Notion: The best digital Bullet Journal companion

To be completely honest, I haven’t been using my Bullet Journal (or any productivity tools) for around two months now. It happens, life goes on. I am, quite frankly, having trouble getting back into the habit of organizing my life in general. Now that I am starting to move things along, I find myself revisiting the productivity tools that I have been using ever since.

My daily driver since 2016 was the Bullet Journal. It has been and it still is the best mindfulness tool for me. Up until 2019, I used the standard Bullet Journal notebook – which was an A5 dot grid notebook. I packed as much Bullet Journal-y things I could in that notebook. Future Log, Movies to Watch, Books to Read, Goals, Wishlists – which I would copy over to the next Bullet Journal notebook.

Then I moved my Bullet Journal system into the Traveler’s Notebook system. I wanted to separate the “collections” from the monthly logs so that I could keep the collection pages in one notebook that would never leave the TN. It was a brilliant plan. I changed the “monthly inserts” almost every quarter and the collection notebook stayed put. But the problem is – that collection insert stayed empty as well (except the future log).

Read: Why I Moved My Bullet Journal to a Traveler’s Notebook

I was just not inspired to do the same lists I had from my A5 days. Perhaps I just don’t find the need to create lists the way I did 4 years ago.

Hello, Notion 👋

I try to stay away from note-taking apps because they NEVER worked for me. I would write something down on my iPhone’s notes app and it would never see the light of day once I exit the app. Note-taking apps don’t work for my personal life and neither does it work on my professional life. I will always find a way to write it down or sketch it out on a random piece of paper.

So why am I talking about Notion?

Notion is a digital tool (an app or a web app) that serves as an all-in-one-workspace. Doesn’t make sense? It’s basically a powerful note-taking and documentation tool – almost like a digital version of a Bullet Journal.

Before I tried Notion, I was skeptical of it. I never liked Evernote, rarely use my GoodNotes, and tolerated Trello (which is one of the tools I use to plan out content).

The best documentation tool for me was Confluence. I use this mostly because this is the documentation tool that I’m used to as a Product Manager in the tech industry (we write a lot of product requirements). Confluence is great but I never considered using it in running my business and also my personal life.

I then stumbled upon Sara Dietschy’s Notion Setup Tour and when she first said “databases“, I immediately paused her video and downloaded the app IMMEDIATELY.

A database is an organized collection of data 👏

Something just clicked in my head. I knew that this was something I was going to get into because Bullet Journal collection pages are basically spreadsheets.

The Confluence and spreadsheet nerd in me signed up and used Notion right away. within an hour, concluded that this is my Bullet Journal collection solution.

Notion was the solution I never knew I needed

As soon as I signed up, I already knew the types of pages I would create.

First things first, pet care and all of our cat research and information that used to be on Trello has found a new home in Notion. Then the same goes for my content calendar (which I have always kept digital).

As for the rest of the pages, I basically replicated the collection pages that I used to have and migrated them here.

• Wishlist is a good example because it’s simple yet useful on a digital platform because I find a lot of things on the internet and just need a place to store them all.
• Movie List is also a great idea so you can track the movies that you want to see. I used to find this as a “non-essential” list but lately, it felt necessary since I just can’t remember everything all the time.
• The Travel section is something that I’ve been working on to organize travel plans better. My itineraries used to be on a spreadsheet but now I think Notion might be the right place for it (we’ll see)

I’ve also managed to use Notion as a repository for anything related to my career growth (as a Product Manager).

Notion is more than just tables and lists. You can actually create different views of your list and even customize them further depending on your needs.

What this means for my Bullet Journal

Read: Hybrid Analog and Digital Planning and Productivity System

I don’t intend to replace my BuJo with Notion. Bullet Journaling on paper will still be my daily note-taking and productivity system. Putting pen to paper will always have an impact on my memory and my mindfulness. However, with Notion’s database system (and the ability to link to different databases), part of my Bullet Journal Method will most likely take place in Notion.

I have not worked out how I’m going to implement it in my current setup but the way I see it, I might only need to use one insert – dedicated to monthly and daily logging instead of keeping a separate one for my collection pages.

Notion is the perfect companion to my analog Bullet Journal system. You can access it anywhere since it’s in the cloud. It’s definitely less repetitive than writing it down and more fun to use than a spreadsheet! Really, the database concept is the selling point here. You get to log things down and view them into several ways with just one click of a button.

If you want to try it, just head over to Notion.so and see for yourself.