How Notion Saved My Semester

I discovered notion one day when I was mindlessly scrolling on TikTok likely avoiding most of my responsibilities. After looking into it, I realized Notion was just what I needed to keep myself organized. 

Notion is a planning application/website that allows you to organize your life in literally every aspect. There are templates upon templates of different things such as schedules, habit trackers, mood boards, class notes, journaling, blog posts, content calendars, budgeting, lesson plans and more. If there’s something you need a template for in a planner, Notion probably has it. And if not, you can create your own page, customizable with headers, photos and links. Notion allows you to quite literally plan out every aspect of your life all in one place, and for someone who’s hyper-organized and likes to plan everything, it’s perfect for me. 

As of right now, I use Notion for my weekly schedule, daily to-do lists, my master homework schedule and my habit tracker. Each of my pages is on the left side of the screen when I have the notion open for easy access and switching between pages. My favorite tracker is my master homework syllabus. At the beginning of the year, I put all readings, papers, exams, and assignments into one master doc, each with the class and title attached, then organized by date. There’s a small check box on the side so I can check them off as the semester goes on and make sure I’m keeping myself on task each week. It’s been a lifesaver when trying to plan out my week/weekends and deciding what homework needs to get done when. 

I used to love using paper planners or the planner on my iPad (in GoodNotes), but I found myself becoming too lazy to write it all out by hand or having to keep rechecking each syllabus for my classes to make sure it was all done. With notion, all of that goes away. I know exactly what I’m doing each day, when everything due, when I have time to get a workout in, etc. I spent probably two hours one time getting everything into the master syllabus, and since then haven’t had to pull up any syllabi to see what homework is due when. Plus, because of online school, I’m always on my computer so my schedules are extremely accessible at all times. I find it easier to take a quick click to my notion tab to look at my weekly schedule or to-do list. Moreover, I can check off my habits in the evening and journal right after I finish my homework. All of my journal entries are on one spot, and they will stay this way forever. 

I also love Notion because they have an iOS app, so if I’m on the go and I forget what I had scheduled or that evening or I’m curious about what homework I’d be doing that weekend, I can open the app and see it! My life feels much simpler and organized thanks to Notion, and I know I will be using it for the rest of college and beyond.

If you’re interested in using Notion, here’s a great video for setting up Notion for a college student! Or, if you want to see the templates I use, shoot me a DM on Instagram @gracidaby. 

• organization
• Planning
• scheduling