The thing about Notion that makes everyone go wild for it is it’s flexibility. It’s like a blank notebook that you can turn into anything, but better. So in the end, what can notion do for you? Well, almost anything you need.
Like what? Glad you asked.
Notion is your perfect minimalist todo list. If you’ve explored the Notion tools already, you’ve learned about the to-do items and the databases. Both of them offer a natural way to keep track of everything you need to do, ensuring it’s extremely easy, convenient, and visually appealing.
For instance, consider this weekly setup (my first week of my first year at Bowdoin!):
The approach here is to have a weekly spread for each week and a section for each day. The items are just short enough for you to know what they mean, and checking them off is extremely satisfying. Every spread can live on a separate page, or they can all coexist on one long running page - good for going back and seeing how much you’ve completed!
If you need more details, a database could work a little better:
I had it set up just for homeworks, but it could totally also include other kinds of tasks. Every entry here is its own page, so you can include as many details about the task as you want without overcrowding the list.
You can also totally play around with combining the formats. Lately I’ve been in love with toggle lists for my homework - there’s nothing quite like closing the list, marking it green, and knowing for sure you’re not forgetting anything:
And for my other to-do items, I just have a “today” and “this week” section, moving them places and deleting them as soon as I’m done:
All that is to say, if you’ve ever found yourself wishing you had a place that you can open in a second, jot down any task you just received or came up with, and know where to look when you have a minute to work on them, Notion is right there for you.
Another way Notion could work very well for students is being the notebook. Unfortunately, there isn’t a good way to integrate hand-written notes with Notion at this time, but if you prefer typing, this is for you.
The most natural path to take is make one big database with all your notes, class materials, and other bits and pieces you need to keep. Then every page has unlimited space, the navigation and the search work really well, and Notion shortcuts (like -> for →) make the exeprience extremly seamless. Excuse my Ukrainian example - I’m sure you can get the idea:
It’s not Google Docs in terms of formatting, but there are a few fonts and highlight colors available.