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Notion Brain

Organize projects into Notion databases for log tracking into heirarchical project breakdowns.


This tab will show pictures to best illustrate the Brain features.
Note that only the Brain home page has descriptions at the moment; the rest are a work in progress.



Notion Brain: The homepage
Notion Brain

Click on the pink circles for descriptions:


Pomodoro Timer

These are external modules that time my tasks.

    Benefits:
  • Predict timeslots for similar tasks
  • Keep a visual of the time
  • Slot time between different tasks/events
  • Module is applicable to other pages

An average focus time would be 25mins but that period varies between people. Experimenting with the timeframe would help find the peak time to focus.

    Limitations:
  • The timer won't continue running if page is refreshed or changed
  • Would prefer a warning once it reaches a specific time

Yearly Records

These records give a quick preview into how many years has passed after a specific milestone.

    Benefits:
  • Quick view on how many years have past
  • Reminder of the start date
  • Reminder of the important events in life
  • Habit of noting down events

This started when I was losing track of how many years are passing.

It's the same idea where we are surprised how old we are getting but we remember what our age is.


Quick Add

This is an easy way to add new items with the proper templates.

    Item templates:
  • New Tasks: Autofill current date, priority, and status
  • New Notes: Autofill table of contents, headers, and sections
  • New Sources: Connect links to some notes or full bookmark database

All these Quick Adds are available in different pages in the Brain so if I want to reuse the Quick Add module, I would copy it to a different page.
It saves time and effort to switch between pages.


Today's Tasks

An accessible view of all tasks

    List of views:
  • ToDo: Every completed or actionable tasks that can be actioned today
  • Waiting: Non-actionable tasks that await action from people/events
  • Filtered: A list of tasks filtered by the associated Goals, not dates

The view will only show tasks that have properly filled priority, status, dates, and related goals.

All unshown tasks were either completed or need missing information (can edit through the Scheduler).


Directories

A universal list of shortcuts that can be found in every page.

    List of views:
  • Scheduler: Edit all ongoing tasks
  • Projects: Edit ongoing projects and their goals
  • Knowledge: A collection of every documented note, link and topic
  • Template: All backups of Notion sections, icons and modules
  • Archive: Every completed task, project, and journal entries

These pages create the backbone of the Brain's home page.


BrainDump

A section to brainstorm and add junk thoughts and minor tasks

    List of sections:
  • Little Lists: Little notes that I need to type out before putting it in the Notion database
  • Mood: A personal diary to note my highlights/lowlights and lower entries
  • Todolist Module: This external module links to my Todolist account for daily chores that I do not include in my Notion projects

At first, I was planning to put every task in Notion and use it as a daily tracker of everything I had done (e.g., chores, shopping lists, daily diary).
However, after trying for 1 year, I found it inefficient to keep repetitive tasks in Notion, and all my important logs get lost in the noise.

Now, I have slotted weekly times where I would priorize my Notion Projects; while every daily inconsequential task/thought will be in BrainDump/TodoList.


Knowledge Bank

An accessible view of important notes/links

    List of views:
  • Notes: The pinned notes can be related to any project or topic; usually highly referenced
  • Sources: These are links/books/videos that contain nuanced or important information

Sometimes the task logs are all I need to retain information about the project, but there are some notes that span different projects/topics, so I would include that in the Knowledge Bank.


Databases

This is the source of all information stored in the Notion Bank

    List of databases:
  • Topics: This is the root of any knowledge/project topic (all start from the Topics database)
  • Projects: A project that can span over a lifetime until you reach a Life Achievement (e.g., Build garden, Build a computer)
  • Goals: These are the milestones within a project
  • Tasks: These are the tasks that build a specific goal in a project
  • Milestones: These are the dates of specific life achievements or anniversaries
  • Moods: These are journal entries of highlights/lowlights
  • Notes: These are added notes that can be referenced through different projects
  • Sources: These are links/books that can be referenced again

Notion needs databases to build automated views.
It slightly differs from a spreadsheet because multiple databases can reference/depend on another; thus, creating an automated system.

One big mistake I had done was move the databases into a subpage, which broke all the associated syncs/views.
Remember to keep the database in the root page.


Scheduler: Schedule tasks in specific projects
Notion Scheduler

[Writing in Progress]
No description available


Projects: Organize projects around their specific goals
Notion Projects

[Writing in Progress]
No description available


Knowledge: A collection of topics, notes, and links
Notion Projects

[Writing in Progress]
No description available


Template: A backup of all icons/colours and how to rebuild the pages
Notion Projects

[Writing in Progress]
No description available


Archive: A view of all past tasks, moods and journal entries
Notion Projects

[Writing in Progress]
No description available


[Writing in Progress]