, the Notion app on your phone can be a bit fiddly to use (unless your build mobile-first dashboards—which is what I do).

But these 14 tips will help streamline your Notion experience on your phone.

I especially love the mobile-only Notion feature that I discovered… voice notes!

💼 Working less is the most underrated way to become more productive. Try it and see what you think.

🗓️ Most calendar booking forms are a bit boring. Want to create a customised calendar booking page for free in Notion with a personalised welcome message? See my step-by-step full breakdown.

That’s it for this week,

See you next week.

Janice

(p.s. Are you an ambitious individual struggling with a Notion problem? I can help, book a one-off coaching call)

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Hey friend,

Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed with you current Notion setup, systems and workflows?

I’ve been there.

Notion can be a double-edge sword. It’s hyper-flexible and feature-packed tool.

It can get overwhelming and messy quickly if people aren’t strategic with how they use Notion to solve their problems.

This week, I want to share the 10 strategies I use when designing and building Notion setups for my private consulting clients, so they can leverage Notion to work faster and smarter.

Now lets get into it…

1. Start with structure

A lack of structure in Notion is the biggest reason why Notion quickly becomes a messy dumping ground of information for most people.

Basic structure I build for all my clients

This is the basic 5-page structure I set up for all my clients to keep things simple, organised and functional:

• Inbox: To quickly and easily capture new information into their Notion databases.

• Start Here: Every system needs an entry point. This is the entry point into my client’s Notion setups. It’s the one spot that holds all their action-focused dashboards.

• Databases: A central place to safely store all the original databases so they never accidentally delete valuable information.

• Archive: Sometimes you just don’t want to part with a template, page or database just yet. This archive page is the place to dump it until clients are ready to hit delete.

• Templates: Most Notion users are compulsive Notion template downloaders. But templates can quickly make a mess of people’s workspace. Keeping track of them in one spot helps clients stay organised in Notion.

2. Centralise databases on one page

Know where all your original database are by keeping it all one one page.

This stops you from accidentally deleting your data.

Example of the back-end database page I’ve built for clients

(By the way if you’re need some help fixing your Notion, reply to this and I’m happy to give you some suggestions).

3. Track like information in the same database

A database in Notion is simply a collection of pages.

Notion’s true power lies in understanding how to store, organise and retrieve information from databases.

Think of databases as containers for storing and organising similar types of information.

Here are examples of the types of information that should be kept together in it’s own database in Notion:

• Tasks

• Recipes

• Projects

• Travel plans

• Content ideas

• Clients information

• Client meeting notes

• Personal notes and knowledge from books, courses, videos, articles etc.

• etc.

Organising information in databases is like having a perfectly labelled pantry of ingredients you can quickly access and tap into when organising your life or running your business.

4. Keep database properties to a minimum

People can get over-enthusiastic and build giant databases with tons of database properties.

That’s a mistake.

My suggestion is always keep it simple! Start with the minimum number of database properties that make sense.

You can always add more over time.

Benefits of keeping database properties to a minimum:

• Reduces visual clutter.

• Speeds up the database load times.

• Cuts down on what you need to fill out when adding a new database entry into Notion.

5. Create database page templates for recurring actions

Notion has a ton of automations and features that eliminate manual work.

The simplest automation you can create in Notion is database page templates.

Lets use an example of a content creation system in Notion that tracks your LinkedIn content ideas, newsletter posts and blog posts etc.

Different database templates for different types of content ideas

Creating database page templates for each content type speeds up your content creation process.

You’ve got a ready-to-go page to fill in the blanks when you sit down to write.

You’ll also save time by eliminating the need to manually fill out database properties by templatising them.

Example of a database Template page in Notion

The bottom line, database template pages also allow you to quickly turn database entries into pages with a consistent format.

6. Create single-purpose action-focused dashboards

The problem with so many Notion templates I see out there is that they look pretty, but they’re not very functional, productive or user friendly.

My philosophy is to design and build dashboards that are so action-focused that you have no choice but to take action!

How?

Designing dashboards with a single purpose and focused on solving one specific problem, use case or workflow process.

Only display relevant information on the dashboard by using linked views of the original database where information is store.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

I created this task management dashboard to only contain tasks that he needs to see, sorted and filtered based on his preferences and way of working.

Task management dashboard system I created for a client.

(If you’re need some help fixing your Notion, reply to this and I’m happy to give you some suggestions).

7. Map your systems and workflows on paper

Before you dive into Notion to create your databases or dashboard, map out them out on a piece of paper.

This avoid shiny-feature-syndrome in Notion, where you get distracted by all the fancy features and accidentally over-engineer your databases and dashboards!

When designing your action-focused dashboards, here are 2 tips:

• Start with the most important information at the top of the page, down to the least important.

• Think about the step-wise workflow you’ll follow as you move down the dashboard.

That’s how I built my exact content creation system that has helped me ideate, write, analyse and repurpose content that resonates with readers for the last 3 years.

8. Insert a quick navigation bar at the top of each dashboard

A a consistent navigation bar at the top of each dashboard makes it easy to move around in Notion and quickly find exactly what you need.

A simple tip to keep your dashboards clutter-free is to hide the navigation bar under a toggle block.

Quick Navigation Bar in a client’s Notion setup

9. Use Notion Buttons to make quick capture fast

Notion buttons is a simple feature that allows you to quickly and easily capture new information right into your databases with the click of a button.

Keeping these quick capture Notion buttons on a single page called “inbox” makes it easy to capture new tasks, ideas, notes etc. on the go on your mobile or when you’re working away on your laptop.

Quick capture inbox page in a client’s Notion setup

10. Use a catch-all processing dashboard for staying organised in Notion

Without a simple workflow for organising and sorting information in Notion, your workspace can quickly fall into chaos.

A catch-all processing dashboard is something I always create for my private clients so they only need to spend 5 minutes or less each week putting the right things into the right places.

This is a quick and easy “system maintenance” step that keep any Notion setup organised and effective with minimal effort.

You can check out the full breakdown on how to do this in Notion here.

The beauty of building a Notion setup that works for you.

At this point, I've been using and building systems in Notion for the past 5+ years.

A high-performing Notion setup is one that actually helps you work faster and smarter.

That means designing and building Notion workspaces that prioritise simplicity, functionality and action—so you can focus your time on what matters.

You don’t need to be a Notion power user to have a Notion system that works for you, if you follow these 10 strategies when designing your own setup.

(If you want someone to take a look at your systems and give you some suggestions—just reply to this email and I’ll happy to share my thoughts with you)

The bottom line:

Notion doesn’t have to be overwhelming and complicated.

It’s an amazing tool that can be an asset to your life, work and business, instead of a hindrance (if done right).

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading.

Do any of the 10 strategies sound helpful to you?—hit reply to let me know, I’d love to hear from you!

See you next week,

Janice CK

(p.s. Need a Notion problem solved?—Reply with with some details and I’m happy to give you some suggestions.)

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Notion recurring templates.

It’s been in Notion for a while, but if you haven’t tried it yourself, check out how easy it is to implement today.

Along with a breakdown of 9 other powerful Notion automations that you don’t need to be an expert to use.

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by my Notion strategy roadmap session.

Get clarity on what’s not working with your Notion workspace and get a personalised action plan on how to fix it.

If you really want to be productive, it’s not sustainable to work at the same intensity every day, forever more.

Instead, add some seasonality to your work to avoid burnout.

Work smart and produce good work during busy seasons, when it matters.

Then give yourself permission to “quiet quit” during the slower seasons of work.

That’s it, thanks for reading!

Janice CK

(p.s. If you’re a fan of Cal Newport and productivity without overwhelm, I think you’ll like my Slow Productivity Systems in Notion Master Guide. I’ll send it to you when it’s done—just let me know you’re interested)

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Hey friend,

The first quarter of the year is quickly coming to a close—have you done the projects you set out to do?

If not, don’t worry.

There are still another 3 quarters of the year left.

This week I want to talk about quarterly planning. It’s a critical part of the multi-scale planning strategy to design an intentional and successful year.

Now Lets Get into It…

Can Newport is a big inspiration for my approach to making quarterly plans.

A quarterly plan is your high-level, strategic blueprint for what’s important in the upcoming quarter.

It’s a strategy for sustainable productivity.

Because it’s your opportunity to learn from your previous quarter’s experiences and map out your plans for the upcoming quarter to avoid overwhelming you schedule and working yourself into the ground.

I use a Notion database to track all my quarterly plans and reviews in one spot—I can easily go back through the year to look at my reflections and plans if I wanted to

My quarterly plans in one place in Notion

I usually do my quarterly review and planning session in Notion at the end of the quarter.

There are 3 parts to my quarterly review and planning process.

It typically takes 30 to 45 minutes (depending on how much reflection and journaling time I want to do).

I’ll use the quarterly planning system in Notion that I created for my client to demo the process in Notion.

Lets dive into each part of this 3-part process.

1. Review progress on your goals & projects

This quarter’s page in Notion,

Open up the current quarter’s database entry page and review the goals and projects you’ve set for yourself.

Assess if you’ve completed each of the goals or projects.

Depending on the goal or project, it might be yes or no it’s completed, or it might be a % completion.

The goals and projects are also tracked it its own Notion database.

The beauty of this is that every entry in the database is a page that you can open on and see in more details (e.g. what tasks are remaining for this project)

Example project page in Notion.

If a project is been completed or a goal has been achieved, change the status to “complete”.

If not, decide whether the project or goal should be

• Migrated or extended out to the following quarter.

• Put on the back burner.

• Deleted.

By using power of Relations Property of Notion databases, you can link entries from different database together.

For example, here I’ve linked the projects and goals to the quarters database so that the client can easily assign them to the relevant quarters as they make their plans.

Then I use the Linked Views feature of Notion databases to create dashboards to show exactly what the client needs to help her take the next action.

Having projects and goals are important.

But more importantly is creating systems and processes to turn those aspirations into tangible, consistent daily action to move closer to your goals.

That means, personally, the quarterly review and planning session isn’t the only time I look at my quarterly plans.

In my own Notion setup, I have a direct link to the relevant quarterly plan in my Weekly Planning template, so that I can quickly and easily reference my priority projects and goals when deciding what tasks to focus on for the upcoming week.

The key takeaway:

Create a system and process that aligns your daily actions to your longer term aspirations.

(p.s. If you’re a fan of Cal Newport and productivity without overwhelm, I think you’ll like Slow Productivity Systems in Notion Master Guide. I’ll send it to you when it’s done—just let me know you’re interested)

2. Self-Reflection

Journaling and self-reflection is a powerful tool to celebrate the wins, identify key lessons and what can be improved, and make better future plans.

The mistake many people make when reflecting on their quarter is chastising themself for everything they didn’t get done.

Instead, I urge you to look at your past quarter through the lens of a journalist—inquisitive, non-judgemental, pragmatic and future looking.

If you’re a recovering perfectionist like me, I know it’s hard!

So here are some guiding questions that I include in my own Notion Quarterly review template, as well as other reflection questions used by my clients in their quarterly review setups.

1. Top 3 things I’ve learned this quarter

2. My biggest win(s) this quarter is?

3. What I wasn’t able to accomplish this quarter / Could have done better?

4. What was the #1 thing I did to improve my energy?

5. What action did I take that I am most proud of this quarter?

6. How did I show up for myself this quarter?

7. How did I increase my wealth this quarter?

8. What was the most fulfilling part of serving my community this quarter?

9. What did I have the most fun doing this quarter?

10. What will I do next quarter to have fun?

11. What I am committing or re-committing to do or improve next quarter that will make me feel most fulfilled?

12. What systems can I build to make work easier?

13. What can I automate to reduce manual work?

Don’t use all these questions at once, just pick 3 to 5 questions to get started with.

Remember, make the quarterly review and planning process productive, easy and fun—so you actually stick to it for the long term.

3. Plan the upcoming quarter

You’ve reviewed your projects and goals for the current quarter.

You’ve sat with yourself to reflect on how things went.

Now it’s time to plan and get excited about the the upcoming quarter! It’s the fun and aspirational part of the process!

In additional to the goals and projects you might be migrated from the current quarter to the next:

• Look at your full list of goals and projects to see if there’s anything you want to add to the upcoming quarter.

• Your self-reflection may have also spurred new project or goal ideas that you either want to add to your backlog, or start working on in the upcoming quarter.

To save time and eliminate manual work, turn your quarterly review and planning page into a Notion template.

(If you’re interested in something like this and want help getting it set up in Notion—go ahead and book a call)

Wrap up

People are often making a yearly list of aspirational goals they want to hit or projects they want to complete by the end of the year.

And they might have a task manager to help track their daily action.

But the missing link is something more medium term—a quarterly plan.

This is where you put specific time frames to achieving those goals and projects. And sequence them in the right order to work on throughout the year. Then create tangible daily tasks that need to be done for those goals and projects to become a reality.

Tools like Notion makes it easy to connect the dots between different time scales help us achieve our goals, projects and aspirations without feeling overwhelmed.

So if you haven’t tried doing a quarterly plan and review session, it’s never too late to start.

That’s it for this week!

Will you try planning your next quarter?—If you need some pointers to get started in Notion, reply with your situation and I’ll be happy to send some through.

See you next week,

Janice CK

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People get overwhelming trying to build the “perfect” Notion setup that works for them.

This is the fix I share with them.

Is there a perfect number of hours to work every day?

Research seems to say so.

Last but not least, I want to introduce you to one of my favourite weekly newsletters, written by my friend Martine Ellis.

Sustainable productivity starts with wellbeing.

Her newsletter delivers practical, no-fluff insights to help you get things done without sacrificing wellbeing. Expect doodles, short essays, and inspiring finds—all designed to help you work smarter and feel better.

Get it here.

That’s it, thanks for reading!

Janice Ck

(p.s. If you’re a fan of Cal Newport’s work and productivity without overwhelm, I think you’ll like what I’ve been working on—a Slow Productivity systems in Notion Masterguide. I’ll send it to you when it’s done, just let me know you’re interested)

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Hey friend,

A few of weeks ago, I hopped on a call with a business consultant—let’s call him Alex—who was struggling with his Notion workspace.

It’s never quite worked for him, exactly the way he likes.

But he did everything you’d expect.

He signed up for a few popular Notion online courses to learn the in’s and out’s of Notion.

He downloaded every “ultimate” Notion template.

He spent hours tinkering these templates to make it “his”, only to abandon it in frustration.

Sound familiar?

During the call, he shared his frustration with his scattered note-taking system—scraps of notes on paper, Apple Notes, Google Docs and even Notion.

As a small business co-owner, he was feeling overwhelmed trying to juggle dozens of personal and work projects, and all the information that came along with that (without a simple and effective central system to manage it all).

The bottom line:

He felt stuck with a cobbled-together Notion setup that’s complex and overwhelming to use.

He was wasting more than saving using Notion.

But he knew the huge potential of Notion to help him:

• Save time.

• Optimise his productivity workflows.

• Organise his projects and information.

• Regain control over his time and workload.

If he could make it work, the way he wants it to.

Here’s the hard truth…

A Notion template, no matter how beautiful or “plug-and-play”, won’t magically solve productivity, organisation and time management struggles, if it’s not designed around your workflows.

The big mistake I see?

Trying to shoehorn your way of working into a cookie-cutter Notion template.

Instead of crafting a bespoke flexible system that focuses on your priorities, problems and processes.

Unfortunately, most of the time, copying someone else’s system without truly adjusting it to how your brain works leads to failure.

For busy consultants like Alex, it’s really important to craft systems that prioritise:

• Fast information retrieval, when he needs it.

• Quick and easy capture of new tasks, ideas, notes etc.

• An organisation system that’s low effort and low friction to maintain.

That’s when Notion helps you become more productive with your time, focus and energy.

Saving you hours each week.

Helping you regain the peace of mind you deserve when you clock off from work.

The 7 Notion starter-systems for consultants like Alex

So what should you do instead of downloading the next “perfect” Notion template?

After listening to Alex’s problems and goals with using Notion, I recommended simplifying his Notion setup to these 7 starter-systems:

• Task tracking system.

• Project management hub.

• Knowledge hub for articles, resources, videos, linked to his projects.

• Quick capture system for tasks, project, new knowledge, notes, ideas etc.

• Ideation and notetaking system, linked to his project and knowledge hubs.

• A processing hub and a simple 5-minute weekly routine to keep his Notion setup organised with little effort.

• Multi-scale planning and review system to help him ensure his daily actions aligns with his long term goals and vision.

(Want to save time and get help implementing these in Notion? Learn more about my private strategy sessions or my done-for-you custom Notion build service.)

4 more essential elements for building the right Notion setup

1. Get clarity on what’s working and what’s not in Notion

If someone has poor productivity practices and workflows, using a new tool will amplify the problem, unless we get to the bottom of what and why it’s not working.

Then building streamlined workflows that are works for Alex and are enjoyable to use is key to a successful implementation of a new system.

2. Build workflows and process that flows with your day-to-day

That includes designing the layout of a page, dashboard and database that works for Alex.

From where the quick capture button sits.

To how Alex would schedule his weekly tasks when making his weekly plans.

The beauty of Notion is that you can personalise the systems so it works exactly the way you like it to.

3. Focus on purposeful simple workflows, not complex time consuming processes

Recurring templates, complex formulas, Notion automation and many other features in Notion are fantastic.

But you only need to master the core 20% of Notion to use it effectively for productivity and organisation.

Only add more complexity to your systems if it’s going to help solve a specific problem.

Not because it’s nice to have or sounds good.

4. Get direct guidance and training on how to use the Notion Setup is a must-have if you want a system fast

Breaking old habits and adopt newer and better ways of working without some support is tough.

Getting proper training and coaching on how to use the new setup so you fully adopt Notion in managing life and business is a must have, not a nice to have.

So that Notion doesn’t become another tool that wastes your time and money.

The bottom line

Instead of forcing yourself into someone else’s cookie-cutter template, design your systems around your natural way of working.

If you’re short on time or frustrated with the lack of progress in building your own Notion setup…

Get some help to craft the right Notion setup that work for you.

It’s the fastest path to organisation, productivity and peace of mind.

That’s it!

Just one more thing.

What’s one challenge you’re facing right now with getting organised in Notion?

Reply with your situation and I’ll be happy to give you some specific recommendations (like I did for Alex).

Have a great weekend!

Janice

(Ps. If you’re ready to get a Notion setup that works for you—get started by booking a free consultation)

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Prioritise what is essential.

After all, if you don't prioritise your life, somebody else will.

In 2024, Notion released a whooping 30+ features and quality of life upgrades 🤯

And most of them are completely free to use on the free plan.

Get the the fastest ever 30 minute run down on every Notion feature and upgrade (and skip around to what you care about using the time stamps).

And if you need help implementing any of these 30+ upgrade, I’m only an email away!

Lastly, if you’re a service-based professional, Clive Griffiths is a veteran consultant and a must-follow guy if you want to grow your business.

He shares how to become your client’s strategic ally (not a hired hand).

And if you’re looking for a strategic ally yourself to become more productive and organised using Notion, lets talk.

That’s all for this week,

Janice

(p.s. if your Notion setup feels messy or frustrating to use, you can break free from the mess and have a streamlined and decluttered Notion setup in just 5 days. Get started with this free email course)

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Today I’ve got something special for you.

I want to introduce you to my friend and reader of this newsletter, Dayo—a branding expert and strategist.

To stand out in a crowded market of coaches, consultants and service-based professionals, being different is key. That’s where personal branding comes in.

But branding is more than colours and design.

So lets hear what Dayo has to say about this below!

Struggling to build a personal brand that attracts the right clients, boosts authority, and creates opportunities for you?

Since 2014, I’ve helped coaches, consultants, and solopreneurs do exactly that.

Over the years, I’ve codified a proven 5-step Brand Acceleration Blueprint™ that simplifies the branding process.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through it—so you can stop blending in, monetize your expertise, and build a brand that works for you—even if social media isn’t your thing.

STEP 1: CLARIFY Your Message

A magnetic personal brand starts with clarity.

Too often, experts start by trying to pick a niche.

But if you’re picking a niche, it means someone else created it. Why not create one that’s uniquely you?

That starts with these four levels of clarity:

• YOUR WOW – What excites you and makes you come alive?

• YOUR WISDOM – How have you distilled your experience and expertise into usable frameworks?

• YOUR WIT – What are your unique perspectives and philosophies?

• YOUR WHY – What drives you to do this work?

Pause and write down your answers.

What patterns do you notice?

This forms your core message—the foundation behind all your branding, content, and offers.

For me, my core is:

"To give you the audacity to lead your life and business in the direction that matters most to you."

What’s yours?

STEP 2: CREATE Your Digital Platform

As a professional designer for 20+ years, I’ve noticed that most people think branding starts with a logo.

It doesn’t.

Your Point of View (POV) matters more than a fancy logo.

People follow perspectives, not color palettes.

Want to attract the right clients? Do this:

• Identify a specific problem your ideal audience struggles with.

• Make sure it’s a problem that only your skills and expertise (from Step 1) can solve.

• Build your brand around that.

• Secure your name as a domain (e.g., dayosamuel.com).

• Choose 1-2 primary platforms to focus on.

It’s tempting to be everywhere. I’ve made that mistake before.

Instead, be impactful where your best clients are.

STEP 3: COMMUNICATE Your Uniqueness

A personal brand isn’t just what you say—it’s how people experience you.

Short story:

My mother-in-law’s WhatsApp got hacked.

The hacker asked her contacts (including me) for money, but we all immediately knew it wasn’t her.

Why?

Because she has a unique way of writing that no one could copy.

That’s the power of personal branding.

Your tone, messaging, and personality create recognition over time.

So instead of worrying about “finding your voice,” define it.

You already have a natural way of communicating.

Refine it. Own it. Let it shine through in your content.

Can people recognize your work instantly—even without seeing your name?

STEP 4: COMMERCIALIZE Your Ideas

You don’t need a massive audience to monetize your expertise.

I’ve never had more than 8,000 followers at any given time, yet I’ve built a successful brand and business.

The key?

Turn your knowledge into paid offers.

• Move beyond time-for-money work. Can your services be structured into a productized or scalable offer?

• Package your expertise into coaching, consulting, courses, or digital products.

• If you need help, reach out here, and we’ll map out a monetization plan.

Your personal brand should make you money—not just give you visibility.

STEP 5: CONSOLIDATE A Tiny Team So You Can Scale

To grow, you need to stop doing everything yourself.

Even if you’re a solopreneur, small systems and a lean team (virtual assistants, contractors, or AI automation) help you scale without burning out.

This is where you transition from:

Micropreneur (one person, one business) → Multipreneur (small team, multiple income streams).

Start small:

• Identify tasks you can delegate or automate.

• Start with one key hire—even a part-time VA can free up your time for high-impact work.

Your personal brand is your biggest asset—when built right, it attracts clients, builds authority, and creates freedom.

So no matter where you are in your journey, you can get focused, get started and be impactful.

And if you're serious about structuring your expertise, overcoming internal barriers, and creating life-changing products, join my newsletter, The Dayo Samuel Report.

It’s where I share behind-the-scenes lessons, strategies, and practical steps to help coaches, consultants, and solopreneurs clarify their message, build a powerful brand, and create products people love, buy, and talk about.

👉🏽 Get the Weekly Report

Back to Janice speaking…

If you run a business, chances are:

• You’re juggling a lot of competing priorities.

• You’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by your to-dos.

• You’re coming up with hundreds of ideas for content and products but have no system to capture, store or retrieve them when you need it.

Rather than keeping all that in your head, moving all that important information into a safe and quickly accessible spot is key getting peace of mind in your business.

That’s where Notion comes in.

Everything that Dayo talks about above, I track in Notion. It gives me so much peace of mind that I haven’t forgotten something and I can easily find it again, when I need it.

Notion is especially powerful for step 4 (tracking offer ideas) and step 5 (team collaboration).

Tracking Your Client Offers in Notion

The longer you’ve been serving clients, the more you’ll come up with product and service ideas.

Don’t keep it all it all in your head—it takes up precious mental bandwidth.

Keep it in a Notion database instead.

Here’s how I track my offers, products and services in Notion (you can even see what I’m building right now 😉 ).

My pipeline of ideas and launched offers, products and services

Tracking all all this in one place helps me:

• Visualise my offer pipeline from ideation to launch.

• Avoid overwhelm and work on one offer (project) at a time—Slow Productivity principles at work!

• Regularly take stock of my current offers to see if it still aligns with my goals and intentions (and shutter anything that doesn’t).

(p.s. I’m excited to work on my next little project, Slow Productivity in Notion Checklist!—If that sounds interesting to you, reply to this and I’ll send it to you when it’s done)

Collaborating in a Team

Notion is a powerful tool for collaborating with others and growing your business.

Dayo and I actually used Notion to work on our newsletter collaboration!

While Dayo tackles the topic of personal branding here, I’ve shared my expertise on digital organisation in his newsletter today.

Here’s how I’ve been tracking my collaborations using Notion.

This is just one of many ways you can use Notion to collaborate with others inside or outside your business.

Notion makes managing your business tasks, projects, notes, ideas, leads, SOPs and so much more easy.

That means you and your team can:

• Cut out busywork and unnecessary back and forth emails.

• Stay organised and on track with with all aspects of the business.

• Spend more time working on things that moves the business forward.

Working with others doesn’t have to be frustrating.

Using the right tools and putting in the right systems in place will give you the peace of mind you’re looking for in your business.

That’s it for today!

It’s a joy to collaborate with readers like Dayo, Dave and Sabrina so they can share their valuable insights with you—reply to let me know what you think of today’s issue, or if you want to collaborate on something!

See you next week,

Janice

(p.s. Have a specific struggle or productivity problem in Notion that you want help with?—I recently starting offering one-off coaching calls)

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Inbox zero is one such example.

Instead of chasing the elusive inbox zero, try doing this instead.

Do you sometimes feel like you’re working hard but have nothing to show for?

Yeh, I’ve been there too.

You might be stuck in a pseudo-productivity cycle.

Shift from pseudo-productivity to slow (and real) productivity by putting in place systems in Notion that help you:

• Stop context switching.

• Get clear on your priorities.

• Work on fewer tasks and projects at a time.

But getting started can feel overwhelming.

Reply to this email letting me know a bit about your specific situation and I’m happy to share some tips on how you can do this for yourself.

Lastly, if you’re a coach or consultant, sharing thought leadership content is a must to stand out in today’s digital-first economy.

These are the 4 tips that I shared with a client recently who was struggling with creating a content system in Notion to help them publish content consistently.

See you next week!

Janice

(p.s. If you always wanted a Notion-esque avatar of yourself, now you can! Use the free Notion Faces Tool to create one for yourself. Here’s one I created for myself!)

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Hey,

Are you feeling Tool-Paralysis?

You’re not alone if you’re struggling with analysis paralysis!

Right now, there’s a sea of choice when it comes to picking the right tools and systems to help you elevate your productivity, learning and business.

Today, I want to share the tools I personally use for productivity, learning and working with clients. 

And how these tools serve as part of a bigger system so I can win the day without burnout.

There’s even an unexpected tool I’ve added to the toolkit in 2025.

Get comfortable, this is a deep dive.

But first…

Are you stuck in Digital Tool-Paralysis?

Get unstuck and stop wasting time in tool-paralysis or tool-hopping.

My guide on how to pick your “perfect” tool might be just what you’ve been looking for (worksheet included).

Get your copy of the Tool Finder Guide today.

Common Mistakes People Make Building Their “Perfect” Toolkit

1. Spending hours trying find the “perfect” tool for managing your tasks, storing ideas, tracking your client projects etc. 

   Every tool has flaws.

   Aim for 80/20.

   Find tools that meet 80% of your needs and where the 20% of flaws you can live with so you stock chasing the “perfect too”

2. On the flip side, chasing shiny object syndrome and using tools without a clear purpose or problem it solves

   There is a real monetary, mental and time cost to constantly tool hopping.

   It feels like you’re being productive, but it’s simply productive procrastination

3. Not asking for help to speed up the process for adopting the tool in the right way into your life and business. 

   Every tool has a time-sucking learning curve (some more than others).

   It might feel productive and fun to DIY the learning.

   But it can end up wasting a lot of time that would have been better spent in your zone of genius—working with your clients to in the best way you know.

Digital Minimalism in Your Quest for Focus

Digital tools can even become a distraction rather than a help.

That's where Cal Newport’s digital minimalism comes in.

It has helped me tackle the problems above and pin point the purposeful tools to bring into my life and business.

Aligning your tools with how you want to spend your time and make progress on your goals is key to becoming productive without burnout, distraction and overwhelm.

Here’s what my toolkit looks like in 2025.

Tools for Productivity

1. Notion

This comes as no surprise.

The top tool in my toolkit is Notion.

I use my Notion workspace for managing life and business, creating and collaborating.

It’s the one tool that connects different areas of my life without the need to constantly tool-switch (which I found highly distracting when I was using a haphazard set of tools before Notion).

Here’s a short list of my use cases in Notion:

• Meal Planning.

• Travel Planning.

• Content creation.

• Knowledge Management.

• Points and miles "hacking" and tracking.

• Managing Notion Consulting Client projects.

• Task & project management (for life and business).

• Client Hub to track leads, current clients and client projects.

• Multi-scale planning and review cycles (Managing my daily plans all the way through to my yearly review).

There are truly endless ways you can use Notion as a consultant, coach or solopreneur.

And you don’t even need to pay for 99% of the features.

If you want to take Notion to the next level, it even has built-in features like AI, database automation and ability to create simple forms to gather data easily into a database.

It’s slowly but surely becoming more and more of an all-in-one tool.

2. Morgen

This is a calendar and time blocking app I’ve been using for a while now that integrates with Notion and Google Tasks.

You can effectively turn your Notion database of tasks into time-blocks on your calendar!

And you can see your scheduled calendar events from across multiple calendars all in the one tool.

This has made juggling my personal and business commitments easy, in in one place.

(If you’re looking for a free alternative for time blocking your Notion tasks onto a calendar, try out Notion Calendar).

3. Toggl

A time tracker.

Doing focused deep work without distraction is hard.

For the last 6 months, I’ve started to track my works sessions in Toggl.

I’ve found this ticking timer helpful in keeping me focused on the task at hand. Whether it’s doing deep work, or getting through admin tasks.

It’s the constant reminder I need that tells me once the time I gone, I can’t get it back.

Recently, I upgraded my Toggl experience by creating 2 simple reports in Toggl: A weekly and a monthly report that I look at during my weekly review and planning session on Sundays

This tell me how much time I’ve devoted to different areas of my work life.

In particular, I want to know my doing vs. learning time.

A 2025 goal for me is to skew my time more towards doing than learning. Using Toggl is helping me to objectively analyse how I’m going with this.

4. Gmail

I keep emails simple. I’ve always been a fan of Google’s native Gmail app.

But in the last few months, I’ve been testing out Notion’s new mail tool (currently in beta for Notion Ambassadors).

I’ve really been enjoying the Notion-esq experience for managing my emails. Notion Mail allows me to create custom views of my emails using the sort and filter function (similar to Notion database).

I’m really excited to see how Notion continues to improve Notion Mail.

5. Insight Timer

This is my favourite free meditation app.

I’ve been practicing the art of daily meditation on and off for the past decade.

When I’ve been consistent with my 10 minutes of daily meditation, I experience more mental clarity, focus and calm in my daily life.

So this is an essential tool in my toolkit for productivity without burnout.

This 10 minute meditation ritual is part of my work Shut Down Routine to unwind from my working hours, and prepare my mind for enter family time.

To help me stay on track with my habit goal of doing a meditation session 5 out of 7 days a week in 2025, I track this in Notion.

During my weekly Sunday planning and review ritual, I review my meditation (and other habit metrics) to see how I’m progressing.

Using Notion to help you stay accountable to your habits is a powerful way to use Notion!

Snippet of my Daily Habit tracking section on my Notion Planner.

(I’m starting to offer private coaching to readers who want to start using Notion for productivity and gaining peace of mind—Just reply and I’m happy to give you some details on how we can get started.)

6. Save to Notion

My favourite (and free) webclipper tool that allows you to quickly and easily save information you find on the web into specific Notion databases.

You can use it to save articles and webpages into Notion.

But here’s an unconventional example of how I’ve use this tool to capture the post feed and profiles of LinkedIn users I want to follow into Notion to reduce distraction and save time when using LinkedIn.

Tools for Learning

1. Readwise

Subscribing to Readwise has been game-changing for my Personal Knowledge Management and learning.

It’s a tool for collecting highlights and annotations from different sources (e.g. articles, library books, youtube videos, podcast episodes), which can then be exported to other tools like Notion.

It’s made curating content and capturing useful notes into my Knowledge Hub in Notion seamless.

Making content creation, learning new skills and connecting ideas a breeze.

2. Readwise Reader

A read it later app created by Readwise.

I use Reader to subscribe to RSS feeds, blogs and newsletters.

The Reader app along with my Knowledge hub in Notion serves as my library of learning.

Here are the two ways I use Readwise Reader:

1. Actively pull out resources to consume when I’m in knowledge or skill building mode for a particular topic.

2. Read through my curated feed of blogs and newsletters during my dedicated 30 minute news reading window in the morning.

3. GoodReads

A tool to track what I’m reading, book recommendations and it serves as an archive of books I’ve read.

To be honest, it’s a bit of an archaic and unaesthetic tool, but it gets the job done.

This is where the 80/20 rule for Tool-Picking comes into play.

I’ve thought of moving this to another tool many times or figuring out how to link it to my Notion.

But it’s not really a productive use of time.

I do like that it has a huge user base, so the book reviews and star ratings are very handy to see if a book is worth picking up.

(If you have any book tracking tools you like using, please let me know!)

4. Libby

It’s the library app that lets you borrow and enjoy millions of eBooks and Audiobooks for free (with a library card).

You can even store and manage multiple “library cards” onto the one app.

Borrowing books from the library is the $0 hack that helped me read 47 books in 2024.

How?

By leveraging the auto-return deadline and making sure I always have a book in my pocket no matter where I am in the world.

Book highlights and annotations made in the Libby reading app are automatically sent to Readwise… which is then sent to Notion.

(see this is why I think Readwise is such a powerful tool!)

5. Google Play Books / Kindle

I’m rather ambivalent to where I purchase my ebooks. I’ve got ebooks in both Google’s Play Books app and Amazon’s Kindle app.

And if you didn’t know you can even share the books you’ve bought in a “family group” in both apps.

Again, book highlights and annotations are automatically sent to Readwise and then Notion.

Tools for Business

In addition to the Productivity and Learning tools above that are also used for business to varying degrees, these are business specific digital tools that I use to run my solo business.

1. Beehiiv

Right now I’m publishing my newsletters through Beehiiv, but have been toying with the idea of changing over to Kit so that my newsletter and the landing pages for my free resources are all in one spot.

There’s some resistance to this.

The effort it would take to move my 50+ archive of newsletters over to Kit seems like a poor use of time.

I could just transition over to Kit and link to previous posts in Beehiiv. Doesn’t feel like an elegant solution.

(If you’ve done something similar, reply the email, would love to know about your experience)

2. Kit

Easy to use tool to create landing pages for my free resources like my 5-Day Clutter Clarity in Notion email course and my ultimate guide to creating your own Writing System in Notion.

3. X and LinkedIn

Social media tools can be tools for distraction.

Or it can be a tool for learning, growth, connection and serendipity.

I aim to use these tools to:

• Learn from thought leaders.

• Find people who I can help.

• Get to know interesting peers.

I would be lying if I say I don’t fall down the rabbit hole of social media.

But having intentional systems like this in Notion has dramatically reduced the time I’ve wasted on social media.

4. Cal

A simple and powerful calendar booking and scheduling tool.

Completely free.

I use it to create different booking forms and link it to Zoom and Google Calendar.

There are a ton of customisations you can build into your form to make the scheduling process easy for the client and yourself.

I’ve even connected Cal to Notion using Relay, a third party automation tool, to automatically create a new contact in my Notion CRM when someone schedules a call.

5. Relay

A simple automation app and connector between apps.

I’m a fan of keeping systems simple and reducing the tools I use.

But sometimes, an automation helper tools just streamlines and saves you so much time that it’s a no-brainer to use.

What I love about Relay is that it’s simple to use and build automation systems and workflows that talk to each other.

As long as you understand processes and workflows, you don’t need to know complex coding to get automation workflows set up in Relay.

6. Zoom

Video conferencing tool that’s connected to Cal scheduling tool.

7. Fathom AI

AI notetaker and recording tool that’s connected to Zoom so it automatically transcribes and summarises calls with clients and peers.

8. Senja / Testimonial . io

I’ve tried a few testimonial tools like Senja and testimonial.io.

They all do a good job, but if I had to pick, I prefer Senja for being more user friendly.

9. Notion Forms / Tally

Notion launched their own forms tool in 2024, making it super easy to:

• Turn existing databases into a form to capture information directly into the database.

• Create new forms in Notion by creating a new database.

Notion form makes it easy to do surveys, gather data or input data.

The downside is that it’s still a new feature in Notion, so that are limited features to create more complex surveys.

If you want a more powerful (and free) form tool, Tally is my go-to.

You can create unlimited forms for free, export data directly into a Notion database and build forms with conditional logic very easily and simply.

10. Lemon Squeezy

A digital store front.

I don’t sell a lot of products or services, but what I do sell I list it on Lemon Squeezy because they’ve made listing your offers clean, simple and easy.

The Surprise Addition to the Toolkit in 2025

4 years ago, I stumbled upon the Zettelkasten method for Personal Knowledge Management.

I’ve tried implementing it on my own in Notion a couple of times.

But nothing ever stuck.

So when my good friend King, Zettelkasten guru, kicked off another series of Super Zettel workshops in January this year, I joined in.

That’s led me to using a new tool that I never thought I would…

Obsidian.

The workshops has now ended. I’ve gotten greater appreciation of how the Zettelkasten system really works. I can see how a bottom up tool like Obsidian is primed for Zettelkasten (unlike Notion).

Readwise has also made it effortless to send my highlights and notes to both Notion and Obsidian.

So no extra work on my part!

I might be a Notion ambassador and consultant…

But I’m first a believer in using the right tools for the right job. And Notion is not the right tool for everything (as much as people might make it out to be).

I’m excited to test out the Zettelkaten method for exploration, while using Notion as my main knowledge bank for everything.

4 Simplified Steps for When Tool-Finding

Still feeling stuck in digital tool paralysis?

Try these 4 steps to simplify the tool-finding process:

1. Spot your (recurring) problem

2. Figure out your “thinking” type to find a tool that matches it

3. Decide your “must have” features for a tool

4. Master the one tool

Or check out my free Tool-Finder Guide (Worksheet include), especially useful if you’re trying to find the right tool for managing your life and business.

That’s it for today!

Do you have a favourite tool you use in your life or business? — hit reply, I would love to hear about it

See you next week,

Janice CK

(p.s. I’m starting to offer private coaching to readers who want to start using Notion for productivity, organisation and gaining peace of mind—Just reply and I’m happy to give you some details on how we can get started.)

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This is not the productivity or life optimisation advice you typically get from Tim Ferris’s long podcast episodes.

Skip right to the 6 minute mark to find out what his daily mantra and tactic to help focus on the right things when when life gets chaotic (even if you do it for just 5 minutes a day, it’s still worth it).

Personally, it’s a mantra that resonates closely to my word of the year.

Btw, if you’ve gotten any value from this newsletter so far, I would love to hear about it.

I recently read some alarming truths about the our state of our work culture and productivity.

Practicing Slow Productivity and using tools like Notion is not the solution all our problems with burnout, overload or the lack of time for hobbies or personal pursuits.

But designing systems using tools like Notion to help us install better personal and work productivity practices and systems to help us:

• Get organised.

• Battle work overload and win.

• Tame the information overwhelm.

• Eliminate the anxiety and fear of dropping the ball.

That’s a good start.

(Reply to this email and let me know your situation—I’ll will be happy to help and give you some suggestions)

Lastly, if you want to get started using Notion to manage and organise your business ops, try these 4 simple steps.

That’s it, see you next week

Janice

🗞️ New To This Newsletter?

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Subscribe here​​​​​​​​​​​​​ to get what I share next week.