I've tried a lot of apps over the years, and somehow I always end up back in Notion. It's not that it does one thing perfectly. It's that it does a handful of things well enough that I stopped needing five separate tools. If you're curious whether it would fit into your life, here's an honest look at how I actually use it.
1. Project and task tracking
This is the big one. Notion is my main to-do list. Every project I'm working on gets its own page, and inside that page is a simple checklist of the tasks that need doing. When something is done, I tick the box. When something new comes up, I add a line.
I've deliberately kept it plain. No complicated systems, no color-coded dashboards I'll never look at again. Just a list I trust, that I check every morning and update through the day. Seeing the boxes fill in is a small thing, but it keeps me moving.
For example, my "Website Redesign" project page looks something like this:
Website Redesign
[x] Sketch new homepage layout
[x] Pick fonts and colours
[ ] Build the contact form
[ ] Write the About page
[ ] Test on mobile
2. My YouTube workflow planner
Making videos has a lot of moving parts, and I used to lose track of where each one was. Now every video lives in Notion from start to finish. I plan the idea, write the script on the same page, keep my editing notes right below it, and mark when it's scheduled to go live.
Because everything is in one place, I can glance at my list and instantly see what's still an idea, what's being filmed, and what's ready to publish. Nothing slips through the cracks anymore, and that alone has made the whole channel less stressful to run.
For example, my video list is a simple table where each row is one video:
Video Stage Publish date
---------------------------------------------------------
Notion for beginners Editing Sep 12
5 command-line tricks Scripting Sep 19
My home office tour Idea --
Click any row and it opens into a full page with the script, my editing notes, and a checklist for that video.
3. Cheat sheets and reference guides
I keep a growing collection of personal cheat sheets in Notion: commands I always forget, little how-to notes, settings I had to look up once and never want to hunt for again. Anytime I solve an annoying problem, I write down the fix so future me doesn't have to start from scratch.
It's basically my own private wiki. Search is quick, so instead of digging through old browser tabs or bookmarks, I just type a word or two and the answer is right there.
For example, my "Git cheat sheet" page is just a list of the commands I always forget:
Git cheat sheet
Undo the last commit (keep changes)
git reset --soft HEAD~1
Throw away all local changes
git checkout .
See a one-line history
git log --oneline
4. Collaborating with people online
A lot of the people I work with are in other cities or other countries, so we're rarely online at the same time. Shared Notion pages fix that. I can leave notes, drop in links, and lay out what needs to happen, and my colleagues can pick it up whenever they log on.
It saves us a pile of back-and-forth messages. Everyone can see the same up-to-date page, so we spend less time asking "where are we on this?" and more time actually getting it done.
For example, a shared "Guest post: September" page might look like this, with comments left right on the text:
Guest post: September
[x] Agree on the topic - Sam
[x] First draft - me
[ ] Review and edit - Sam
> "Can we add a screenshot here?"
[ ] Schedule for the 20th
Draft link: notion.so/guest-post-sept
So, would it work for you?
None of this is fancy. Notion just happens to be flexible enough to hold my tasks, my video pipeline, my notes, and my teamwork all in one spot. If you're juggling a few different apps right now and none of them quite talk to each other, it might be worth trying one page and seeing where it takes you. Start small, keep it simple, and let it grow with you.