your notes don't need to be pretty

i'm gonna say something controversial: notion is a trap.

not because it's bad software. it's great software. it's just not a notes app. it's a procrastination app disguised as productivity.

the aesthetic trap

you open notion. you create a page. and then you spend 20 minutes picking the perfect icon and cover image.

you set up your database with 12 properties. you create views. you color-code everything. you use the toggle blocks. you embed things.

your notion workspace looks beautiful. it could be on pinterest.

how many notes did you actually write? three.

notes are ugly

real notes - the useful kind - are messy. half sentences. bullet points that don't make sense. random thoughts. typos everywhere.

that's what raw thinking looks like. messy. not instagram-worthy. but useful.

the moment you start thinking about how your notes look, you've stopped thinking about what they say.

organization theater

there's a whole aesthetic on youtube and tiktok of people showing their "perfect" notion setups. life dashboards. habit trackers. reading lists with cover images.

it looks productive. it feels productive. it isn't productive.

it's organization theater. you're performing productivity instead of doing it.

nobody cares how your notes app looks except you. and you shouldn't care either.

what actually matters

can you capture a thought quickly? like, immediately, without friction?

can you find that thought later when you need it?

that's it. that's the whole job. everything else is decoration.

the speed test

here's a test: someone tells you something important. a name, a recommendation, an idea. how long until it's in your notes app?

if the answer is more than 5 seconds, your notes app is failing you.

pretty apps are slow. you have to pick where things go. you have to format things. you have to maintain your system.

fast apps just let you write.

jottie is ugly on purpose

okay it's not ugly. it looks fine. but it's intentionally minimal.

there's no cover images. no icons. no properties. no databases. no toggle blocks.

there's text. you write it. it gets saved. you can find it later.

that's the whole app.

the real flex

you know what's actually impressive? finding a two-year-old note in under 5 seconds.

not "look at my aesthetic dashboard." not "check out my linked databases." just... having notes you can find.

boring? maybe. useful? extremely.

notes vs documentation

notion is great for documentation. wikis. team knowledge bases. project specs.

that stuff should be organized and pretty. other people have to read it.

personal notes are different. nobody reads them except you. and you don't need bullet points color-coded by priority to understand your own thoughts.

use notion for documentation. use something simpler for notes.

the permission slip

consider this your permission to stop making your notes pretty.

write messy. use incomplete sentences. don't organize anything. let the chaos happen.

as long as you can find things later, you're winning.

your notes don't need to be aesthetic. they need to be useful.