Transcription
So if you're new to Notion or just feeling overwhelmed by the learning curve or the amount of options that are in there, this quick start guide is going to get you up and running in no time. Let's jump in.
All right, so I got Notion open here, and I actually just started a brand new workspace here. So when you first sign up for Notion, this is what you're going to see, and it's going to give you this "Get Started" guide. And this is the free version. There's certainly paid accounts and that, but this is just a free version to kind of get you started. You have your navigation bar here over on the side, which has all of the options and the settings and all of that, but we're really just focused today on just getting you up and going.
All right, so we're going to hit the little pencil icon here to create a new page. Now, the best way to kind of think about Notion is it's sort of an open-ended project organizer that's laid out a little bit like a web page, in the sense that you can navigate from page to page. And it also incorporates elements of Excel that sort of link everything together that way on the back end. And the other advantage of that, which is where people get very overwhelmed, is that you really, the sky's the limit. You can organize this and set it up any way that you want.
So we're going to start here with a new page, and this is sort of your blank canvas to get started. We're going to create a page that's going to be our to-do list. Okay, so we're going to do "To-Do List." Okay. Now, what's really fun about Notion is its customizability. So you can add an icon that kind of works with that. You can also add some cover art, again, sort of more like a website in that sense. So you can add these kind of to make it look pretty, and it's also nice that now you can identify this right away and know which part you're on.
And then below your title is where you kind of jump into the bulk. So you can just write things where you just want to keep track of notes and you want to jot down ideas. You can certainly just type them in there. But the real power comes in when you use the forward slash. Okay, when you click that button, it's going to give different types of options in what you're creating. Right, again, this is sort of where the web page element comes in there. You can just do a text block, you can have a header that's a little bit larger, a subheader, you can do a bulleted list. Again, if you're just keeping notes, you can scroll through this and you can see a lot of different options that are in there. But we're going to use the to-do list: check mail, right, get milk, uh, mow lawn, right. And you can just create this database. And obviously, when you do it, you can click here, check it done, and be done that way.
We want to add a divider line. I'm going to add, uh, a header, and I'm going to go, uh, "Work List." Right. So then I can add another list here. Slash, and we want to add another, uh, just to make a different. We're going to do a toggle list. Right. And I'm going to go, "Ask boss for a raise." And then you can toggle that list. So you can now add "better benefits." And then so you can toggle that, and it'll hide those. So that's another way that you could write those lists. But there's really, again, the sky's the limit as far as how you set that up. But the key is, your friend is that slash button to now see all the different options and how you want to set that up.
Okay, so that's first and foremost. And then you create that page. Then you could create another page, and maybe this is "Notes on Big Project." Right. And you could just create this as, "I just want a place to keep these notes." And so you just keep creating pages and kind of have them all listed out here. And each page can be set up and organized differently depending on what you want that function to be.
Okay, now one of the things I like to do too is we're just going to create a dashboard that houses these. Right. What this does here is we can now link to the other pages, just like you would on a website. So you hit the "@" symbol. Okay, and it's going to bring up some options here. So you can link to a person if you have more than one person on your team, but you can link to the list. Right. So you can have your to-do list here. Now, when I click on this, it's going to take me to my to-do list. So you can see how you could start to organize and keep everything in one spot.
Now, here's where I think Notion gets really powerful, and that is the database function. This is, you know, like Excel, but it's to an extreme. Okay. So what we could do is we could create a database, and let's create a database on, let's say, "Daily Habits." Okay. Create that. Of course, again, you can go through here, add a, uh, icon. I like that one. Add a cover page.
So then we're going to hit the slash and we're going to start typing "database." So you have two options: you have inline, which is sort of creates a database within a page, and then full page, which means this page will be the database. Right. So we're going to do the full page. Okay, and it takes you to this view. And we're going to go "Tracker." You'll notice here when you hover over this plus, it's going to say "New Page." Each one of these is going to become a new page, which within that page, again, this is just the backend working of how this goes. So we're going to create this. We're going to, and then we go, "All right, eat healthy breakfast," just to get us started. Right.
And then you can add separate columns. So you can add, let's add a "Status." So you could have these, and again, these are all customizable. So we can say that's "In Progress." We can say that that one's "Done." You could add like a "Date." So you could go, "When did I do that?" I did that today. This is going to be scheduled for. Then we're going to do this on Saturday. Right. So you can add all of these, and you start customizing this database just how you want it to be.
Okay, and this is also a great way to keep track of your to-do list. So then you have all of it's organized by however you want it to be organized. And we'll add a little checkbox here so we can check these off when they're we're done. You know, all these options are right in there. Now, you can see here because it's a page, you can now click open and you can add more information within that page. So again, this is just walk around the block. Not much more information is needed. Now, it's a whole separate page to keep track. You know, maybe it's articles that you want to keep track of. Maybe this is a list of recipes that you want to try. So you could link to a website that has the information, or you could put notes in here for yourself. "Oh, I made this. It was good. Tasted fine." That's the power of this is that you start small, and it just keeps growing and building out from there.
Now, the other great thing about the databases is you can change the views. Right. So we could make this, uh, like a board view. Right. So you can see everything that you don't, you have not started. You can see the stuff that's in progress. Now, this may look familiar if you've used Asana or Monday. You have that option to create that. You can have a calendar. So now it shows up in those those blocks the way that you want those to show up. And you see every time I'm doing this, it's actually creating a separate view. So now I could go back to the board view, I could go back to the table view. You can organize it however you want. And then again, because it's set up like a web page, you can link back to this or use this database to inform information on another page. And that's where the real power of Notion comes in.
And another helpful tip that I'll show you is, you know, really take a time to look at the templates over here on the navigation bar. And you could really search for anything you want: work, life, school. And you could see these are kind of pre-built things, and you can add the information in there. Because, as I keep saying, there's so many ways to utilize Notion to best fit exactly what you need to know.
And with that, you're up and running with Notion. Congratulations. Hope you found this video helpful, and I'll see you in the next one.