The Most Powerful Productivity App I Use - Notion

Summary

This video script offers an in-depth exploration of Notion, a versatile all-in-one workspace app. The creator shares personal insights on using Notion for project management, particularly for tracking YouTube video projects. Highlighting advanced features like databases, templates, relations, and roll-ups, the script demonstrates how these can streamline workflows. The video also showcases a custom project tracker template, illustrating Notion's potential to improve productivity and organization in content creation.

Takeaways

• 📝 Notion is a highly versatile all-in-one workspace that can be used for note-taking, creating databases, checklists, and more.
• 🔗 Notion's linking feature allows documents to connect with each other, enhancing the organization and accessibility of information.
• 📈 The video project tracker is a template and database that the speaker has developed to streamline the video production process.
• 📊 Notion's database feature is akin to Excel spreadsheets but offers more flexibility with multiple viewing options like Kanban and calendar views.
• 📑 The templating feature in Notion is a powerful tool that, when combined with databases, allows for the creation of unique and efficient workflows.
• 🔄 Relations and roll-ups are advanced Notion features that enable databases to be interconnected, providing a comprehensive view of related data.
• 🎬 The speaker uses Notion to manage video projects from ideation to publishing, including tracking B-roll, sponsors, and editing tasks.
• 📝 Notion can be used to create and manage detailed checklists for various stages of a project, ensuring nothing is overlooked.
• 📐 The use of filters and sorts in Notion databases allows for dynamic and customized views, tailored to specific needs or queries.
• 📚 The script describes a detailed example of how Notion can be used to organize and execute a video project, from concept to post-production.
• 💡 The video also touches on the importance of continuously seeking better ways to do things and the value of learning and adapting new tools and ideas.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of Notion according to the video?

Notion is described as an all-in-one workspace that defies traditional categorization due to its flexibility and ability to be used for various tasks such as note-taking, creating databases, checklists, and more.

How does the video creator use Notion for their YouTube video projects?

The creator uses Notion as a project tracker and planner for their YouTube videos, which includes a template and database to keep track of all aspects of video production in one place.

What are the three advanced features of Notion discussed in the video?

The three advanced features discussed are the database feature with multiple views like Kanban and calendar, the templating feature, and the relations and roll-ups features that allow databases to be connected to each other.

How does the database feature in Notion differ from a traditional spreadsheet?

In Notion, each row in a database is its own page where you can include various elements like text, other databases, and more. This makes it more flexible than a traditional spreadsheet which is limited to tabular data.

What is the benefit of using templates in Notion as highlighted in the video?

Templates in Notion allow the creator to standardize the structure of pages, making it efficient to create new pages for different video projects with pre-defined sections and checklists, ensuring consistency and completeness.

How does the video creator organize the status of their video projects in Notion?

The creator organizes the status of their video projects using different views in Notion, such as an Excel spreadsheet view, a Kanban view for tracking project stages, and a calendar view for editorial planning.

What is the role of the 'Relations' feature in Notion as explained in the video?

The 'Relations' feature allows the creator to link two databases together, enabling them to associate specific information, such as sponsor details, with individual video projects within the database.

How does the 'Roll-ups' feature help in tracking the number of spots done for each sponsor?

The 'Roll-ups' feature uses existing relations to perform calculations, such as counting how many times a sponsor is mentioned across different projects, to provide a summary count of video spots done for each sponsor.

What is the significance of being able to filter and sort databases in Notion on-the-fly?

The ability to filter and sort databases dynamically allows the creator to quickly find and view information relevant to specific needs, such as all videos sponsored by a particular company or those in a certain stage of production.

How does the video creator use the B-roll list within Notion to improve video production efficiency?

The B-roll list is a nested database within a database that allows the creator to organize, categorize, and track the status of B-roll footage needed for videos, which helps in planning and executing the gathering of B-roll more efficiently.

What is the advantage of using Notion over other apps for the video creator's workflow?

Notion offers a more integrated and flexible system that combines various features like databases, templates, relations, and roll-ups, which allows the creator to manage all aspects of video production in one place, improving efficiency and organization compared to using multiple separate apps.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Introduction to Notion's Versatility

The speaker introduces Notion as a highly requested app due to its extensive capabilities, describing it as an all-in-one workspace that defies traditional categorization. Notion's flexibility allows users to employ it for various tasks such as note-taking with a markdown system, creating databases, checklists, habit trackers, calendars, and to-do lists. The speaker expresses the challenge of covering Notion's features in a single video, opting to showcase their personal use of Notion, specifically their YouTube video project tracker, a template and database that has streamlined their production process, replacing the previously inefficient use of multiple apps.

05:01

📚 Demonstrating Notion's Advanced Features

The speaker discusses the decision to focus on their YouTube video project tracker within Notion, highlighting three advanced features: databases, templates, and the connectivity between databases through relations and roll-ups. They describe the project tracker as a template and database built over a year, which has become indispensable in their production process. The databases in Notion are likened to Excel spreadsheets but with more flexibility, offering different views like Kanban and calendar views. The speaker also emphasizes the templating feature as their favorite, allowing for unique capabilities when combined with databases.

10:04

🔍 In-Depth Look at the Video Project Tracker

The video script provides an in-depth look at the video project tracker, starting with its appearance similar to an Excel spreadsheet but with the functionality of a database where each row is a separate page. The speaker explains how they use templates to create new video projects with predefined information, and how the status of videos can be tracked using different views. They also detail the customization options available for each view, including filters, sorts, and the ability to show or hide properties, as well as the creation of new fields for additional information.

15:07

🎥 Utilizing Templates and Nested Databases for Video Production

The speaker elaborates on the use of templates within Notion, showcasing how they create a comprehensive project template for their videos, which includes a second nested database. They discuss the process of adding new videos to the project tracker using templates, and how they manage the status, editor assignments, and other fields specific to each video project. The script also covers the organization of B-roll ideas and how Notion's system allows for efficient video production by batching similar tasks together.

20:07

📝 Streamlining Video Editing with Notion's Organizational Power

The speaker continues to describe how they use Notion to streamline the video editing process, including the use of a B-roll list that is a database within a database, allowing for efficient gathering and checking of B-roll items. They explain the use of tags and gatherers to categorize and assign tasks, and how different views can be used to filter and sort tasks based on their status, such as items that need to be fixed or those that require editing in Premiere Pro or After Effects.

25:09

🔗 Leveraging Relations and Roll-ups for Sponsor Management

The speaker introduces the concepts of relations and roll-ups in Notion, demonstrating how they created a sponsor list database and related it to the video project tracker. This allows for detailed sponsor information to be linked to specific video projects, streamlining the management of sponsor details and talking points. They also show how roll-ups can be used to count the number of video spots done for each sponsor, providing a simple way to track collaboration metrics.

🌟 Embracing Curiosity and Continuous Learning

In the final part of the script, the speaker reflects on their philosophy of always seeking better ways to do things and the importance of continuous learning. They share their experience with Notion as an example of how curiosity and exploration can lead to significant improvements in workflow and productivity. The speaker also promotes CuriosityStream and Nebula as platforms for educational content, highlighting the benefits of ad-free streaming and exclusive series, and encourages viewers to support these platforms.

📺 Conclusion and Call to Action

The speaker concludes the video by thanking CuriosityStream for sponsoring the episode and supporting the creation of educational content. They invite viewers to try CuriosityStream and Nebula, and to support the channel by liking the video, subscribing for new content, or downloading a free book on improving grades. The speaker also playfully encourages viewers to interact with the video and look forward to future content.

Keywords

💡Notion

Notion is an all-in-one workspace tool designed for note-taking, project management, and database creation. It is highly flexible and defies traditional categorization. In the video, the creator uses Notion as a central hub for their video production process, highlighting its capabilities for organization and efficiency.

💡Database

In the context of Notion, a database is a powerful tool that allows users to create and manage structured data, resembling an Excel spreadsheet but with more flexibility. The video demonstrates how databases can be manipulated in various views such as Kanban and calendar view, and used to track video projects.

💡Template

Templates in Notion are pre-designed pages that can be used repeatedly to create new pages with the same structure and content. The script mentions the use of templates to streamline the creation of new video projects, ensuring consistency and efficiency in the workflow.

💡Kanban view

Kanban view is one of the ways to visualize a Notion database, often used for project management. It allows users to see tasks or projects as cards that can be moved between different stages of completion. In the video, the creator uses the Kanban view to track the status of their video projects.

💡Relation

Relations in Notion are used to link entries between two databases, creating a dynamic connection that can be used to reference or aggregate information. The script describes how relations are used to connect video projects with their respective sponsors, centralizing sponsor details for easy access.

💡Roll-up

Roll-ups in Notion are a feature that allows users to aggregate data from related entries in another database. The video script uses roll-ups to count the number of video spots done for each sponsor, providing a quick overview of completed projects.

💡Hybrid markdown system

Notion's hybrid markdown system refers to its ability to support markdown formatting within the tool, allowing for rich text editing alongside other content. The video mentions this feature as part of Notion's flexibility for note-taking and document creation.

💡Checklists

Checklists in Notion are a way to create lists of tasks or items to be completed. The script describes how checklists are used within the video project template to ensure all steps in the video production and publishing process are accounted for.

💡Status

Status in the context of the video refers to the progress or current stage of a video project as tracked within the Notion database. The creator uses status to filter and sort their projects, providing visibility into what needs to be done or has been completed.

💡CSV merge

Merging with a CSV file in Notion allows users to import data from a comma-separated values file into a Notion database. The script describes using this feature to import B-roll ideas from Frame.io into Notion, streamlining the video production process.

💡B-roll

B-roll refers to supplementary footage used in video production, often to provide context or to illustrate points made in the main footage (A-roll). The video script discusses how Notion is used to organize and track B-roll gathering and integration into video projects.

Highlights

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that defies traditional categorization due to its flexibility and wide range of uses.

Notion can be used as a note-taker with a hybrid markdown system and supports linking within documents to other documents.

Users can create databases, checklists, habit trackers, calendars, and to-do lists within Notion.

The presenter's YouTube video project tracker is a template and database built in Notion to streamline video production.

The project tracker consolidates previously disparate apps into a single, efficient tool for video production management.

Notion's database feature is likened to an Excel Spreadsheet but with more flexibility and different viewing options like Kanban and calendar views.

The templating feature in Notion, combined with databases, allows for unique functionalities not found in other apps.

Relations and roll-ups are advanced Notion features that connect databases and summarize data, respectively.

Every row in a Notion database is its own page, allowing for extensive customization and inclusion of other databases.

Templates in Notion can be created and applied to new rows in a database, pre-populating them with necessary information.

Notion's views can be customized with filters, sorts, and groupings, allowing for tailored perspectives on data.

The presenter uses Notion for tracking video project status, including sponsors, publishing dates, and editing assignments.

Notion can be used to organize video B-roll gathering and editing processes, increasing efficiency in video production.

The B-roll list within Notion demonstrates a nested database, showing how complex data structures can be managed.

CSV files can be merged with Notion databases to import and organize data efficiently.

Notion's system has been a significant productivity boost for the presenter's video-making process.

CuriosityStream is highlighted as a sponsor that also uses Notion, integrating their up-to-date talking points within the platform.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to try CuriosityStream, supporting the channel and educational content creation.

Transcripts

- So, by far, the app that I get the most requests

from you guys to cover is Notion.

And I would say that that's for a pretty good reason

since Notion can do a heck of a lot.

So they built Notion as an all-in-one workspace

and I would say that that is a pretty accurate description

since Notion really defies traditional categorization.

That's because you can do so much with this tool.

It's incredibly flexible.

You can use it as a note-taker,

it has this beautiful hybrid markdown system,

you can also link within documents to other documents,

you can create databases, you can create checklists,

people built habit trackers and calendars and to-do lists,

all kinds of stuff in Notion.

And because of that, I found it challenging

to really hone in on what I wanted to cover

for my first Notion video

because we could have gone into the nitty gritty

and I could have showed you how to start creating pages,

but a lot of other people have done videos

that sort of do that,

and I will link to a couple in the description down below

if you're curious.

So what I wanna do in this video instead

is show you how I use Notion.

And in particular, I'm gonna show you

my YouTube video project tracker.

This is a template and database

that I've been building over the past year

which has become really an indispensable tool

in my production process.

Before I built this, we were using a hodgepodge

of different apps to make sure

that everything that needed to be done for a video

was actually done, and it was pretty inefficient.

But now that we have this project planner and tracker,

we are able to do everything in one place

and everyone has access to the information that they need,

and there are also a lot of efficiency gains

because of the different features that Notion offers us.

So I'm gonna guide you through

how I've built this and how it works,

and in the process, you're gonna learn

about three of the more advanced

and I think more useful features of Notion

which are the database feature.

And in Notion, databases,

by default look like Excel Spreadsheets

but they're much more flexible,

you can actually look at them in different views

such as Kanban view and calendar view.

We're also gonna talk about the templating feature

which is my favorite feature in Notion,

and combined with the database feature,

allows Notion to do things that no other app can do,

at least that I have come across,

and finally, we're gonna talk about a couple of features

that allow databases to be connected to each other

which are called relations and roll-ups.

So let's get into the project tracker

and I'll show you how it works.

Okay, so here we are looking at my video project tracker.

And at first glance,

this looks kind of like an Excel spreadsheet.

We have columns with different types

of information in there,

but the cool thing about Notion

is that a database here really is a database.

It isn't just a spreadsheet of information,

though you can do some spreadsheet-y things,

but every single row here is actually its own page

and within these pages,

you can put whatever you want including other databases.

So this can get really, really powerful.

I'm gonna show you how these pages within databases

and how the templates you can create

can be really, really powerful in combination.

So first, I'll just give you an overview

of how this works itself.

We have the title of the video.

So whenever I come about the video and I'm like,

yes, we are going to do this video, it is on the schedule,

I will add it to this database here.

Now, I could go down here and just add a new video.

So How to Tame Llamas.

But if I do that, I'm just going to have a blank page.

And if I wanted a blank page,

that would be great, but I don't.

I want all this really cool information.

So instead, what I like to do is go up to here

and we can choose templates,

and we can actually build templates that we can then add

as a new row to our database.

So I've already created project template,

I'll show you how this looks on the inside

a little bit later but let's just go ahead and create it,

and we'll go with the same exact video: How to Tame Llamas.

And now, we have a bunch of interesting stuff in here

that I'm gonna get to in a second.

But we also have it here.

I've also defined the template

to automatically give it a video number of 999,

so because of the sort of this view on the database

which is going by descending and video number,

it's going to be immediately at the top

and that's very useful

since it's most likely going to be

the next video that's coming out

or at least something that is coming out in the future

unlike everything else here.

From there, I can change all my values.

So let's just say this is video 177.

This isn't actually coming out in the channel.

I'm sorry if you wanted to see me tame llamas.

I don't have access to a llama farm,

so get me access to a llama farm and maybe we can talk.

We can also come in here and add other things.

So status is very interesting.

The great thing about Notion databases

is that you're not limited to just this one type of view.

You can have this Excel spreadsheet type view,

or you can have what's called a Kanban view.

This is very much like Trello where you can move cards

between different stages of a project

and this can help you really track the project's status

and see where it is and how close it is to completion.

Or let's say you're running an editorial calendar,

you wanna see when all of your videos are coming out.

You can have a calendar view.

And the great thing about these views

is that they all operate independently

in the properties that you can show and not show,

and the filters and sorts that you can define.

So here on All Videos,

we have a filter where if the status is not started,

I'm not showing it,

and we have a sort where video number is descending.

But if we go over to status view,

we can actually do different things,

where our filter is things

that I have not checked the publish box on

and then we also have the status filter,

and we can also group by status,

we can show and hide certain properties.

So let's say I wanna see the sponsor on status view,

I can do that and it's going to show up here and here.

But on status view, I'm just interested in seeing

what projects are on the writing stage,

what projects are in the A-roll editing stage.

The sponsor is not really relevant to that

so I can go ahead and disable it there.

Same with calendar,

I'm only interested in seeing

when are these videos scheduled to come out.

But on all videos,

we can also go through and define things,

so let's just say this video is coming out October 4th,

the sponsor, I'm like, I have a llama-related sponsor

so we will just go with Fender, that would be cool,

and then we can set an editor.

So usually, Tony edits my videos.

He will be editing this one

so I'm setting him as the editor here as well.

And then we have some other fields that I have created.

Now note, you can create any field you want here.

So if I wanted to, I can add an extra field.

It could be a text, it could be a number,

it could be a select,

multi-select person for assigning people,

we could actually upload pictures or attach files,

add check boxes, all kinds of really cool stuff

including these relations and roll-ups

that I'll tell you about a little bit later.

But for now, I have every single field that I want here.

And later on, when the video is actually published,

we'll have the time to check the publish box,

the monetization box, URL box, all those things.

But again, this is just the overview here

and this allows us to track the status of projects

to go back and refer to projects.

And the really nice thing

is you can create filters and sorts on-the-fly.

So let's just say for a second that I've got

a video sponsored by CuriosityStream coming up.

In fact, this video is sponsored by CuriosityStream.

I'll have that at the end.

But I want to see

how I edited previous CuriosityStream videos

or I need to know which folder on my computer

might have some special footage I took for that sponsor.

Well, I can go and I can create a filter and I can say,

and the sponsor contains CuriosityStream.

And boom, I've created a filter

that only shows in these videos

that are sponsored by CuriosityStream.

I could do videos that were published only in 2019,

videos that are only completed or only filming,

videos that only I edited.

This can be really, really useful

for going back and referring to things.

And when I talked about my file organization video,

I mentioned that all of my videos

are organized by their numbers.

So we have like 164-3, "Bad Productivity Tips".

That is somewhere in my computer

so if I need to remember,

all right, I took some footage of a llama or something

and I need to remember which folder it's in,

okay, I remember I did it

in that "3 Bad Productivity Tips" video,

I can refer to Notion here and see,

oh, that was video 164.

It's very easy for me to go

and find that folder on my computer.

So let's delete this filter here.

And let's talk about the actual template here

or what's inside.

And we're gonna use

the "How to Beat the Afternoon Slump" video

which was really recently published

because it has basically everything I wanna show you here.

So the first thing to note is,

number one, you can open these as pages.

They don't have to just be modals.

I also tend to favorite the projects

that I'm currently working on so

they show up here in my Favorites bar.

This one is done so I'm going to unfavorite it.

And the first thing you're gonna see here,

because this is a page that exists within a database,

you're gonna see all the properties

that are in the database in the regular view

which is kinda nice because if you want to,

you can set different things here, but you don't have to.

And then down here,

this is an area that is completely up to you.

So this is the project template

that I have been working on and honing

and perfecting over the past year,

and we have a lot of different information here.

The most prominent thing

is probably the second database here

but we're gonna get into that in a second

'cause it's pretty complicated.

We also have a toggle switch which is pretty cool.

So I can put title ideas in here,

often bold the one that I think is the best.

We can put keywords in here,

we can put sponsor information if we needed to,

and this is something I really like.

So I am defining templates here and I'm generating them

every single time I'm making a new video.

So every single time I have a new video project,

I get new checklists.

And for publishing, we have all these checklists.

So this just reminds me to do all the little things involved

with uploading and publishing a video

that I might forget to do

if I was just trying to do them from memory,

so things like adding resource links to the description,

setting the video's recording date,

adding the caption file when I order it,

post-publishing things like sharing it to Instagram

or answering some initial comments.

I will always check these things off.

It's very, very useful.

I also have, so a content area here.

We have a page where we can dump research and notes.

I will mention that I don't use Notion as a note-taker.

I tend to write my videos in Evernote.

When Martin writes videos for me,

he will write them in Google Drive.

So we don't usually have research

and notes sitting in Notion,

but I do like having this in the template

just in case I'm in Notion

and I just need to throw something in there

really, really quickly

and I don't want to gunk up the script area.

So the script area is very important.

Even though I write videos in Evernote

and Martin writes them in Google Drive,

we want them in Notion because the video project tracker

should be the one resource for editors to go to,

for writers to go to.

Anybody who's working on the video should know

if there's something about a video,

whether it's the sponsor or whether it's the script,

it's going to be here.

So whoever wrote the script,

we paste it into the Notion project.

And then I actually have a music stand with my iPad

and I have Notion open so while I'm filming,

I will have the script in Notion next to me.

I don't tend to use a teleprompter.

I might start using that a little bit more in the future

but usually, I just will look at the script on my iPad,

memorize a line, say it to the camera,

and then go on and on and on until I'm done with the video.

So that's useful.

I've got some links to some useful resources.

So I use this CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

to help me brainstorm lots of interesting titles.

Thumbs Up is a great tool for making sure

that thumbnails look good at small sizes.

But the real benefit to this project tracker here

is this B-roll list.

And again, this is an example

of a database within a database

and that's incredibly helpful.

And, of course, just like with the other database,

we can open this as a page.

So this is the most advanced part of the template

and we've been able to do some really cool stuff up here.

So you can see, these are just ideas that we create.

So let me give you a bit of background

on how we make videos.

We will shoot the A-roll,

which is the talking head portion,

this portion that you're seeing right now,

beforehand for most videos.

I sit in front of the camera, I talk,

it might be half an hour of footage

because I mess up lines a lot,

and then my editor will cut it down

into what we call a draft A-roll cut.

So it may not be perfect but it's quite close

to what is eventually going to end up on YouTube

in terms of the length and the talking head parts.

From there, we will upload that to a tool called Frame.io

which lets you add comments at specific time stamps

for your video.

Now, a lot of people just use this for feedback,

like, hey, fix this, you left a llama in the shot,

we can't have that there,

but we use it for B-roll ideas.

So Tony and I walk and sit down together,

watch the video on Frame.io,

and put like, all right, let's have a clock

with three o'clock on it at the microwave.

How about scrolling through a to-do list on our computer?

And we'll get this time-stamped list of B-roll ideas.

From there, Frame.io actually lets you export these

as what's called a comma-separated values file or CSV file,

and the cool thing is in Notion,

you can go up here and you can merge with a CSV.

So you can merge an existing database with a CSV

and that's very, very useful.

So it does exactly what we do,

we will export the CSV file.

I'll actually put it into Google Sheets initially

so I can delete some of the more superfluous columns

that I don't need.

I'd just get the comment with the idea and the timestamp,

that's all I want, and then I will merge it here

where I have some existing columns

that are very, very useful.

So this is what comes in,

the B-roll description and the timestamp.

We also have tags, we have templates, we have gathers,

and I'll explain these really quick.

So the big thing with creating videos

is you wanna be as efficient as possible.

And when you're making B-roll,

there's different types of B-roll, right?

There's filmed B-roll,

so we might put a camera on a tripod

and film something maybe outside or up in the office,

we may do something on the overhead setup over there,

we might have to go into the computer and record the screen,

which I'm literally doing right now on Notion,

we might need to go get stock footage

from story blocks or a different website,

and these are all different kinds of tasks.

So when I bring in

this chronologically-ordered CSV file into Notion,

I'm gonna have things that maybe need to be filmed

and then there's gonna be the next thing in the video

that maybe needs to be a screen cast.

If I gather the B-roll in that order,

if I'm gonna go film something and then I get done with that

and then I go over to my computer

and I record something on the screen

and then I run back to my camera and I film that,

that's terribly inefficient.

Instead, I wanna know, all right,

what's every shot in the video that needs to be filmed?

Let me do all that first.

Then, let me move on to buying stock footage.

Then, let me move on to recording the screen.

So when this comes in here,

and actually, let me just show you how this works

'cause I can literally do it,

and this will also show you

how the templating system works as well

'cause this is a completed video.

So let's just go back to our YouTube project thing

and let's go to our "How to Tame Llamas" video.

And in here, we have nothing.

It's a blank slate,

it's ready for us to add tile ideas, all that good stuff,

but the B-roll list is completely empty.

So let's open that as a page

and then let's merge it with a CSV.

And I'm just gonna go ahead and merge it with the CSV

from the afternoon slump video

since I don't have B-roll ideas for this.

So we're merging in, and here we go.

So it's good to note that I have created this view

with a pre-populated sort criteria

which will sort by the timestamp column.

Otherwise, it could be in random order.

But otherwise, we don't have anything else in here

other than our other columns.

Now, I do wanna make a quick note here.

When you do this CSV merge,

you need to have at least one pre-existing row

in your database.

Otherwise, if you don't have that,

it's just an empty database, you bring in the CSV,

it is going to bring in its columns

and delete all of the other columns you have.

So by leaving in, I just have it as example,

by leaving this in, it will force the database

to keep these other columns

even though they don't exist in the CSV file.

Once that's done, I can actually delete them

and that's totally fine.

So here's what I do.

I go through all of my ideas, and I say, all right,

clock with three o'clock on it, that's film.

Various shots of me at the desk feeling tired, that's film.

And we would go through here

and we would do that for every single B-roll item.

So background, videoblocks.com,

I know that's stock footage.

So cool, stock footage, film these websites on an iPad Pro,

that's gonna be an overhead shot on the overhead setup,

and for this particular video,

if we go back to the actual project,

we filmed in many different locations.

So even categorizing with just film was not enough

because we had some that was gonna be done outside,

we had some that needed to be done in the kitchen.

So we actually, if we go to gather,

'cause like I said,

your views can have their own properties,

we added a location property.

So we had upstairs, office, kitchen, outside, downstairs,

and that was really helpful again for batching.

So back to our "How to Tame Llamas" example here,

I'm tagging things, I can set gatherers.

Usually, I only set myself as a gatherer

and this is to let my editor Tony know

that he cannot gather a specific piece of B-roll,

I have to do it myself,

and then we also have some check boxes over here.

So this is just for status.

We can go through and check,

this is gathered, this is gathered,

this is gathered, we're good to go, it's in the video.

So when Tony's editing,

he will just go line by line

checking things off until it's done.

We also have this premiere checkbox.

So we actually edit our videos

in a combination of Premiere Pro,

which is for actually editing video and After Effects

which is for doing all the animations and cool quote things

that you see coming up in many of our videos,

or like when little text box comes up from the bottom,

we do that in After Effects.

But again, we don't wanna be switching back and forth

between different programs.

We want to get everything done in one program if possible

and then move on to the next stage.

So we have a Premiere checkbox.

So we can say this needs to be done in Premiere,

maybe this doesn't, and that will help later on.

Now, again, you can create multiple

different database views in Notion.

So this one is chronological, it is ordered chronologically.

When it's time to gather B-roll,

we go over to Gather View

and this will order things by the tags we gave them.

So it's very, very easy

to just go through everything we need to film,

get that done,

go over to overhead, get that done, and so on.

Some other ones you can see in here, we have fixes.

So sometimes, I'll be watching

through the Frame.io cut that Tony did

and I'll see something that needs to be fixed

and all I do there is I'll tell him what to do

and then I'll add hashtag fix in the comment.

And then here, I have a filter

that says anything in the B-roll description

that contains hashtag fix will show up here.

That way, Tony can efficiently go through,

fix any issues we have,

and then get on to B-roll gathering.

And then we can go into Premiere.

So anything that had that Premiere checkbox

is going to show up here.

Anything that did not will not show up here,

so he can efficiently do everything

that needs to be done in Premiere all in one chunk

and then move on to After Effects

which is just filtered

by this does not have Premiere checked.

It's incredibly efficient.

So using this, you can get everything he needs to get done

and into the video as efficiently as possible.

So it's really, really helpful,

and using this entire template

has been an absolute boost to our productivity

in making videos.

So I've showed you

the combination of databases here, of templates.

If you wanna make your own template,

you can go to Templates,

you can create a new template.

So if you had a different kinda video you wanted to make,

one that maybe is a little simpler,

you could have a simpler template,

I am fine with my one template.

But it's very easy to create templates

and then add them into databases.

So let's talk about the last thing here

which is relations and roll-ups.

In the past, when I had sponsors on my videos,

which is pretty much always,

I would just have a tag that said which sponsor it was.

So CuriosityStream, Brilliant, it would just be a tag.

And that was fine.

It would tell me who was sponsoring the video

but if I wanted information,

what URL do I need to say on screen,

or what are the talking points?

I would have to go to an external system and refer to them

and that wasn't very efficient.

So I learned that in Notion,

you could do something called a relation

where you create a second database

and then you can relate it to the first one.

So I created a sponsor list.

And this is a list of every sponsor I've worked with.

This is, again, a database,

so I can go in here and I can literally see

all of the details for the sponsor.

And one of the nice things about Brilliant

is they actually use Notion,

so they have their most up-to-date talking points in Notion

which is pretty nice.

But I can grab YouTube description copy

for any new video, I can paste it in there,

I got the URL down here.

That's really, really nice.

But the big thing is here,

I can see how many spots I've done for every single sponsor

and the reason that I can do that

and the reason that you see the sponsor listed here

in the video project tracker

is that these two databases are linked

through what's called a relation.

So let me show you how you can actually make one.

You just create a new column,

and you're gonna set this column's type

to advanced and relation.

Then, you will select a database to work with.

So we're gonna go with projects and create the relation.

And then, we can actually select the video

for each sponsor,

or, in the other case, we can go back over to here

and now we have a new column that has been added

which is our new relation to that other database.

So if I have this video here,

I can easily add a sponsor onto it.

Again, we said it was Fender.

Let's just say we have a second sponsor

and it's SimpleContacts.

If we go back over here to our sponsor list

and we look at SimpleContacts, we have this listed.

Now, I don't wanna see the individual videos on this view.

I wanna see the number of spots I've done

and I wanna be able to click in and get the details.

So I can go to Properties here

and I can just hide that and I'm good to go.

So, again, every single view you have,

you can go in here and you can customize your properties.

And then a roll-up is kind of a simple thing.

So instead of creating a relation between two databases,

you are instead using a relation that already exists

to do something interesting.

So this roll-up right here

is just looking at the videos table.

The property doesn't matter

because all we're doing is counting any time

that one of these sponsors is mentioned,

and that allows us to get

the number of video spots we've done,

number of podcast spots we've done,

'cause we also have a podcast table.

It's very similar.

And then this is just a formula

that is adding these two columns together

to see how many spots I've done for each sponsor.

Now, one thing that I forgot to mention

before I moved on to relations and roll-ups

is that it's a good idea

to go and look at your templates often

to see if they need to be updated.

So let's actually do that right now

because I think there is something

in this template that I have to update.

So whenever you wanna update it,

you can edit your template.

We'll open it as a page.

It tells you you're editing a template in Projects.

You're not editing just a regular page in here,

and I can go in here and change whatever I want.

So one thing I know needs to be changed

is here on the publishing checklist,

we need to remove mark video as completed in Asana

because I don't use Asana anymore, I just use Notion.

So let's take that out there.

And now, every single time I create a new video project,

I'm not gonna have that annoying Asana checkbox,

I'm just gonna have everything I need.

And if I needed to add something to the process,

I would do the exact same thing, add it to my template.

Now, I will admit that the system I was using

before I started using Notion was pretty workable.

We were using a combination of Google Docs and Todoist

and we got videos done,

but because I got curious about Notion,

I started playing around with it, I started building things,

I ended up with a system that works a heck of a lot better

and that really reflects one of my core philosophies

when it comes to tools and learning.

I'm always looking for a better way to do things

because even if the way

I'm doing something now seems to work,

there's probably some kind of improvement that I could make

that would bring an unforeseen benefit.

And the exact same thing goes for just reading widely

and constantly exposing myself to new ideas

and trying to learn new things on a daily basis.

When you do this, you tend to combine ideas in your head

and find solutions that you would not

have otherwise came across.

And one great place to constantly push the boundaries

of your knowledge and expose yourself to new topics

while also having fun

and really enjoying what you're watching is CuriosityStream.

They have thousands of high-quality documentaries

that you can stream to basically any device you want,

be it your Roku device, your iPad,

your iPhone, your Android, your TV,

your computer, like right here,

I could watch a documentary on Stephen Hawking for example,

and they have long been

one of the best deals in online streaming as well.

Not only do they have a library

of some of the best educational content you're gonna find,

it's also only 20 bucks a year.

But now, CuriosityStream is actually

a better deal than it's ever been before

because when you sign up

for a yearly subscription at CuriosityStream

by going to CuriosityStream.com/Thomas,

you're also gonna get access

to a new streaming platform called Nebula for free.

And I was actually involved in the building of Nebula

and you're gonna find all of my content over there as well.

And one of the biggest benefits of Nebula

is that you get completely pre-roll

advertising-free content,

so no ads before you get to watch the content whatsoever,

and you're gonna find a ton

of your favorite content creators there.

From Wendover Productions, to Real Engineering,

to PolyMatter, CGP Grey, Lindsay Ellis,

and of course, me, and also my friend Devin from LegalEagle.

I do wanna give him a shout-out as well.

But the really big thing about Nebula

is we are doing exclusive series there

that probably aren't going to work as well on YouTube,

and that's kind of the point of Nebula.

It's a place for educational creators

to really push the boundaries

of the content they're creating

and to make things that might not work

given YouTube's algorithm.

So huge thanks to CuriosityStream

for not only sponsoring this episode

but also helping to make Nebula a possibility.

So if you really wanna support this channel

and you wanna support educational content creation,

you wanna support them,

definitely give CuriosityStream a try.

Beyond that, hopefully you enjoyed this video.

I know it was kind of a different video

and I got into some more advanced topics,

but a lot of you guys have been asking me about Notion.

Definitely ask me more questions about Notion

in the comments down below.

I would like to do more videos on it in the future,

and I wanna know what you are interested to see,

but I just wanted to kinda lead

with my favorite thing that I've developed in Notion

and the thing that really helps me and my workflow the most.

If you enjoyed this video,

a like is always appreciated,

and you can subscribe right there

if you wanna get new videos when they come out,

or click right there to get a free copy of my book

on how to earn better grades.

Last but not least, you can click right over here or here,

and they're probably gonna cover my face this time,

I don't really know where I am on the camera.

But there are gonna be more videos on this channel

and you should click them

or smash your face into your phone screen with your nose,

that also works, to watch them.

Anyway, thanks for watching

and I'll see you in the next one.