how to stay organised (for normal people)

I wasn't sure about writing about this.

But there’s a lot of noise out there in the productivity world. I want to make this easy to understand AND implement.

I don’t care about the latest tech. Just things that help me do better. And help you do better.

To organise my life, my brain, my work, my clients, and my side hustles I use this:

Notion

If you already use this, that's great. I can show you a new way to use it. If you don't use it or have never heard of it - take a seat. I don't want you to faint when I explain how this will change your life.

It'll help you get organised, feel better about it, and be able to keep up with YOUR own life. Not the Kardashians.

This might be what your life looks like right now. Your 'notes' on your phone are overflowing. You usually forget things you talk about with important people. You don't remember things from half the books you've read. And you don't know what to do about any of it.

Let me solve this for you.

1. Download notion. (1 min)

You can use this as a desktop app and obviously on your phone. Get both. It's free. I'm not getting paid to share this with you.

2. Choose (1-20 mins)

You can start using it right away and figure it out as you go (like I did), or dive into the tutorial videos on YouTube.

If you have time, do the latter. If you don't have time, download it and start with #3.

3. Create a page called CAPTURE EVERYTHING (2 mins)

Put this as a widget on your phone.

This will be your place to capture everything. And I mean EVERYTHING.

Need to remember to thank someone? Write it here.

Found a quote you want to share? Put it in here.

Thought of a new project you want to investigate? Put it in here.

Need to pick up your kids from school? Don't put it in here.

It's not a calendar - it's a place for your thoughts to return to and ACTION later.

My 'capture everything' is full of useful things I've learned from podcasts and books that I need to sort out and organise. It's got a recipe, a podcast recommendation from a friend, a draft LinkedIn post. I've got a few 'put this in the calendar' type things. It's a mess.

And that's fine.

It's meant to be a mess. The problem you've solved is your captured everything. You're already ahead of where you were before.

4. Based on what's in your 'capture everything' area, you'll want to store stuff for later. (10 mins/day)

For me, this is stuff I'm working on for the book.

When I have an idea, I write it here, then I file it away in a 'book' folder.

My 'book folder' has a a lot more in it. Name ideas, chapters, structure ideas, notes from famous authors, quotes, marketing ideas, and everything else.

Over time, you'll have more folders too.

Start by capturing everything. When you start organising the things you captured, you'll begin creating places for this stuff you don't want to lose.

I’ll share more on this later, if you like.

5. Don’t worry about synching things (0 mins)

Everything is synced automatically. You can write on your laptop and it'll be on your phone, and vice versa. It's foolproof.

6. Share whatever you want (<1 min)

One of my friends is getting married next year and he asked me for a list of suppliers we used for our wedding. I already had a list in Notion so I just shared it with him. You can 'share' and 'publish' the page.

Viola, you have a web page.

I also did this for a script I wrote for marketing. I shared it with the company and they updated it, added comments and gave me feedback. Plus everyone thinks you're a genius for sharing links like that.

7. Make it easy to access your main pages

As you can see in the photo - I have widgets. I write every day so I capture ideas into my 'blog' area. I like to tell stories as part of my customer interactions and sales - so I keep the stories I've learned in that area. More on this later if you want. And of course, I have the 'Capture everything' on my screen.

For you, it could be anything.

If you're studying - you can have a space for your course and notes directly on your main page. If you're planning a life event like a wedding - that can be something you have on the page.

If you work with clients - this can be your client notes.

It can be anything you want.

8. Just start using it.

You’ll get to a point where it’s overwhelming the number of things you have in there. That’s okay. It means you need to learn more. And there’s so much more to learn.

Like I said, I’m a simple guy. This is a simple user manual.

If you want to dive deeper, go to their Youtube page.

What I’ve covered here will cover 80% of your needs.

QUESTION FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT:

"Would your life be better or worse if you were more organised?"

Hypothetically yours,

Harry

P.S. If you enjoyed this, share it. And I hope you do enjoy.