Why Notion Isn’t an ADHD-Friendly App

Is Notion ADHD-friendly? Not in my opinion. And while I hear the wails of a thousand souls regarding this one, I have my reasons for this. You can go here to watch me talk about them, listen below or on your favorite podcast platform, or you can just read below. 

Firstly, I don’t hate Notion 

I was talking to a friend of mine who hates ClickUp. If you’ve been following along with me for any amount of time, you’ll know I love it. We were talking one day about our favorite systems, and she asked me if I’d ever used Notion before. At the time I hadn’t. 

“But you like ClickUp?” She said. “Oh…you’re going to hate Notion.”

So I went into trying the software, ready to hate it. It didn’t help that people likened it to bullet journaling. I hate bullet journaling. It takes something that should be simple, and it gets so into making it pretty that it complicates the premise. I’m still not entirely sure what makes bullet journaling different from regular jotting things down, no matter how many people try to explain it to me. So it wasn’t looking good for Notion.

But I did eventually try it out, and I have to say…I actually really like it. I will never, ever use it for work or for anything important, but I think it’s fun. It’s pretty, it’s easy to match to one’s needs in a number of different scenarios, and it leaves quite a bit up to your creativity and imagination.

Which is exactly why it isn’t at all ADHD-friendly, and I can’t suggest it to anyone who asks me. 

WHAT?!

Ok, so listen. I have said numerous times that customization is very important when choosing apps and programs that will work with your ADHD. I’ve mentioned it just about every time I’ve brought up the important parts of having an ADHD-friendly routine. But customization, in this case, is like feeding fish: just because a pinch is good, it doesn’t mean a fistful is better. 

Apps like ClickUp or Lunatask or Sunsama, even, are a pinch. Notion is a fistful. 

What I’m saying here is that Notion is too damned extensive. When you start an account, it’s practically an empty canvas. And do you know what you get when you give minds that are naturally artistic and chaotic an empty canvas? 

Well…yes…you get art. But you also get confusion, and distraction, and very little of what you actually want to get done, done. The number of people in the Notion subreddit who admit that they’ve spent more time customizing their Notion homepages than they have using them is staggering, and it’s not hard to see why. Even with templates, when you’re left with too many options, it’s going to be hard not to want to try them all. 

There’s also way too steep of a learning curve. For ADHD brains especially, if something winds up requiring constant reading and tutorial watching, it’s either going to A) wind up overloading the person to the point where they’re going to abandon it or B) wind up commandeering more of the person’s time than the things they’d originally set out to do, and neither of those things lend to a very happy person at the end of the day. 

So no, I wouldn’t suggest Notion to most ADHDers.

That being said…

I want to be clear that, if Notion works well for you, that’s wonderful. I’m not trying to yell at you. The friend I was speaking with, for example, swears by Notion, and there are some people out there who probably are thinking of hiding a horse’s head in my bed for just suggesting that this isn’t the greatest software ever. 

I think that everyone should use what makes their brain light up. I do suggest, though, that if you’re looking into using Notion professionally or for anything more than a fun place to leave important notes and documents, that you give yourself a week or so to play with it first. Try to build a dashboard, or make something you’d use with a team. See how you feel about building it and adjusting it, how you feel when you use it. If you love it, great. But if you feel overwhelmed and frustrated because you’re not getting as much done as you’d like, or you’re having to utilize more apps than you initially wanted, just know you aren’t alone, and that you don’t have to use something that doesn’t work for you. 

If you’re curious about what apps I do suggest, you can look at my recommendations page. And if you decide you’d like some help figuring out the best apps for you, I’m happy to help. All you have to do is go here and set up a call.