“Pay attention to what has your attention” – David Allen

Self-management is a critical meta-skill if you want to succeed as Change-Maker! Especially as a freelancer, you have to juggle multiple projects, clients, and ideas all at once, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Finding a system to deal with that complexity was a game changer for me, and I’d love to share the tools I’ve discovered with you. In this Meta-Skill post, we’ll explore the powerful combination of the “Getting Things Done” method and the app “Notion.” I can’t stress enough how crucial this is. I’ve already convinced many people to use this system, and I’m sure it’ll make a difference for you too!

Capture Everything to Become Calmer

When I first started freelancing as a facilitator, my schedule filled up quickly. As my calendar and notebooks piled up, so did my sense of overwhelm. But I found that tracking everything actually made me calmer. I remember one night, heading home, feeling like I couldn’t cope anymore. I had a multi-day training coming up and still needed to prepare for several other gigs. Feeling lost, I pulled out my phone to get an overview. First, I looked at my calendar and scrolled through the coming weeks. Just seeing that I had time between commitments calmed me down. Then, I checked my task management app, where my tasks were organized by project. That grounded me even more—I hadn’t forgotten anything! Finally, I opened my note-taking app and saw all the relevant information was neatly stored. My heart rate slowed, and I could finally breathe. Even though I still had a lot on my plate, I knew I could handle it. That experience kickstarted my journey into mastering self-management. Until then, I’d only been using self-invented systems, but I knew I needed to dive deeper into learning this skill to grow my business and never feel that lost again.

I soon discovered Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen, which remains foundational for self-management. While the topic is vast, I’ll just highlight the essentials here. The core idea of GTD is to capture and organize everything that crosses your path—whether it’s a meeting, a to-do, or important info to remember. GTD has 5 basic steps, but I’ve simplified them into 3:

1. Capture Everything: Write down every task and piece of information in a central storage 
2. Organise: Process and Review every piece in your GTD System
3. Engage: Act on the items using focus tools like Pomodoro

I’ll keep the details brief here, focusing on how combining GTD with Notion can completely transform your productivity. If you want to read more on the topic I recommend you reading the book or online summaries like this one! 

Have It All in One Place
Think of your brain like a computer. It’s designed to handle a lot of information, but if too many tabs, folders, and programs are running at once, the system slows down. The same goes for your mind. You don’t need to hold everything in your head. Freeing up your working memory lets you focus better and feel calmer. Most of us have at least some system in place, like a calendar to track appointments, but for many, adding more systems feels overwhelming. And having too many apps is also confusing. That’s where I was—semi-overloaded with basic self-management—until I discovered Notion.

A key principle of GTD is “Have it all in one place.” Notion is a game changer because it combines task management and note-taking in one tool. It sounds simple, but trust me, it’s revolutionary. Watch the video for an introduction, and at the end of the post, I’ve attached a Notion template you can download and use to get started.

Notion is a Game Changer
I can’t stress enough how effective Notion is—it completely changed the way I organize myself, making me hyper-productive. I’ve introduced it to many friends, and they’ve said the same. I even know companies using Notion for knowledge management. And no, I’m not being paid by Notion to say this—I just really love the tool, and there’s a huge online community that agrees. It’s free for individuals and open-source. So please, give it a try, combine it with the GTD method, and watch your working memory clear up—freeing you to be more creative!

So, download the Notion template, start using it, and see how it calms your mind and boosts your productivity.