I have spent a lot of time watching a lot of Notion content on Youtube and I even read a bit of the Notion API Documentation to see if there’s any way I can integrate Notion into my existing workflow. Ever since I discovered Notion, it has become a productive tool I use almost every day.
Everything in Notion is a block that can be texts, images, videos, links, headings etc. and can be transformed into another type of block or rearranged in any way that may suit your needs.
Personal Dashboard
I created a personal dashboard to manage myself, my work, my learnings, my library, etc. This is like a homepage that is shown to me whenever I open up Notion.
(Trust me, I don’t use Notion in light mode 🙂)
I used to have this dashboard open on an extra monitor so I thought it can be a bit aesthetic by showing a clock and auto-generated quote images. The clock and auto-generated quotes images are widgets created using indify.co.
Note-taking App
Notion is always my go-to app for note-taking. I find the markdown support extremely useful as a developer to write notes faster. Notion supports syntax colouring for over 60 programming languages making it a good utility for developers.
It provides some features that I really find helpful for note-taking. It is cross-platform, can share notes with the public and also invite private collaboration.
Technical Writing
I manage a Notion database for articles and write my drafts using Notion. Because of my familiarity with markdown and the speed to use any block type on Notion, I am able to focus more on writing while things like formatting, link insertions, etc happen from muscle memory. Notion database is handy for project management.
This is a screenshot of how I manage my article writing workflow.
I am able to use tags to keep track of the article status and ownership and also sort the data based on the deadline, ownership and status of the article. I also had the table configured to remove published items from the table view.
I am currently researching ways to improve my blogging workflow using Notion API. I am open to recommendations and collaboration, please.
Wrap Up
That is a quick overall of how I use Notion in my workflow as a developer. I hope you are able to get new ideas from my workflow and able to find new ways to incorporate Notion into your workflow too.
Kindly share how you use Notion too so we have plenty of inspirations to choose from.
Let’s connect on Twitter, whatcha say?
Top comments (45)
I also wrote an article on how I used it: Designing my life's System
Woah, that is an intense article. I really like some of the quotes you shared. I saved some of them in my notetaking tool, AmpleNote.
Also, really nice blog and microblog. One suggestion I have for your blog is to make a light mode (light background, dark font). The white text on black background was a little harsh for my eyes. But I am willing to sacrifice because you have some interesting articles!
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it! Implementing the light mode is in my "backlog" of things I need to do for my website. I hope I can get it done soon, a lot of people are like you who likes to read in light mode.
And that's nice you keep reading it even tho it's hard for you, thanks!
Hi @z2lai, I had some time to work on the light mode version. Still experimenting that before deploying to production. Let me know if you have some time to test it.
Hey, the light mode is much easier on the eyes than the dark mode. I think the other main thing was the high contrast between black and white. I've seen UX tips about using grey instead of black on white background to make the text easier on the eyes. Try using #333333 instead of black, here's an example: adhamdannaway.com/about
Applied the #333. It's in production now. Happy "light mode" reading!
It's beautiful!
That's insightful 👍
Very insightful. Thanks for sharing
That article looks very strong and motivational and I am sure that it will help me to build a certain habit. You have done some extraordinary work, while writing this article.
Increases your knowlage
I use notion but after reading this article, I feel like I’ve been using it the wrong way haha.
Thanks for sharing this :)
I'd like to know how you use Notion too.
I may be able to learn new things.
I love Notion! If you ever decide to dive into the world of Notion API integrations, I strongly recommend Pipedream – it's open-source, a LOT less restrictive than the other options I've found, and you can write your custom API calls straight into their deployed flows.
Bookmarked the documentation. I'll check it out later ❤️
I wonder where you publish the article and how you publish it. If it publishes in dev.to, I wonder if the markdown is compatible. I never try it before.
I publish to Hashnode and Dev.to.
The markdown is compatible but I have to manually copy between platforms. I am currently looking for ways to automate this process.
Cool. I think I will try your blogging workflow. Interesting way.
For automating the process, I think we will need to use the notion API and dev.to API. Also, will need a scheduled job to take the blog data from the notion.
Great! I look for to hearing how the workflow works for you.
Do you plan to work on connecting notion API to Dev.to API?
I remember using Notion at a previous workplace. Back then I always found coda.io more intriguing. Is Notion notably better than other such tools today?
I have not tried coda.io before but I think every tools have their pros and cons over different use case.
Obsidian.md graph view feaure is awesome to many but really requires extra effort from me which acts like a distraction sometimes.
And I have always have a drama with Notion. I install, use that for 2-3 days, and uninstall. Repeat every couple of weeks may be.. haha.. I don't no why : (
You can create a dashboard like I did. It may encourage ideas on how you can integrate Notion to your daily workflow.
Sure, Actually I feel distraction while working on Notion. I inspired to use that whenever I read a post like you posted. But again go back to Obsidian, my day to day tool.
Thank you for sharing this. I have not used notion, this is a big call to check it out.
You will find it productive
I have started using Notion recently as well.
I am still in the exploration zone, but I surely can tell that it's gonna be useful for me in the long run.
Have fun exploring Notion!
Check out Potion.so for bloggers looking to quickly turn Notion to blog website! Great post!
Awesome Bro
Thanks
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