I Tried ONLY Working in Notion for a DAY - Here’s What Happened

Productivity apps promise us clarity and simplicity, yet we always end up juggling dozens of them. But today, I'm betting on one app that claims to do it

all. If you're new here, welcome. I'm

all. If you're new here, welcome. I'm

Thiago Forte. My mission is to help you organize your digital life. Today is

about one simple question. Can one app really handle every single part of your workday? using our official second brain

workday? using our official second brain notion templates, notion calendar and notion mail. My goal is to simplify

notion mail. My goal is to simplify everything down to one tool to see if it truly improves my productivity. Ah, good morning. Let's do

productivity. Ah, good morning. Let's do

this. What you're seeing on the screen is our official second brain notion template. The first thing I want to

template. The first thing I want to point out is a little quote. The system

you use to manage information must be so effortless that it liberates your focus rather than constraining it. Your system

must provide you with time not consume it. A tool like notion is very powerful

it. A tool like notion is very powerful but it also has such a specific pitfall which is you can spend too much time over optimizing. And so everything I'm

over optimizing. And so everything I'm going to show you is kind of a minimalistic approach. It's the minimum

minimalistic approach. It's the minimum that I think you should do to get value from your second brain without kind of over investing your time and effort. So,

the first thing you'll see at the very top of the page here is a section called daily pages. This is a dedicated notion

daily pages. This is a dedicated notion page for today. It's almost like an inbox for today for any notes, ideas, brainstorms, just random things that come up. So, I'm going to go ahead and

come up. So, I'm going to go ahead and open that page. I like to retitle this to today which is Tuesday. And then the first thing I like to track just with a

yes no is whether I slept seven plus hours of high quality sleep or not.

That's something I'm working on. You can

add more of these fields which in notion are called properties to track anything.

Once I've done that, I'm going to go ahead and open up the startup checklist.

I don't want to spend a lot of mental cycles when I first sit down in the morning thinking what do I start with?

How do I begin? And the same thing at the end of the day. I don't want to end my workday in a kind of haphazard, frazzled way. I want to finish it very

frazzled way. I want to finish it very intentionally. So for the startup

intentionally. So for the startup checklist, the first one is to check the calendar. And this is the first time

calendar. And this is the first time that we're going to head over to the recently released notion calendar. I'm

just going to do a quick pass to make sure I'm not forgetting anything. So I

see that there was recycling at school today. I've already dropped off the

today. I've already dropped off the kids, so that's done. And this is typically what I try to do on most days.

Today, I'm trying to reserve really the entire morning for deep work. Then I'll

usually have a break for lunch, like 30 minutes to an hour. This afternoon, from 1 to 2:00 p.m., we have a meeting about redesigning our website, and I know I have to leave to pick up the kids around

2:15 p.m. each day. Let's head back over

2:15 p.m. each day. Let's head back over to Notion proper. And the last thing I want to do as part of my startup checklist is to check my task list. And

that kind of makes sense, right? I'm

getting ready now to actually start doing things, to start executing on things. So, I want to start bringing up

things. So, I want to start bringing up what are my priorities for the day in terms of tasks. So, to do that, I'll open up here the very next section. By

the way, this is something so cool with a tool like notion, which is since you're actually designing it, you can create it the way you want. You're not

limited to the interface that some faraway software designer made up for you. So, I've actually put each of these

you. So, I've actually put each of these sections in the exact order that I follow them and that I recommend you follow them. And what we've created here

follow them. And what we've created here is essentially what's known as a task manager. So, contained within this gray

manager. So, contained within this gray box right here is really all of the key functionality of what would normally be a completely separate app that you would have to research, download, learn, and

keep using. So today is probably the

keep using. So today is probably the most important view for deciding what I'm doing today, but there's a few others here that are super useful. This

week is useful if you want to kind of also get a broader view of what's going on later this week as well. Then we also have waiting on. These are things that I've designated I'm waiting on someone

else for. For example, I'm waiting to

else for. For example, I'm waiting to actually book our Airbnb for our upcoming trip to Guatemala until I get a recommendation for my Guatemalan friend of where to stay. You can also view

tasks by status. You can also see them according to parah. So you can see here every either project area or resource of parah has its own sections. And finally

you can also see things by calendar. The

fact that you now have notion calendar which can track information in a calendar view means you can also see a calendar view within notion. This is a downloadable template that you can

purchase from us and install your very own second brain using everything that I'm about to show you. So, let me head back to today. And this is really where I'm going to focus on. It's usually just a few things that are the highest

priority for me to take on today. I've

already identified what that task is, which is to draft the curriculum for our new AI program, Second Brain Enterprise.

Now that I've identified that's what I want to work on, I kind of want to see the broader context of the project, the wider project that that one task fits

into. So that's the perfect time to

into. So that's the perfect time to close this tasks section and open up projects. I've already decided I'm going

projects. I've already decided I'm going to dive into second brain enterprise today. I can instantly kind of pivot

today. I can instantly kind of pivot into a projecentric way of thinking. So

what you see here is a kind of rundown of some of the main characteristics, what notion calls properties of this project. I have a link to the tasks here

project. I have a link to the tasks here to the notes. And the main thing to keep in mind here is just really try to centralize everything related to the project in this one place. And lastly,

you can see here that I'm a big fan of checklists. I also have a checklist for

checklists. I also have a checklist for how I begin every project and how I complete every project. So if you remember the task is to work on the curriculum. You can see here I've

curriculum. You can see here I've already made some progress on the different class sessions and it's time to get feedback from my team. This is

what something that's so cool about an integrated all-in-one and team-based application like notion. What I can do is select this change I've made or this

heading class one and say comment and say what do you think of the agenda for class one and then I'm going to do at

and I'm going to start writing my colleagueu's name which is Julia question mark and then return and there's now a comment as you can see over here on the right which has tagged

Julia and therefore sent her a notification All right. So, now it's the end of the

All right. So, now it's the end of the morning. I feel really good that I spent

morning. I feel really good that I spent most of the morning in deep work. I did

get a little bit distracted by a couple instant messages. But now is really time

instant messages. But now is really time to check in with what my team needs, external collaborators, things that I'm waiting on from people outside my company. And that all means email. And

company. And that all means email. And

Notion actually recently launched Notion Mail, its very first email client. And

let me show you some of the main features that I'm getting the most value from. The first one is auto labels,

from. The first one is auto labels, which you can access by clicking on this button. And what this does is it allows

button. And what this does is it allows you to automatically categorize certain kinds of emails. simply describe using natural language which the AI can

understand the kinds of emails you're looking for. So I'm going to say any

looking for. So I'm going to say any emails related to second brain enterprise and just to be sure that none slip through the cracks I'm going to say

AI or that are from my collaborators on this project which are Hayden Miamoto or Julia Saxenna. And you can see here

Julia Saxenna. And you can see here there's two options. You can keep those emails, the emails that fit those criteria right where they are in the

inbox and simply add a label or you can split them. This is a feature called

split them. This is a feature called split inboxes. Let me show you what that

split inboxes. Let me show you what that looks like. You can see here the AI is

looks like. You can see here the AI is working in the background to find all the relevant emails and now it's creating the label. And there you go.

You can see there are four existing email threads that it has identified with this check mark are definitely in this category. And then there's a couple

this category. And then there's a couple that it's not sure about. Actually, all

of its decisions are already correct whether it it is or isn't part of this category. So, I'm going to go ahead and

category. So, I'm going to go ahead and click save. And there you go. You can

click save. And there you go. You can

actually see that there's the normal standard inbox up here, but now we've created a new one called Second Brain.

I'm actually going to retitle it Second Brain Enterprise because I have a lot of different Second Brain related projects.

And now any emails that come in related to this top priority of mine will appear right here. The next feature I'd like to

right here. The next feature I'd like to show you is a really powerful one called scheduling. So, let's say you have an

scheduling. So, let's say you have an email thread such as this one about an upcoming launch of one of our products in Asia that you realize it's time for a meeting. Okay, you can see there's been

meeting. Okay, you can see there's been many, many, many, many back and forth messages. Let's just have a meeting and

messages. Let's just have a meeting and hash this out. The more people are on the message thread, the harder it is to find a meeting time that fits everyone's schedules. So, I'm going to make this

schedules. So, I'm going to make this easier by hitting command K, which brings up this little dialogue window with all the different commands that I

can act on. And the one I'm going to do is called schedule. So, I'll go down to where it says compose schedule reply.

And what this does is it replies to the currently open email or the currently open thread with this interactive little widget where you are going to create options that other people can choose

from. In this case, this is probably

from. In this case, this is probably going to be longer than 30 minutes.

Let's put 45 minutes just to be safe.

And then you can see this is my own personal calendar. So, I'm going to look

personal calendar. So, I'm going to look at what are some open slots that I can make available to schedule this. So,

let's do one on Thursday from 12 to 1.

That can be an option. One on Friday, uh, let's say 11 to 12. Then I'll click outside the window to close it. And what

this will do is insert a link right here that once your recipients click it. This

is similar to a dedicated scheduling tool such as Calendarly, except you now no longer need to use a separate dedicated app, much less pay for it. And

what you see here is exactly the time slots that I designated were possibilities for me that they can now choose from. There's one more incredibly

choose from. There's one more incredibly useful feature in Notion Mail that I want to show you, which is snippets. So,

I'm going to open up the command dialogue with command K. Start typing

snippets. You can see it's right there.

And what this allows you to do is to pre-write. You can think of them as

pre-write. You can think of them as templates, common emails that you send, for example, to reply to a common kind of message that you receive. So, let's

go ahead and do the one for Zoom links.

I'm going to click here and say edit.

And all this is is a simple line saying here's my Zoom link. instead of having to go open up Zoom, navigate to the settings, find my personal meeting link every single time. No, I'm just going to

paste my Zoom link right here. And then

for the shortcut, I think I'll just make it forward sloom and then hit save. So,

let's say I have an email that we are corresponding on. I can hit return to

corresponding on. I can hit return to reply and just do forward slash zoom.

You can see this the snippet autocompletes and pops up right there. I

can click it with my mouse or just hit return. And instantly that entire

return. And instantly that entire snippet, that entire template gets inserted into the message. And I notice that this is the first time I need to

leave the notion ecosystem, which is to check my instant messages among the team on Google chat. So now it's lunchtime.

I'm about to head off to get something to eat. And by the way, if you want this

to eat. And by the way, if you want this exact notion setup for yourself, check out our official Second Brain Notion template. Over 1,500 people are already

template. Over 1,500 people are already using it to manage their notes and productivity. All

productivity. All right, I am back from lunch. I know from my morning review earlier that I have

one meeting this afternoon, which is to talk about our website redesign. So,

I'll go ahead and go over to Notion calendar. So, I can see my meeting right

calendar. So, I can see my meeting right here. I'll go ahead and click it. And

here. I'll go ahead and click it. And

then the join Zoom meeting button is right there. And typically what I'll do

right there. And typically what I'll do is as the meeting is happening, I'll take the notes directly in my daily pages. For now, I want to use the daily

pages. For now, I want to use the daily page for today as just a kind of temporary scratch pad so I don't have to decide up front where this information goes. All right, the meeting has just

goes. All right, the meeting has just ended. And as you can see here, I just

ended. And as you can see here, I just took a few notes around pending decisions such as deciding between WordPress and Web Flow. However, what I also want to do is head over to my AI

meeting notetaker, which is Otter. I'm

going to go ahead and copy the summary which has been generated using AI right here, what we discussed and what the action items were. And I'll head back over to Notion and paste it right down

here just so that I have a more comprehensive summary if I need it. All

right, it's now almost 2:00. I have just about 20 minutes before I need to pick up the kids from school. Let's see what quick tasks I can tick off in that time

frame. Let me see if there's anything

frame. Let me see if there's anything quick here that I can make progress on.

I do have a note here that I added a few days ago, which is let's see, ah, a breakdown of what we plan to cover in our upcoming interviews. What I might do

is I'm going to add an AI block to say write a hook and introduction to an indepth interview on the master prompt

method. So notice that it has the

method. So notice that it has the context to know I actually want to get the team's feedback on this. Please

Nikolai give me your thoughts on the above. And that's now going to tag him

above. And that's now going to tag him and he'll add his own comments and edits. I'll go ahead and close this. And

edits. I'll go ahead and close this. And

we didn't really cover this, but you can also take a a wider a broader perspective on your priorities. Once a

month or a quarter or a year, you may want to really zoom out. This is

something I recommend you do actually, and think holistically about these different hats you wear, these different important domains of your life. By

clicking into these, you'll notice that you can link to various projects. You

can create new projects. You could link to certain daily pages where you've taken notes or certain specific tasks.

You could add a deadline. Say you may want to revisit this area of your life on a certain basis by a certain time with a certain frequency. The same is true of resources. Let's say that you have things you're researching or

learning or just kind of keeping content and notes about. And then finally, if you're familiar with my parah method, the archive is projects, areas, and resources. the previous three categories

resources. the previous three categories up here, but anything from those categories that is no longer active. After the kids have gone to bed,

active. After the kids have gone to bed, I want to end the day intentionally. So,

I'm going through my shutdown checklist in my daily page. I want to capture a quick win from the day to appreciate what I got done. Next, I'll take a look at my calendar for tomorrow and for the

rest of the week. Is there anything I need to move or take action on? Next,

I'll check my notes inbox and process any notes that I've saved throughout the day. That means I'll assign notes to a

day. That means I'll assign notes to a project, area, or resource to get them out of the inbox. Finally, I'll clear my task inbox and assign due on dates or deadlines to any tasks and then relate

them to either a project or an area.

Now, I can relax. So, did I manage to spend my

relax. So, did I manage to spend my entire workday inside notion? Mostly. I

was surprised how much I could get done within notion. I barely touched any

within notion. I barely touched any other app today except for Google Chat and my browser. I feel like this actually helped me stay more focused. I

wasn't jumping between tabs or apps or wondering where to put things. I just

opened Notion and it worked. I can see the need for other apps sometimes, especially, for example, Google Docs or Google Sheets. But you can also easily

Google Sheets. But you can also easily link those from within notion. If you

want to use this exact setup, you can get the second brain notion template using the link in the description. It

includes everything you saw in this video. The paramethod structure, daily

video. The paramethod structure, daily pages with built-in checklists, a quick capture inbox, and a flexible system for tracking projects, tasks, notes, and

habits, and even more that I didn't even get to cover. You'll also get access to stepbystep walkthrough videos that show you how to set it up, how to customize it, how to make it your own. It doesn't

matter if you're brand new to Notion, or you're already deep in it. This template

that we've created can help you build a second brain that actually supports you in your day-to-day work and life. I

invite you to try it out.