Free Relational Database Builder: Second sharpest tool in my toolbox sharpens the first!

[kauaicycler]

The first being my brain. The second is my knowledge base system. Like most of you here I have a system to keep track of various notes and documents I use for my life, work and family. This mostly consists of files and folders as well as bookmarks and services like pocket. The biggest drawbacks are remembering where I put what, things that belong in multiple places and being able to access my information when and where I need it. To some degree I've found tagging useful for items that belong in multiple locations but that always depends on where the information resides. I loved the web clipper feature of evernote, and I was an early adopter, but I stopped using it a while ago for reasons I can't remember.

My second tool just got sharper and actually works to sharpen my first. My new tool is a service called Notion. I wasn't looking for this but I discovered it during my morning news reading. Here's a quote from this review:

Notion is a workspace platform for organizing, processing and managing information, data, content, and media\files.

Notion combines the capabilities and features of several online tools like task management, note-taking, web clipping, spreadsheets, collaborative documents, databases, and more.

This tool is free for single users but charges for teams. As a retired web developer I am impressed by the elegance and ease of use in Notions user interface. With no programming knowledge users can create powerful applications using a relational database and markdown. No database or markdown experience is required. Notion has many tools to import and embed data from many services already and a new api is in the works.

I started to build a tool like this to manage my projects. I had multiple projects from multiple sources going on at the same time and I was getting tired of switching between projects and having to find all of my notes and files. So I started building a javascript based tool to run in my browsers. I soon got bored with this crude tool though and quit using it.

In researching this new tool I discovered this youtube playlist created by Notion user August Bradley. He doesn't really describe how to use the tool, he describes what he built with it and how you can too. The tools to build an application like his have been around if you're a software engineer but the real power comes from the end user. This is an example of what happens when you remove the engineer and let users create and refine whatever they want.

I've only discovered this recently and I'm currently implementing August Bradley's excellent LifeOS in the playlist above. I am so excited about this tool that I had to share it with this community. If you do nothing else today you need to check out this tool. You're future self will thank you.

Here's August Bradley's introduction to Notion
[youtube]J84HcdASXS8[/youtube]

 

[kauaicycler]

The talking head above uses Notion for his whole life so his system is complicated. You can use it for so many things, like his for his whole life, or create simple things like trip planners or recipe boxes.  You can create blogs, wikis and other "pages" that can be shared with the public or private people.

 

[John in CR]

Sounds like a replacement for some of the functions my "first tool" is already doing better, and which can only be sharpened with non-physical exercise. Incredible capacity, instant access, and automatic tagging and relational tagging...Trying to imitate what the brain already does better seems like a waste of time that would lead to making that first tool lazy and dull.

 

[neutro]

Appreciate this post Kauaicycler, a notebook just isn't cutting it anymore. Now to find the time to learn more software.

 

[kauaicycler]

Sounds like a replacement for some of the functions my "first tool" is already doing better, and which can only be sharpened with non-physical exercise. Incredible capacity, instant access, and automatic tagging and relational tagging...Trying to imitate what the brain already does better seems like a waste of time that would lead to making that first tool lazy and dull.

I've used my "first tool" my entire life and it has served me well. I'm not really trying to imitate the brain so much as augment it. Over many years my "first tool" has accumulated much knowledge. Memory can be a fickle thing and transforms over time. Storing that knowledge in a more stable and accessible way that also allows me to share it with anyone or everyone is awesome.

I also use this tool to keep my brain focused on the things that matter most to me and to align my actions with my goals. For me this gives me peace of mind knowing that important things won't fall through the cracks. Freeing my mind this way allows it to do what it does best, create. My mind stays sharp and focused and eager for the next challenge.

The beauty of this tool lies in its flexibility. Ebike DIY can be a complicated thing with many interrelated parts from vendors, logs, forums, articles and many other data points that need/should be tracked. Spreadsheets, Google Docs, Pocket and a many other tools you may already be using can be linked and organized. Being able to access this data from multiple devices is the icing on the cake for me. You can build a simple document in Notion that is a single access point for all of this data embedded or linked.

I now have two tools with me at all times. The one I was born with and the one in my hand (wrist, glasses, voice etc.).

 

[kauaicycler]

Appreciate this post Kauaicycler, a notebook just isn't cutting it anymore. Now to find the time to learn more software.

There are many videos on this tool. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoSvlWS5XcwaSzIcbuJ-Ysg. The tool itself is very easy to use, the difficulty is deciding how to organize it. If your notebook is well organized you could use that as a reference. There are also template created by their users and the company.

Being a retired developer I had no desire to learn new software, until now. Well worth the effort. I'm about a week into it and I can't believe how much I love it. I just had to share with this community.

FYI: The video linked above outlines a system built by a user that is very powerful but he really doesn't show how to create it. With my previous experience I was able to implement it but other people's mileage will vary. He has some template but it's not a complete system to download at this point.

 

[john61ct]

WorkFlowy

 

[kauaicycler]

WorkFlowy

I LOVE WorkFlowy! I've been using it for many years so I was happy to see I could import, link or embed WorkFlowy into a Notion page. I probably won't be using it as much now though.

My latest use case for Notion is when watching a video or reading an article. I embed the page with video and images using the notion web clipper into a media database I created where I can then watch it and take notes in the same place. If it's worth saving I have it in my database with my notes and I could watch it again or just read my notes; if it's temporary I just delete it when I'm done.