- So I'm kind of embarrassed to admit, I used to manage projects
like this in Notion. Over-complicated task list up top, random bits of important information spread out throughout the entire page and a very inefficient
way to use checklists here at the bottom. Pretty sure if Thomas Frank
saw this, he'd have a stroke. So in this video, I'll show
you how I turn this hot mess into this well organized beast. Using three very simple Notion features. I'll go through the specific example and share the templates
so you can follow along. Let's get started. All right, the example
I'll go through today is for planning a trip. Since that's something
we can all relate to but I'll also show legit
projects for work and life. So you can see that this
workflow applies to everything. I'll link, both the trip template and a more generic project
template down below. So check this out. This is what I call level one. I can see all my trips
in this table view here. And if I click into a trip, command enter to enter full screen, this is what I call level two. Where I can see all my trip milestones and all the tasks associated
with those milestones. Clicking into a milestone
and this is level three. I see only tasks attached
to this specific milestone here on the right, and adding a task here, automatically links this task
to this specific milestone. Don't worry, it's actually
simpler than it seems. I promise, I'll explain everything. Huh? I said the same thing to my ex. Just kidding. Just, just kidding. Going back to level one,
I have useful links here that includes information that
is relevant to all my trips. For example, ideas on places to visit. I also have the trips
database as a page here to remind myself. The table view here on
the right originates from this database. You'll see why this is
important in a little bit. Clicking into the marketing training trip, command enter full screen. I'm now on level two and
the useful links on the left now only include information
relevant to this specific trip as opposed to all trips, for
example, what I need to pack. And now there are two separate databases. The first is a milestones
database that corresponds to this top view and the task
database that corresponds to this bottom view. All right, so what the
hell are milestones. Each milestone represents the end result after a group of tasks are completed. For example, in order for me
to travel internationally, I need to first prepare
all my travel documents. Which involves renewing my passport, booking appointments online, submit information online and printing out confirmation
emails in the office. And only after all these
tasks are completed, can I mark this milestone as done Now, the problem is, it
doesn't make much sense to only see the tasks after clicking into the milestone page. And that's why I have the
task view on the same page as the milestones. Better yet, I usually
actually have the task list up top here. Whoa. So it's the first
thing I see when I click in. The first Notion feature
we need to talk about now is called relations. If I click on this property
with the arrow icon here in the task database, at a property you'll see that this is
a relation type property. It is related to the milestones database. And I also have chosen
to show the task database in the milestones database here. If that sounded confusing,
here's a drawing. All this feature does, is
connect two databases together through a property, which
makes perfect sense here because we need to complete one or more tasks for each milestone. Once that's set up, you can now
attach a task to a milestone in this property. For example, colleagues
and friends to see, this task right now it's empty and you can see for
personal tasks in Hong Kong, this is also currently empty. If I click in and I select
personal tasks in Hong Kong and click out, you can
see this is also reflected in the milestones database. Now, the second thing we
wanna do is to show the number of remaining tasks per milestone. So if you click into the
undone trip tasks property in the milestones database, you'll see that this is
a roll up type property. And if we click edit property,
we're simply rolling up the relation we created in step one. The property we want to
pull from the task database is simply the done or not check box. And we wanna calculate the
number of unchecked boxes. So the number of undone
tasks, and we click out. Step three, since the number by itself, isn't very meaningful. We can now add a formula type property. I already did it, but if you just click in and click edit property and edit formula, you can simply copy what I
have on screen right now. Just be careful to make sure
you have the property name here and here. Add it correctly to correspond
with your property title and click done. Now you can see the number of tasks left in a very user friendly way. At this point, I have
to give a huge shout out to Thomas Frank. Since I learned all this from
his Notion Database Video, that covers everything from
beginner to advanced tips. I'll link his video down below. Now onto the last step,
remember at the beginning of the video where I
showed you each milestone had a list of tasks attached
to that specific milestone, and I can add a task directly from here. We're gonna do that now, on level two, if you
click the dropdown menu under the milestones database you already a milestones template but let's create one together. New template, milestones template, new and command enter full screen,
full with header three, useful links, and let's make this yellow and then another header,
tasks and make this green. All right, so let's
shift this to the right and push this over a little bit. So the task has a little bit more space. Move this under useful
links and under task, let's forward slash, table view here and I'm gonna select
my trip tasks database, select the existing view we have. And I'm just gonna
clean this up in layout. Make sure the columns are not wrapped before proceeding to filters. The filter we're gonna create is called a self-referential filter. Sounds fancy. Don't worry about it too much
for now, just follow along. Filter, we're gonna select
the relation we created back in step one and
then we're gonna select the milestones template new, the template we're creating right now. Sounds weird, right? Don't worry about it too much. And then now you're gonna click back and for sort we're just
gonna simply select, due date ascending as
a default sort style. And then we can exit back
to the main milestones page. To see what we just did, click the personal tasks
in Hong Kong milestone and select the milestones
template new, we just created and you'll see command enter full screen. The corresponding task
appears automatically here and I can even add a personal
HK task directly in this view. So everything is now interconnected. That's pretty cool. To wrap this trip example up,
before and during the trip, whenever I realize I have to do something, I come into this trip
dashboard view, add a task, catch up with Jerry in New York City, select a due date for this and attach it to a milestone, like so. Pro tip, a huge benefit to this setup is relevant information is only
surfaced when you need it. For example, in my catch up
with Jerry New York city task, I remind myself, he's
staying in the Midtown area, I have to bring his present to lunch. I have to lock down a time
slot on both of our calendars. If you watch my simple
productivity system video, you know that the best practice
is to organize information by where it will be used. To prove this methodology
works for more than just trip planning. Here's how I'm managing
my website project, www.jeffsu.org, check it out. Information relevant to the
entire website here on the left. For example, meeting notes I take, when working with
freelancers and the databases on the bottom left, that
correspond to the task and milestone views on the right. If you end up using my
generic project template, you notice that under project database, I've already created a template for you, but you'll also notice that the relations and roll up properties are missing because something weird
happens to the naming when you make a duplicate in Notion. But honestly speaking,
that shouldn't affect you if you've been following along this video. Using another one of my
projects as an example, project number one, you want
to immediately change the names of the milestone and task databases, whenever you start a new
project, because you don't want to accidentally link project
A's milestone database with project B's task database. And project number two, you
can use the breadcrumb feature, for example, forward slash breadcrumb, to quickly navigate between the views. If you found this helpful, you might enjoy a video on,
how I plan my week in Notion. I share a template over there as well. See you on the next video, in the meantime, have a great one.