People who use Notion to plan their whole lives • Hacker News Board

Re: People who use Notion to plan their whole lives

#411

Post by whatarethembits » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 8:43 AM UTC

nonethewiser wrote: post #299

iamthirsty wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't get the notion hype, I just don't like it. > I don't get what I am missing. 100% agree. Notion doesn't work like my brain when it comes to documents, formatting, structuring — I ended up spending most of my time configuring systems and formatting than actually inputting information & accomplishing things. I've tried a few times to get into it, and see what others see in it. I just can't.

> I ended up spending most of my time configuring systems and formatting than actually inputting information & accomplishing things. I end up feeling this way about a lot of “productivity” tools like notion, obsidian, and ESPECIALLY Arch browser. I don’t want to have to learn how to use a tool that I’m using to do something fundamental like visit websites or take notes. Give me the barest abstraction possible over th…

Subjective counterpoint to Arc browser; I spent all of 10 minutes getting used to it, and it’s been a game changer ever since. I can’t actually use chrome/firefox again. That’s wild! Maybe it just fits with the way I use the web naturally, but moving to other browsers is like moving back to tabless IE after getting used to tabbed Firefox. Automatic (very important) Picture in Picture mode, and their way of organising/deleting tabs is a game changer.

Re: People who use Notion to plan their whole lives

#412

Post by rrr83 » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 12:08 PM UTC

Well I just use xl or notepad for my todo lists, rest is in my memory which I don't care documenting in some commercial product. Are we getting too much addicted to technology for basic stuff?

Re: People who use Notion to plan their whole lives

#413

Post by nickwritesit » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 2:53 PM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #329

gms7777 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Notion as a personal work notebook. I like it for its lack of rigidity and fixed structure. I've always struggled with tools like Trello because they have a specific model that you need to fit your usage into. Then again, I'm not a Notion power user, nor do I make heavy use of templates outside of a few I've designed myself, so I'm definitely not one of the "hype"rs

You and I I believe are the same type of user. I barely ever used databases. I have a journal with my daily work todos, notes about technology, company, people I want to keep. It's god for that I can share content with my friends/coworkers, it does already way too many things for me.

Yup, this is me too. I use Notion every day so I'm a fan in that sense but I'm also on the free personal plan so I guess I'm not a customer. But I love it for second brain purposes (especially with Readwise) + being the homebase for all of my text.

Re: People who use Notion to plan their whole lives

#414

Post by ausbah » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 3:44 PM UTC

csw-001 wrote: post #36

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #24

This just seems like so much work. The obsessive tracking of ever little thing. Does anyone really use this data in any meaningful way other that just admire its detail? What happens if you miss period, does this cause anxiety?

I find tracking things is a helpful (and relatively healthy) way to manage anxiety. It’s a total time vampire - but once I’ve made my lists of todos/sheets/Roam/Notion/BuJo/whatever and convinced myself I’m organized and in control, then I can get real work done free of nagging concern I’m missing something. I try to find a healthy balance, and my level of tracking varies with my mental health and stress. I’ve notice…

honestly sounds like you should talk to a therapist. spending so much time "organizing everything" isn't a sustainable or effective way to handle your problems

Re: People who use Notion to plan their whole lives

#415

Post by pyxelr » Mon, May 01, 2023, 1:39 PM UTC

pbueckle wrote: post #290

I've been using Notion at my new workplace and was excited at first, but having used it now for many months I came to hate it. They constantly announce new features but are completely neglecting the basics: - Copy and paste is completely broken. Good luck trying to paste a table. - The drag & drop feature is equally annoying, it just never works and doesn't select the things you intend to select or drop them in the p…

For me, the key factor for switching from Notion to Obsidian, was its slowness with pages containing a lot of code blocks (e.g. Python). Some pages were even completely crashing the Notion mobile app.

Re: People who use Notion to plan their whole lives

#416

Post by electrondood » Sun, May 07, 2023, 5:08 PM UTC

codethief wrote: post #398

electrondood wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just use Sublime and a notes folder containing text files groups in folders by topic. The search function is excellent, and I don't need anything more.

Which search function are you referring to? I can only search file names.

I keep my root notes folder open as a project window, and just use CMD+T to find by filename, or CMD+Shift+F to "superfind" across all of my files by word or Regex.