Who's this? You are receiving this newsletter from me because you signed up for the newsletter a while back or you bought a template from me, your friendly Systems Wizard. This includes free downloads via Gumroad.

Hello Reader,

We had a huge rainstorm this weekend. 60+ mm of rain in about 6 hours 😱

This means our internet at home is now broken.

Oh, how I wish Notion offline features were already up and running. That won't be until next year though.

Until then I just have to find a nice cafe to work from. And apologise for sending this a tad bit later than usual.

Let's get to it. Here's what happened during the week of November 11, 2024:

📣 The week's Notion updates

No new "official " updates this week. But last week I forgot to tell you about a change in the colours and highlighter options so that the display is more compact:

Also, Notion has just joined Bsky. Find them here.​

🎞️ This week's YouTube videos

​I wish every Notion user would watch this by Jeff Su (13 minutes)

This video is packed with useful tips. Super simple, but big-impact tips like:

• Putting notes for recurring meetings in a toggle
• Use the "find" function, even if the toggles are all closed
• Setting naming conventions to find things faster
• Using AI to make the most of the info already in your workspace and specific to your preferences
• Three ways to user buttons (update status, create page and recurring tasks)
• And more...

It does feel a bit all over the place (one tip doesn't always lead to the next naturally), but there's some good stuff in there. It's short. Just watch it.

​12+ NEW Shortcuts from YOU: Notion, List to Reminders, Screenshot Markup, GPT Writing Tools by Stephen Robler (17 minutes)

Last week Notion announced new Apple shortcuts. This video shows you how they work. Forward to 7:40 for the Notion updates.

​This Fixes One of My Biggest Problems With Notion by Thomas Frank (21 minutes)

All about layouts and how to use every single function to make your databases look even better than before. A little trick I learned that makes the side pannel work better is using Command + Shift to open and close them.

​How I Use Notion: Tutorial for Beginners by Luke Barousse (33 minutes)

There are plenty of beginner tutorials, but because of the speed at which Notion changes, it's worth looking at recently made ones. This one includes AI features as well as sharing to the web (with the settings for Notion Sites).

​Holiday Planner Set Up (Step-by-Step, Stress-Free Holidays) | Notion, Akiflow, etc., by Caitlin's Corner (13 minutes)

The holidays are fast approaching. Or, as we call it here in Australia, "the silly season". I loved seeing how Akiflow can help to time-block and about half-way through, Caitlin demos how she builds a Notion database to track gift buying.

🎙️ Podcasts worth a listen

​The Secret Behind Notion's Success Story, unBlocked by Matthias Frank(47 minutes)

This is a great inside look at the community-building efforts at Notion. Francisco Cruz Mendoza (who onboarded me as an Ambassador) talks about his journey at Notion. My favourite quote when asked what he does:

Remember, you can catch all past episodes I've shared via this newsletter on this playlist.

💬 Popular conversations on Reddit

• ​Wait did you guys know we can use animated SVG in Notion? I’m loving it​
• ​Automate Your Notion + Apple Calendar/Reminders Workflow!​
• ​Is Obsidian really a Notion replacement?​
• ​Switching from Todoist to Notion: Is it worth it for quick task capturing?​
• ​Free Matrix Animation Widget for Notion​​

📇 Articles published last week

​Meet the Millennial Founder Who Built a $10 Billion Startup On an Ancient Philosophy: 'There's No Better System Than Nature', BY Jason Feifer (Entrepreneur.com)

Part "here's the story of Notion", part "here's how Ivan Zaho thinks". This article shows the thinking (or philosophy, as the title says) behind the building and growth of Notion.

A thing I learned that I don't think I could deal with, with the same amount of zen, is the countless notifications he chooses to receive about every single ticket that comes through. It makes sense when he explains it and shows his dedication to building a tool with the best customer service possible.

​Storing 200 Billion Entities: Notion’s Data Lake Project by ByteByteGo Newsletter

Curious to understand how much information Notion has to manage every single day to keep our data secure (and to gear up for an offline mode)? This explains the very backend of Notion, and woah, it's a lot!

​I Was Wrong About Notion, Here’s Why… by Dom Kwolczak (via his website - no paywall)

Yes, I mentioned this article last week, but it was behind the Medium Paywall. You can read it for free on Dom's site. You're welcome!

📆 Upcoming events

• ​Mastering Digital Workflows: Notion for Product Designers, with me! for the San Francisco UXD community (THIS Friday, November 22, 10:30 am AEST, it's a free event)
• ​Virtual Workshop: How to Structure your Startup Data Room by Puzzle and Notion (Friday, November 22, 11:30 am PT, Free)
• All other Notion community events like in-person meetups are listed here​