Today I’m giving a peek inside my world with a showcase of my foundational Notion system, “Sidekick”, the methodology behind it, and how I use it on a daily basis. The Sidekick system is the result of all that I’ve learned over the years about what makes a functional and efficient Notion system. Blocks can be shifted and colors can be tweaked, but what truly matters is how the system functions at its core. That is why I designed this system to be workflow-based, built around universal actions for intake, processing, planning, and review.
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Methodology
For the most part, just about anything that you’ll manage in life can fit into one of three core categories. I call these “Domains”:
- Personal
- Professional
- Academic
The “Personal” domain relates to all aspects of one’s personal life, for example, home, health, and hobbies. The “Professional” domain relates to one’s work or career, in other words, what you do for money. The “Academic” domain relates to learning. Not all of us are in school, but learning is lifelong and we all have continued education in some shape or form. Sometimes these three domains are distinct. Sometimes they overlap.
In the past, I’ve built several standalone systems for each of these domains and used them independently of each other. However, despite sometimes needing their own separate space for management, they operate using (for the most part) the same workflows and database structures at their core. Sidekick brings management of all three domains together using global databases and unified workflows. This is the “one system to rule them all” that you may have heard me mention at some point.
Global Databases
- Contacts
- Schedule
- Tasks
- Notes
- Resources
- Collections
- Projects
- Tags
- Expandables
- Goals (OKRs)
- Journal
This is the core suite of databases that all the domains use. All new records created into a global database are tagged with the parent domain – Personal, Professional, Academic (or any combination of the three). This allows me to view information either holistically (big picture) or contextually (focused), depending on my need.
Unified Workflows
Intake
It became clear to me very soon after starting to use Notion (back in 2019) how important it is to have a centralized input area for entering information quickly, regardless of what type of information it is. The intake area allows me to dump ideas, tasks, and notes without any frills or fluff. It’s just a simple database serving as a holding tank. Intake can be done in a few different ways:
- Using the Notion web clipper to snag resources from the web
- Manually entering the information
- Using speech-to-text from my phone *
* I do a lot of creative thinking while I am driving; over the hum of the tires on the road, a flood of ideas, inspiration, and tasks surface in my brain, and of course, they are the greatest thoughts that I’ve ever had (just like those I have when I am almost asleep). I need to capture them quickly, or they will be gone. This is why I began to explore speech-to-text on my phone as an option, and it’s really quite easy for getting that task or idea out of the head and into Notion. Figuring out what to do with it will come later during processing.
I have a special suite of views that are optimized for mobile, including one for “Intake”, and this view is favorited so that I can access it quickly from my phone wherever I am. That moment that I realize that I am out of Chickpea Snacks from Trader Joe’s… I can quickly capture a task before it is forgotten.
Processing
Processing is a super fun part of my day. I really enjoy organizing and putting things in order. Even more than that I like having a clear plan for what my tasks and actions are. Processing helps me to take the information that I may have haphazardly dumped into the holding tank and expand on it, organize it, beautify it, and make some sense of what happens next.
Once I determine the type of information (task, note, or resource), processing involves dragging and dropping the item into the appropriate destination database. I can also grab groups of records and drop them together for bulk processing. Then, depending on the type, I add additional information like due date and priority, and if it relates to a collection or a project. This is also the stage where I will add a page cover or icon if it is relevant to do so. Finally, tagging with the domain will release the item from the intake area.
Reviewing
The “Resources” database could also be called a “Library”, “Vault”, “Knowledge Base”, or whatnot, but it is all the same thing. It’s a place to hold information like research sources, documents, recipes, files… even snips from the web. Storing this information in Notion allows me to not have to store it in my brain. I need the real estate up there for other more important things.
As you can imagine, this database can fill up and start to bloat pretty quickly. Especially if you are new to Notion, you may feel “inspired” to put everything indiscriminately into it. Hey, I get it. Using Notion brings feelings of pure and absolute joy. But it can quickly get out of hand and reduce the ability to easily surface what you need, even cause slowness/sluggishness issues with your database.
To combat this, I have a review system in place to ensure that my resources stay relevant and valuable to me. By default, all information moved into the Resources database requires an initial review. This might mean fully reading the article that I clipped in from the web because I didn’t have time to read it in the moment, summarizing the useful bits of information into notes, or creating some action that I’ll need to do related to the information later. At this point, I may be done with it forever and not need to keep it hanging around causing bloat in my database. If that is the case, I’ll delete it. If I will want to reference it again later, I set up a document review cycle:
- Never (default)
- 7 days
- 30 days
- 3 months
- 6 months
- 1 year
… and mark today’s date as the date last reviewed. A formula calculates when the next review date will be based on the frequency I selected. On the date that the information is up again for review, it will be resurfaced on my dashboard. This forces me to make a decision if the information is still providing value or just taking up space. Inevitably, one of three things happens:
- I re-learn something valuable that I had forgotten. I can change the review frequency, or simply mark the date last reviewed. The information will resurface again on the next review date.
- I realize that the information is no longer relevant to me and I wonder why I stored it in the first place, in which case <commence delete>.
- The information is no longer needed at my fingertips, but I may still need to reference it at some point in the future. If this is the case, I archive it and move on. Archiving documents just keeps them safe, but out of the way.
Goals follow a similar review structure, and when key result metrics are due for review they will surface to the dashboard to be reviewed and updated.
Tracking
An important part of maintaining my health and well-being includes tracking certain metrics. In addition to habit tracking, I use a Bio Logging system for tracking notable elements about my health and physical self. This includes things like stress and energy levels, mood, sleep length and quality, symptoms, weight and measurements, and notes. Having this data has given me the ability to review trends and make insightful course corrections to improve my overall health and well-being. Note that I do not rigidly bio-log every day, only when it is relevant to make note of something.
My daily tracker preps and auto-generates a new card for me every day using the new repeating templates feature. This saves a ton of time to not have to import days in advance or create them manually!
Dashboards
Who wants one dashboard when you can have five? With multiple focused dashboards, I can view the one that either presents to me the actions that I need to take right now or what is contextually relevant to me at the moment.
Intake Board
The Intake dashboard is an action-based workspace that gives me a view of the intake holding tank and destination databases for easy processing. I visit the Intake dashboard daily to process anything that might be waiting in there.
Today Board
The Today dashboard is also action-based. This is the first dashboard that I visit every day to get a snapshot of everything relevant to the current date across all domains. This includes today’s schedule of events and tasks, today’s meal plan and trackers, and items that are due for review. In addition, I can create a journal entry or view any notes created today on the Today board. A simple checklist provides some overall structure for the day’s objectives. I clear out the checklist and start fresh every day since I don’t need to keep a historical record of it.
Personal Board
The Personal dashboard gives an overview of key projects, tasks, notes, and resources related to personal topics, such as home, health, finances, and hobbies.
Professional Board
The Professional dashboard gives an overview of key projects, tasks, notes, and resources related to my consulting work and side business.
Academic Board
The Academic dashboard gives an overview of key projects, tasks, notes, and resources related to my education and learnings. In a formal education setting, the Project-Tasks-Resources structure works extremely well for managing classes, assignments, research, and reference materials!
Portals
Portals are basically various ways of looking at stored information. While “data is data” and how it is structured inside of a database is consistent, there are times when you need to view the stored information in different ways. Separating the storage of data from the views of data is common practice in UI development (“Model-view-controller”). For example, there are times that I may only need to see tasks in my backlog that haven’t been organized into sprints. Or I may need to see only high-priority tasks, or tasks that are due this week… I can easily toggle between these very different slices of data using Portals.
Having the views themselves stored in a database was conceptualized by fellow ambassador, Josh Redd, with his Perspectives method (Josh is a talented innovator who I have a heap of respect for. I recommend that you check out his Perspectives video). This is a creative way of keeping the views that are important easily accessible right in the sidebar.
Collections
Collections are ways to group together and theme information across databases. You can think of collections as topics or spheres of interest. Tasks, notes, and resources can be added to collections and managed from within the collection itself.
Expandables
As I described above, each of the domains are built on the same foundation and management of the domains follow the same universal workflows. But there are always going to be unique niche areas that require systems designed specifically for that purpose. For example, nutrition or finance management wouldn’t use the foundational database structures. But that doesn’t mean these standalone systems can’t have a logical home in the foundation system.
I call any standalone modules “Expandables”. Any expandable can be plugged into a logical place beneath its parent domain. For example, on my Personal dashboard, I have several Expandables plugged in for travel, finances, nutrition, and fitness, reading library, and genealogy. In some cases where it makes sense to do so, I’ve integrated parts of these standalone systems with other areas of Sidekick (like displaying the meal planning card for today’s date on the Today dashboard). I absolutely love the Expandable system, and I’m able to navigate and access the sub-system that I need very quickly without having to think where it might be. And because Expandables live within the system, following the breadcrumb trail always leads me back to my main dashboards.
Aesthetics
The new Notion icon library with themed colors means I can now easily switch from light to dark mode and back again anytime the whim strikes me (daytime working demands light mode, nighttime working demands dark mode) and the icons look great in both. I included both light and dark mode images in this showcase to prove how great the Notion icons work with both modes. My only wish is for a larger library!
I keep my domain dashboard layouts similar to each other reinforce a consistent management workflow, but I do have the flexibility to “renovate”, moving blocks or entire regions around freely to find the aesthetic that works best for me without affecting the foundational structure of the workspace.
Best Practices
I prefer to only display notes and projects that I’ve pinned 📌 on the domain dashboards so that what I’m seeing is what is important, otherwise this space could become visually overwhelming. If I need more information I can track it down using Portals. In addition, I keep all toggles collapsed unless I’m working inside one. This keeps everything tidy and ship-shape.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of my personal Notion workspace! I love seeing the creative ways others use Notion, as well. I’d like to challenge you to share a link to your own personal Notion tour in the comments below!
Good news for the folks who have been asking for an expanded life OS system such as this, the Sidekick – Domains of Life Management System has been released to the public. ✌🏻 You can check it out here:
SIDEKICK – DOMAINS OF LIFE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
https://youtu.be/DmuPJCOAn_w?si=nZksNgkyN59RBVZ7
Are you aware of this chick who has very obviously used your template for the base of her template which she is now selling as her own w no credit? Maybe she’s allowed to idk but I bought your template and also changed some shit around, that seems fine, but then to sell it with still like the same basic formatting etc . Idk maybe you’re fine with it I’m not sure but if not I suppose you should know
Hello Jamie,
Is there a way to see my tasks and schedule database on one calendar? I noticed that the calendar view only shows tasks.
Hi there! There is not a way currently to show both schedule objects and tasks in the same calendar view, as each live in their own database. What you can do is have a view built for schedule objects, and another for tasks with due dates, and have those either side-by-side or within the same views pick-list (to toggle between). I hope this helps and that you are enjoying using Sidekick!
Is there a way to create a relation/link for tasks to be added to the schedule objects? Thank you
Yes, it’s possible! I will send you an email with more information on how to implement.
how would you suggest I implement an online class structure to the academic dashboard? I like the structure that’s in place but I have multiple online classes comprising of modules and lessons / practical tasks. I may just be having a bit of a brain fart, but I’m not sure how I’d implement this neatly?
My thought was to have my classes linked as ‘projects’ and lessons/practicals would be listed as tasks… but what would ideally be the best way to list these lessons/practicals in their appropriate modules? My old notion setup had a separate database for classes, modules and lessons but I’m not sure how to implement that in the academic dashboard (long ramble, I’m sorry!)
Hi Manda! I recommend exactly what you described – using projects and tasks to manage classes and assignments. It may be less specialized than a formal academic template like my “Academia” system, but when you strip it down to the core, classes ARE projects and assignments ARE tasks, which is why this structure works very well. There is much more information in the documentation for Sidekick about using the system for formal academics. I’ll include what I am able to here.
Students
In a formal academic setting, the Project-Tasks-Notes-Resources structure works extremely well for managing classes, assignments, research, and reference materials. You can easily adapt the Academic area to show an overview of your schedule, classes, and assignments.
MANAGE YOUR SCHEDULE
You may use the time-blocking method to show your academic class schedule for each day of the week. The Academic dashboard has a special view that will show your weekly schedule. Time blocks that are tagged with the Academic domain will display on the academic weekly schedule view.
Toggle to view your class schedule (see attached image).
CREATING A CLASS
Classes are created as projects. Instead of using the default “New Project” database template, you may use the “New Class” template to create a class. This template is structured similarly to the “New Project” template, with a couple of differences:
As with projects, tick the “Pinned” checkbox to keep the class pinned to the Academic dashboard.
Modify the “New Class” template to meet your specific needs for managing classes.
ADDING ASSIGNMENTS
Assignments are added as tasks. At any entry point for a task, note, or resource, you may search for and associate with a class. During Intake & Processing, for example, you may click into the “Project” column to find and associate the class. Any new tasks, notes, and resources that are added directly from the open class will automatically be associated with that class.
There are several task templates pre-built for adding various types of assignments. These will apply a distinct icon to help visually distinguish between different types of assignments. Click the drop-down arrow next to the blue “New” button on any task database view to view a list of available task templates (see attached image).
COMPLETING A CLASS
To complete a class, tick the “Archive” checkbox within the class. The class will be archived and will no longer appear in any active project views.
Thank you, Jamie.
I am guessing to be able to group tasks/lessons that are held within a certain module in a class I could add a ‘module’ tag to the lessons and group the tasks accordingly on my Project page?
Yes, you absolutely could do that. 👍🏻 Parent/child tasks are also an option.
Jamie,
Loving the template. One question. On my Key Results, I can’t get the NEXT REVIEW DATE formula to work. When I put in LAST REVIEWED DATE in COLLECTIONS, it works fine, but it won’t do the same in Key Results. Am I missing something?
Hello Brian! Good to hear from you! I would just check and make sure that both the Objective and the Key Result have a status set to “In Progress” for the Next Review Date calculation to update accurately. Give this a try and let me know if you need more help (you may email me at jamie@notionthings.com for additional support). 👍🏻
Jamie,
This is the smoothest system I have used out of ALL the notion templates I have downloaded. I created my system based on Josh Redd’s “perspective” method as well, but I could never quite make it feel like an app. This truly feels like an app. What I mean by that is that I don’t think the average user wants to to see the behind the scenes system, which is what makes Sidekick so great. They want it to be a simple interface and your portal system is an amazing play on the perspective concept and ridiculously innovative. I can see the tentacles of this in other ambassador’s templates, but they still always feel overly complicated, which scares away the average users like my wife and kids from getting too involved with it. I am in shock of how easy it is to use, but specifically, the way SPRINTS are set up is the first time I have really understood this concept and I love it. My wife has even commented on how much I have been getting accomplished and I refuse to tell her that I downloaded your system. I’m just letting her think that I got my act together!
I would love for you to incorporate this system into MY WALLET template. I like the wallet, but I’d like to have it set up to keep track of my bank accounts, and for recurring expenses to automatically come out of the account, track investments, etc. I think it would be a great starter template for many people to get introduced to Notion as well. I know that other people have templates that claim to do all that, but I like your organization and I think it’s the simplest or easiest for people to start with and everyone needs ways to organize their finance goals.
It’s also a great way for people like myself, who love this system, to get people like my wife, who is overwhelmed by this to get involved slowly. If they can see how easy it is to organize our budget and specifically to input our daily spending, then I think they would be more open to turning in their paper planners and move into the digital age.
Just a thought in case you are working on your next concept. Thank you for this template and for making the price point beyond reasonable.
Brian
Beautiful system! I have a view “overview” Gallery items like your Tracking/Nutrition blocks, but they seriously slow down any page they’re placed on. How do you avoid that issue with your Tracking/Nutrition blocks?
Great question, Shayne! In my experience, the slowness comes from having a large number of relations and rollups to connecting databases. The more rollups you have, the more exponential the slowness becomes. Large formulas can also cause slowness. It can be challenging sometimes, but if you find ways to optimize your formulas and reduce the number of rollups you should notice that everything will speed up. 🙂
In my example, the tracking cards are not related to any other databases so they load lightning fast. The nutrition card does have a number of necessary rollups, but displaying just the single card (vs trying to load a whole table list) doesn’t cause any speed problems. 👍🏻
Thank you for the quick response!
I am almost 100% certain my slowness issue is due to the rollups/relations thing…I am currently using one big “cards” database for the source data for any card I might want, and then just filtering the properties of the cards to show the applicable info.
I guess I’ll try spitting that giant database into smaller, topic-specific data sets to be displayed on gallery cards. Thank you again!!
It’s a tough compromise to lose centralized management like that, but probably necessary. My hope is that someday we will be able to output analytics for a database without the use of relations or rollups. With all the innovation coming from Notion lately, it wouldn’t surprise me if something like that is coming.
Reach out if you want to talk through any strategies for your conversion. 🙂
I’m excited to enter for a chance to win the Sidekick Notion template! As someone who values organization and productivity, I believe that this system will help me streamline my Personal, Professional, and Academic domains into one efficient workspace. Plus, as someone who lives in a country where paying outside using a card is difficult, winning this premium template would be a great opportunity for me to experience its full potential. I’m also looking forward to exploring the Create Lab from the Notion Things gallery to enhance my workflow even further. Thank you for creating such a helpful tool.
The results are in! The winners of the giveaway for the new Sidekick system (plus one Expandable of choice) have been drawn at random. The winners are:
Rob
Renee Bell
Soi
Rob – I’m really looking forward to reading your novel someday. I hope this equips you with the tools to get those ideas out of your head and taking shape. Renee – Are you ready to jump in to the deep end of the pool? I’ve got some water wings for you. Soi – It was incredible to hear how much your life has changed over the last couple of years, and how you’ve been using my Cubicle work management system all the while. Congratulations to the three of you! You are well-deserving and I appreciated hearing from you. Watch for an email from me.
Thank you to everyone who participated for your thoughtful and heartfelt comments. Reading these offered me so many insights into who you are and the challenges that you face daily with all that life throws at you. I hope that we can stay connected, and encourage you to reach out to me if I can help you with anything. I really mean this. Best of luck to you in the future.
Jamie
Sidekick will be available to the public on March 5th.
1.) Wooow this template looks to great! It would help me organize my daily life in one place and everything would be soo easy to find when needed. It would definitely help me getting more productive and get more things done including more projects by prioritizing them, monitoring the progress and therefore reducing stress.
2.) The Happy Kitchen expendable would be insane
Jamie, I have purchased every one of your templates over the past year as I have become obsessed with Notion and organizing my life. I’ve looked at a lot of Notion experts and their templates and I find your design of Nook, Media Manager, Happy Kitchen to be the most visually pleasing and the easiest to follow. I have two kids going to college over the next couple of years and I had them use Total Recall and they loved it. As a father I am nervous that kids are not being taught the concept of a 2nd Brain and I watch them just quickly go to their phones for information because they are so curious, but they will continue to look the same things up over and over and not capture and store it for recall later. If I had been shown this when I went to college it would have made a world of difference. I was getting ready to move them to Academia, but I think Sidekick will be a little easier for them to follow for their life and maybe use Academia as an expandable. One more thing, your Media Manager has made family movie night so much easier. We use to spend 30 minutes to an hour looking up what we want to watch and discussing what we are in the mood for before we actually get to the movie and now we have everything organized and cued up and when the boys find something they want to watch, they just put it in the database and it’s there. We are getting there and I’m super excited to use Sidekick. Thank you for your blog and the templates. My family has really enjoyed them.
Brian, it was a delight reading this comment. I am so happy to hear that you and your family are benefitting from all the value that can be mined from Notion. And what an honor that you would trust my systems for your boys as they grow up and into their adult lives. I think you are correct in the decision to try Sidekick over Academia. Sidekick will be able to provide usefulness well beyond the college years, reaching into all areas of life. 👍🏻 Don’t hesitate to let me know if there is anything that I can do for you or help you with. Good luck on the giveaway!
Hi! I’ve been appreciating your site ever since I discovered Notion. Like many other commenters, I have ADHD so an all-in-one comprehensive life organizer just sounds amazing to me. I’m a fiddler, I definitely like to make things tailored just for me, but I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with getting my Notion setup perfected. Your aesthetic and organization style just make sense to me and I know it will save me hours of time spent on obsessively tweaking everything to my exact parameters of the day (which will probably change the following week when I figure out how to do something else in Notion, haha).
As far as what expandable I would choose? It’s hard to narrow it down, but I think I’d have to go with Wallet.
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
Hi Angii! The good news is there will be some wiggle room for “fiddling” so you still can satisfy that itch. But hopefully this will provide the framework that you are looking for so you’re not endlessly spinning your wheels. Thanks for the comment!
Wow, that’s quite the system of organization. My only question is, what did you do before notion??
That is a really great question! I haven’t thought about “pre-Notion” in quite some time. Before Notion, organizational efforts always missed the mark. I used multiple tools – Excel spreadsheets, OneNote, and a Moleskine notebook that never left my hand. I never felt that any tool gave me the flexibility that I needed. As a developer, naturally I turned to develop my own tools for note-taking, task management, and project management… spending many months tinkering with code and UI in my spare time. But then I was introduced to Notion in 2019 and there was no reason for me to spend a second more of my time writing code. I’ve never looked back. Notion is awesome, it allows me the flexibility to manage just about everything I could want to manage (and the creativity to design my own solutions).
1. Hi Jamie! Working as a college student/content creator, I felt that the boundaries between my personal life and my work were blurred, and I’ve been in the process of reorganizing these things using “Notion” for the past few months. (In the process, I got a lot of help from Jamie’s other templates, “Total recall” or “Personal Media Manager!”), but it was hard to build a system across all areas. Sidekick will be a new wave that will help me grow myself as a student and my sidekick (life as a content creator) even more.
2. Create Lab and Habitat. Couldn’t be more perfect for me!
These are fantastic goals that I can get behind! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment.
I hope this system could help me to order my life and fight against procastination. If I had to chose one expandable, I would chose Expenses to help me set and reach saving goals.
PS. These templates are amazingly beautiful!
Awesome! Thank you for your comment, Billy!
Wow! This is stellar. My setup works but I really want to improve it so my divergent brain can better focus on getting important tasks done. This is first system I’ve seen that give me some hope! I think the only things I would need to add would be the content lab, body lab, and wallet.
It all starts with hope. 😉 Thanks for your comment, Lolita!
Hi Jamie, you have no idea how frequently I visit your website just to make sure that I am always up-to-date with your templates and posts! I’ve been using your cubicle template for two years now and thanks to you, I’ve never missed a minor task since then (whether that be meetings, ideas, proposals, sub-tasks, projects.. basically any action throughout the day). After I left my previous job, I customized the template and its features suitable for job searching. After 3 months of ‘tracking’ job posts, and creating my portfolio as a ‘project’; I finally landed my dream job this year. And now that I’m dealing with big changes this year (new job, new lifestyle, and returning back to school); I’ve been brainstorming for a few weeks now on how I can merge my notion dashboards into one. Once I found your new template, it seems like this could be the answer to keeping track of my life in all aspects. If there is one expandable I could choose as an add-on.. it would be the budget and finance manager. Keeping track of (long-term & short-term) financial goals and regular payments is something I plan to start tracking in notion soon so that would be awesome.
This is some of the most incredible feedback to hear, thank you Soi! It sounds like you are doing really well in life and things are on track. Great job! ♥️
Congratulations, winner! ⭐️
Hello Jamie,
I am incredibly excited about the Sidekick system. Since you made this post, I have checked the Notion Things website every few days, awaiting its release. I have struggled to stay organized and on top of my tasks for as long as I can remember. I have tried several systems to manage my workload, including bullet journaling and digital planners. However, nothing works for me, and I am still without a management system for 2023.
I first discovered Notion last summer but felt overwhelmed by all the templates and available options. It wasn’t until I read how you manage everything with the Sidekick system that everything finally clicked for me, and I am now excited to try Notion. This system will help me streamline my workflow and keep everything in one central location.
I look forward to quickly accessing my notes, to-do lists, and projects without switching between multiple planners and apps. I believe the Sidekick system will help me be more productive, efficient, and less anxious about missing important aspects of my work, school, and personal life.
As a master’s student in golf and sports management, I am particularly interested in the Body Lab – Nutrition & Fitness Management System expandable. I currently track my trainings using Excel, but I would love to be able to use the Body Lab system to track my progress in a more organized and efficient way. Specifically, I would use the dynamic chart to track my clubhead speed after sessions for my current speed training goals. Combined with the Body Lab, the Moonshot expandable would allow me to input my 14 clubs (habits) and track the distance gained through the months. It can’t be a master’s program with the weekly research papers; the Writer – Minimalist Distraction-Free Writing Workspace expandable would make it easier for me to keep track of research that I can bring together more effortlessly for my 25 percent final research paper at the end of each class. These expandable in my academic section would be a game-changer for me, allowing me to prepare for sessions efficiently, keep track of improvements and objectives, take drill notes during sessions with my coaches, and create a system for my research work.
I would add the Create Lab – Production System for Content Creators expandable to my professional dashboard and the Roommate Hub – Shared Household Management PLUS The Happy Kitchen Integration and Wallet – Budget and Personal Finance Manager expendables to my personal dashboard.
I appreciate that Notion Things offers affordable prices, and I would love to see the Sidekick system reasonably priced, even if I don’t win the giveaway. Thank you for creating such a fantastic system, and I look forward to seeing it in action!
Wow, KC, this is incredibly detailed. It sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this! I would suggest for tracking your speed training goals that you usethe built-in goal management module. I think you will find that meets your needs fully without an expandable. 👍🏻 Good luck on the giveaway!!
OK this is incredibly cool. I learned so much just trying to duplicate this on my own by watching the video you referenced for separating the views from the data. 🤯 I’d love to try out this template when its released and really make it my own (and see what else I can learn from dissecting/personalizing it!)
I’ve used some of your previous templates, and would love to pair this new one with the updated Happy Kitchen PLUS.
Thanks for the comment, Nikki! I’m so happy to hear that you watched Josh’s video and learned a lot from it. Great choice on the expandable, it’s definitely one of everyone’s top favorites! Good luck!
Thank you so much Jamie for the chance to get your Sidekick system! As an ADHDer, this would be a game changer. I’m always looking for templates to advance my workflow, and, I gotta say, yours is one of very best I’ve ever seen. It exceeds expectations in both visuals and functionality. I’ve always found your creativity impressive 🤩. It would be amazing if I could get the Sidekick and Cubicle 2.0, Happy Kitchen++, or Wallet. Thanks again Jamie!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Kit! Your choice of expandables are spot on, any of those would work really well as add-ons to the new system. Wishing you the best of luck in the drawing! ☘
Wow, I must say you continue to delight with your templates. I like to joke with those close to me that I have a notion addiction specifically because I love to see how these tools can be put together to make streamlined processes. I sometimes make tools that I will never use simply because I want to see how things come together. With that, I am still very much a newbie and just learning how to create things within notion. That said, I am going to cast my lot in for a chance at the template!
1. I am constantly looking for tools that will help me keep my life accessible to me, but frequently having to use multiple different apps or programs to do that, means that things inevitably fall through the cracks (I am an AuDHDer, and so keeping track of certain things is just not in my innate skillset, lol). I am so intrigued by your design because it does seem to eliminate a lot of this issue by putting everything in the same system and then allowing for easy cross referencing. I also absolutely LOVE your system for readings. I collect studies and articles to read almost as if by compulsion, but at this point I just huck them into a reminders list and hope that I get to them at some point. Having a structure for revisiting things, deletion, and archiving could be completely gamechanging for my research (and so much better than reminders and evernote for me).
2. It would be the body lab to manage health and fitness. I have a lot to manage in that department, and so it would be vital for me to have that integrated in my primary workflow.
Thanks again for all you do! I enjoy watching your work and using some of the layouts that you have put together!
This is fantastic, thank you so much for sharing your perspective, Malorie! It sounds like the methodologies behind Sidekick may be just what you’ve been looking for, and I keenly look forward to your constructive feedback after trying it out. I’m hearing a lot of comments from ADHDers here, and though I don’t have a DX myself my work seems to appeal to the ADHD mind. I’d like to understand that relationship more. 🙂
Hi, Jamie. Wow a chance to get a free copy? That’s very kind of you! I am excited for this template because I’m not really as organised as I would like to be and have spent countless hours on youtube trying new ideas and seeing if they can help me. I recently came across a video talking about using notion as a “second brain”, and that really intrigued me. I can be scatterbrained and tend to overthink simple things, so I really love the inbox -> processing -> reviewing & tracking aspect. As well as splitting life into personal, professional and academic. My current notion workflow is all over the place at the moment so I am desperate for sidekick lol. One thing is for sure I will definitely be trying out this template regardless XD Would also be happy to leave feedback too on how it’s helping me as I use it.
My expandable of choice would be the Finance Manager “wallet”.
Thank you!
Well, hello again Tialolly!! I’m glad you’ve thrown your hat into the ring also! The intake / processing / reviewing workflows have truly been beneficial to add some structure and process to what could otherwise get out of hand very quickly. Having good processes sure keep things from becoming overwhelming.
Good choice of expandable, it would be the perfect complement to this system. 🤞🏻Good luck!
1. i believe this system could help aid my ability to evolve from cro magnon to rocket scientist. 2. i’m super curious what your plantopia expandandable is all about, but if i was going to choose any of your other existing templates to work in conjunction with the sidekick, it would definitely be the happy kitchen. your achievements are inspiring and your hard work is much appreciated – cheers!
i can’t even spell expandable right the first time. total cave dweller. help!
Hello C.E.! Plantopia is just a personal system that I use for managing the care of my garden. It’s highly personalized so not available to the public at this time. However, I can highly recommend The Happy Kitchen – good choice! I do hope that you will find good value in the Sidekick system. I’d like to check in with you in a month or two to see how the evolution is going…
1) What you believe this system will do for you?
– I am hoping it will inspire me. I am working on a book and I write music, so I’m hoping it will help to kickstart ideas.
2. Which expandable you would choose as an add on (this could be just about any of the standalone systems from the Notion Things gallery)
-Probably nutrition and fitness
Awesome, Michael, thank you for your response! I’m writing a novel completely in Notion and wouldn’t ever go back to using all of the other scattered tools that I was using before. Notion is a fantastic tool to capture and dump ideas, as long as there is a process for how to develop and shape those ideas afterward…
Best of luck on your book and music!
Hi there! I’ve got ADHD, and I’ve been struggling with organization for as long as I can remember. I discovered Notion a year or two ago, and started using various tracking systems to try developing a system that could work for me, but none ever really did until I stumbled onto your themes. I’ve been really enjoying the Happy Kitchen Plus to keep track of my meals, what I need to buy, etc. When I read your description on Sidekick a few weeks back I thought, “This sounds like it was made for the way I think,” and I’ve been really excited for its release since then!!
As far as expandables are concerned, I think you’ve got most everything covered already! Would we be able to integrate this system with your pre-existing ones? I’m still a little lost on how databases and the like live in relation to each other, ngl. I’ve also been eyeing the way people track habits with NFC readers. Could that potentially be integrated into this system too? ( I’m not sure how habits are being tracked in Sidekick, tbh. I couldn’t wrap my head around that. ;; )
Your themes are so pretty and easy to navigate, and they make my brain really happy. Keep up the phenomenal work!!
This is really exciting, Steel! Thank you for your thoughtful comments. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that I’ve gotten inside someone’s brain – all I can say is that we must have similar thought patterns. 🙂 Let’s touch base soon to see what other expandables you would like to integrate into Sidekick and talk through how we could do that in a way that would make sense. 👍🏻
love your content! 😀
Thank you so much, Trent! 😃
The sidekick template looks awesome. I’m really excited for the release. I bought Habitat a few weeks ago and it really has enhanced my ability to stay on task and organized. Below are my answers for the sidekick giveaway:
1. I really have been looking for a template the fits in everything from daily tasks and habits, to keeping my personal interests organized and processing random items I encounter throughout the week without forgetting about them. I really feel this could be the perfect system to combining all aspects of daily life and interests.
2. For expandables, I’d say books, personal development, personal branding, video games, movies/tv shows, fitness, YouTube videos, podcasts. Mostly digestible media, but health and fitness, taking the time to learn new skills.
I am so pleased to hear that, Michael! I really appreciate your thoughtful comments (also, thank you for following – I’ve seen you around). Good luck to you, sir! ☘
Like always; This is UNBELIEVABLE. Surreal. I am SO pumped to purchase.
Jasmine, you are quite possibly my biggest fan. ♥️ Thank you, it’s so good to see you here.
1. What you believe this system will do for you: help me combine the Mish mash system setup I’ve slapped together for myself in Notion and create a more organized Notion experience. So I can go through it as a hub to the places I need to be without fumbling through my current setup.
2. Which expandable you would choose as an add on: cubicle 2.0 ! This would help me manage projects for my freelancing web work, at the moment I’ve abandoned the whiteboard setup I had and I really dislike using clickup… Would love to move to notion to manage my contracting projects! ❤️ And I want to keep it separate to my own work projects.
Wonderful! The mish-mash is very real. I hope that Sidekick will help to pull it all together and unify your processes. I’ve also included a built-in expandable module for client management and billable time tracking for projects, so you may find these tools helpful for your freelancing work. 👍🏻
in response for the free copy offer i think it will help me run my knowledge management system better and it will be visually more pleasing than mine!
I think let us make this expandable of your choice, i can’t think of the the best one but i do have my personal finance and cooking system already.
Thanks for your comment, Abdulrahman, I appreciate it! Sending you good luck in the drawing.
This looks sweet! Brings together everything I’m trying to run together, but am doing it separately. Sounds like it has incredible potential to scale for multiple members of a household. Can’t wait for it’s release!
Interesting idea on scaling this for a family! Thanks for your comment, Dennis, and good luck with the drawing! ☘
I think it looks great. The paradigm shift you’ve made in the methodologies that underpin the digital brain is very interesting, and from what I can see, the workflow seems more practical and natural. It will be very interesting to put it to the test. I’m currently building my Digital Brain, so I’ll be one of the first to try out your template as soon as you publish it. I love your vision of aesthetics, simplicity, and order. Unlike you, I’ve only recently discovered Notion, and I find it to be a fascinating tool. Your templates have made it even more interesting to see the potential of using it to map out our workflows.
Thank you for the insightful comment, Germain! I can get behind the second brain methodology for the most part, but with some slight modifications as you’ve pointed out. Maybe this comes from years of helping people adopt new systems (in my day job) and learning a bit about how people think and operate. It truly is as though I have come full circle in many ways from when I first started using Notion. I’ve been around the world multiple times researching and trying out others’ methodologies, but this is what I keep coming back to! I do hope you will put it to the test, and I will be here to receive your feedback. 👍🏻
I am massively attention deficit and believe this system can potential bring order to the chaos of my brain.
I do hope so. Thank you for the comment, and hang in there Brian! Help is one the way. ♥️
Just wondering, do you have an expandable for a “relationships tracker” something like that. Thiago Forte, the second brain guy, always talks about getting good gifts for people in his life and he says he tracks all the relationships in his second brain telling him good gift ideas for specific people. and then like, next actions for certain people. idk, just putting some thoughts out there. thanks again Jamie, really appreciate you and your team’s work.
This was one of the suggestions that some folks put into my Notion suggestion box. I haven’t built a relationship tracker like this yet, but I appreciate the suggestion and will put some serious thought into it. It sounds like it would make a great expandable. Thanks, Gary!
1. I believe this system will optimize my workflow personally, professional, spiritually, basically all areas in my life. I think this system would help me on my F.I.R.E. journey.
2. Travel, Fitness, Library and Media
Those are incredible goals, thank you for sharing, Gary. I will be interested to follow up with you later to see how things are going on your journey.
This is super awesome!! Very well designed, logical, and seems like a breeze to use. I really like the contextual dashboards part the best. I think that, like many people, we all juggle a lot of different areas between work, school, personal life, side hustles, etc. and having a way to just get into “flow” of a specific space at a given time, and not have to worry about the other stuff crowding it up, is a huge game changer. This is absolutely my favorite feature of your Sidekick setup.
As far as expendables go, first, I love the concept of it being modular and can be plugged in logically. I’d love to learn more about the financial one, as I’m at a stage in my life where I’m starting to put a big focus on that.
Great work; keep it up!
Awesome, Chris, thank you for the thoughtful comment! You are so right, sometimes you need those walls of separation when you are focusing on one area of your life, like work, while knowing that everything else still has a logical place and is close at hand. I appreciate that this is the part that resonated with you (you sound like you have a logical mind). Best of luck! ☘
This template would be a fantastic way to separate my work space from my personal research! And as a lover of all things organised I’m in love with the collections section – I feel like that would massively help me to store my resources and notes so much more efficiently. I’d love to see the WIP as an expandable too as I’m starting to write a lot more.
I know, collections are such a simple concept but they are so effective. Glad to see that this resonated with you! Congrats on the writing projects – I definitely approve. Best of luck in the drawing, Rini. 👍🏻
Just the very concept of having an organization system like this makes me excited! My brain feels like three five year olds on a sugar-kick on the best of days, it’s very hard to keep things straight and organized. Each new system (calendar, planner, onenote, etc) I’ve tried eventually ends up not being enough and i’m already at the point where my own notion set up feels clunky and a hindrance rather than a help, to the point I’m barely using it.
The WIP or Kitchen expendable would be wonderful add ons!
Boy, do I know that feeling, Yoldine! Glad it’s not just me. I have found so much success with this method of organization. I hope that this will make all the difference for you, as well. 👍🏻
I’ve only really just discovered Notion, and it’s great to find something almost immediately that can bring EVERYTHING into one place for me – something that’s so important for somebody who needs to keep track of things while dealing with anxiety and depression. All the vague things floating on the edge of my brain can now sit in Sidekick and allow some space up there. I’d probably give WIP a go for an expandable – still got that novel idea bobbing around…
Excellent, Rob, thank you for your comment. Even if you don’t luck out in the drawing I’ll send you a copy of W.I.P. In my opinion, there is nothing better for combatting depression than getting sucked into a creative project, and writing a novel is so satisfying (I’m writing one too!). ♥️
Congratulations, winner! ⭐️
I’ve been hunting for ages now for a notion setup that would cover my personal life management as well as my work as a graphic designer and my personal learning resources. I’m in love with how Sidekick works so seamlessly with global databases and how each domain focuses on a different aspect. I’m starting to travel a lot more now so the travel expandable would be a perfect addition.
I hope this will bring your search to an end, Catherine! 🤞🏻And great news, I have actually integrated the Travel Manager expandable (as well as a Client Manager and Time Tracking module) into Sidekick, so they will be a permanent part of every copy. Good luck in the drawing! ☘
Hi, It seems like a great system! I always struggled with multiple checklists, notes, etc and I love to have everything in one place. I would also love the finances expandable!
Sounds great Mariana! Good luck in the drawing!
Amazing system Jamie! I’ve been looking for a system that not only allows me to drill down into the detail but gives me that bigger picture ‘dashboard’ view. Never quite managed to get it right in Notion despite several failed attempts!
The Sidekick system looks to have covered everything I’ve been looking for; thank you!
The Library Expandable would be useful as an add-on too 🙂
All the best
Awesome, Richard, thank you for your comment. I hope that this will be what you’ve been looking for! Best of luck in the drawing! I’ve got a library management expandable with your name on it.
Hello, as a computer consultant & developer, I find your system to be absolutely fantastic. In my opinion, it meets the needs of many professionals. I would be happy to try it.
Thank you for this immense work.
Gilbert
—
Hello, comme informaticien consultant & developpeur, je trouve que votre système est absolument fantastique. A mon avis, il répond aux besoins de beaucoup de professionnels.Je serai ravi de l’essayer.
Merci pour cet immense travail.
Gilbert
👏🏻 Thank you for your comment, Gilbert! I am an IT consultant (and former developer) as well, and did absolutely design this system with the needs of professionals in mind. I look forward to your feedback down the road a stretch to see how it’s working for you.
Wow. I’ve been trying to manage all things in Notion and it always get’s messed up and I loose track. This will definietly be a life cahnger for me to be able to handle all my daily small tasks, bigger goals, short term and long term. I LOVE the idea with having one place to input everything. I already see it in my mind how this is going to solve a lot of my dialy organizing issues. I’m an organizer and at the same time person who has a brain that keeps poppin popcorn. And I needs to collect them in one place or else it get’s really messy xD I’d definitely integrate with the Body-Lab as my body is sort of one of my many hobbies and I’m currently becoming certified as a personal trainer. I rEAlly hope this is gonna go my way 🙌 as well as I hope many other human being are going to benifit from this in their daily life. Everyone should use Notion. It’s the future!
Poppin’ popcorn! I love it. That is such a good analogy, I feel like that is my brain also. I’ve got a copy of Body Lab saved just for you, and I’m wishing you the best of luck, Rikke.
I think it’s a good system, especially since you modify it to be dynamic, that’s great, it would help me in my study, the template I would like would be cubicle 2.0, also a recommendation, you could create a template with the Zettelkasten method, with your touch automation, that would be great ❤️
This is fantastic! I have been using a rudimentary system to manage my workloads and personal goals and still miss out on things or it’s a hassle to manually put in overlapping things. This system really brings that all into one place which what I absolutely love! I have already been using Body lab from Notion things extensively. Integrating that with this system will be the whole package for me
Awesome, Ankita! I am so happy to hear it. Wishing you lots of luck to win a copy of your very own. ☘
This sounds incredible Jamie and I wish I could have it to use today! Haha
I have dipped in and out of Notion, never quite finding the exact right system to bring all my moving parts together (study, home life / parenting, business, health, exercise etc) but am slowly getting there. I love the way that you share in incredible detail how you use things and how they work – it is really helpful!
As for expandable – I am really keen to check out The Happy Kitchen. I need to get my meal planning back on track! Have a great day 🙂
Renee, I know what you mean. It can be overwhelming and tempting just to put aside for a while. It’s definitely not an overnight process! Knowing that the learning curve can be steep for setup that can manage so much, I’m creating a full knowledge base to go along with it to help with learning the system. It’s interactive and self-paced, and as you move through the examples you are also setting up the system for how you want it to work! I hope this style of documentation works well for you. (I can vouch, you will love The Happy Kitchen! I hope you win it. I suggest the PLUS version.)
Congratulations, winner! ⭐️
This system looks absolutely AMAZING! I have a lot of Notion bits & pieces but this system really seems to include everything I need in one system. Its very aesthetically pleasing as well . If I had this system I would use it to help me juggle my full time job, studies (learning to code & day trade) and my entrepreneurial endeavors. If chosen, I would select the Create Lab – Production System for Content Creators because I want to build a digital marketing / content creation career. I will be anxiously awaiting the release of this system no matter what!
Vanessa, it sounds like you have a very busy life! Create Lab is a great choice for your new entrepreneurial career path! So glad to see you here, and thank you for the comment. Sending you good luck. ☘
Many of us have been on a Quest for the Holy Grail of Task/Information management for DECADES. I haven’t found it yet, but your system looks intriguing. Notably, the Personal/Professional/Academic distillation resonates with me. I struggle to categorize data hierarchically, but your trio of categories seems workable. As for expandables, I bought and use your W.I.P., so does that count? ;). I dunno, probably the Agile Project and Sprint Management add-on. I could use some shoring up of my development methods ;). Thanks for the good work.
Excellent, thank you for the comment, Dave! You are not alone, I think many of us share this same quest. Certainly, W.I.P. counts, that’s a perfect use case as an expandable! Best of luck. 🤞🏻
It’s like you read my mind and added some well-thought out additions. I literally just now finished a bookmark system based in Life, Legal, Work, and Common. I work partly within education so much of the Work bookmarks are academic.
I have more going on in my life than ever. Sidekick looks like an intuitive system to organize everything. Between a legal case I’m working on regarding emotional abuse and attempts to cover-up by my former employer, a flexible work schedule, lifelong learning, kid’s schedules and family time, pet needs, self-care, and other events, life can become pretty difficult to track even with calendars and notifications.
Because I’m a layperson self-representing as a plaintiff, a law expandable including California codes would be really helpful. So many of your current Notion products would make for excellent utilities. Your roommate hub would be great for my family (a family Sidekick would be amazing) and both Writer and W.I.P. could benefit my legal project while I continue searching for a Notion research writing system that meets my needs.
Knowing your work, I have pretty high expectations and confidence they’ll be met. I hope your definition of soon is a matter of days so I can learn, experiment, and incorporate it into daily life. This post and your shared images of different sections reflect a truely thoughtful labor of love. Thanks for sharing this system with the world and I’m so looking forward to your future work.
Excellent, thank you for this reply, Steve! You sound like the perfect case of a person who is juggling many things across life, work, and academics! I’d like to solicit some feedback from you down the road a stretch to see how things are working for you.
I will also reach out to you directly about the research project. I have this in my backlog – Notion tools for researchers are something that I’ve wanted to build for some time now, and I would love to pick your brain on the topic. 🙂
Do you have any tips for a legal database or any resources that I can look at because I am trying to represent my father for his medicaid case and I am having trouble organizing everything.
Hi Jamie,
I am very excited to see the Sidekick in action. 🙂
From the looks of it, based on what you posted here, this is going to be a game-changer for Notion users! (At least for me, hehe)
As for integrations, I would like to have the health (The Happy Kitchen and the Body Lab) integrated into this suite.
Good luck and keep up the amazing work you’re doing. I can’t wait to see what next you are going to come up with! 🙂
Dear Edde, it warms my heart to see you here. I do hope that this will be the unified system that you’ve been looking for. I know you use many of my other standalone solutions, and it will be incredible to be able to manage everything in one place. Let’s talk soon about some integration options for your health suite. ♥️
I’m so looking forward to this system.
I think where it will help me is bridging the gap between tools vs process. So the design will help me do what I need to do, rather than me having all these databases where I’m constantly having to figure out what I should be doing.
For the expandables – I’d choose goal tracking or health tracking. I’ve been trying to refine my own system for this and I love how you’ve put your together.
I can see what a passion project this is. I really dig the output! Thank you!
I agree to this being a priority and is at the core of why I designed the system in this way. Everything has a logical home, and especially with the quick intake area one doesn’t need to spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to figure out where to put something. Great choice on the expandables! Best of luck, Mel! 🤞🏻
Wow, there is some excellent stuff and a functional yet attractive layout here. Good job.
Thank you for the kind words, Heather!
According to the information provided, the system in seems beyond original, very applicable, I am a university student, I have used Cubicle, and Habitat to manage my study and personal time, but with the arrival of artificial intelligence I hope that sidekick will be one of the best, and without a doubt the Notion things templates are the best. It would be very useful for me to earn a copy of these, as well as the expandable Academia would be useful to continue improving, thank you.
Wonderful. Thank you for your genuine and heartfelt comment. I am rooting for you, Alan!
I thought I had some impressive notion boards. t
These are really impressive! I love notion and I have all of my students and coaching clients use it for accountability and as companions to courses.
Thanks Jamie for sharing your insights into these remarkable Notion templates that you have developed. I’ve been using your Cubiucle template for a couple of years now. Prior to using your template I could never seem to organise all aspects of my life. The template and dashboard design is exceptional and I am truly greatful for your genius. I’m super excited for the release of the new template. Is it possible to migrate my Cubicle into the new tempalte or do I need to start from scratch?
Hey, it’s so nice to see you here, Adrian! If you’ve had Cubicle for a couple of years it must be the original version (there is a newer 2.0 out also)? I think with enough care and attention to detail it is always possible to do a conversion from one system to another. In truth though, it could be labor-intensive process since there is not a 1:1 match between origin and destination databases and you would have to rebuild links between some of the content. Because I designed Cubicle to be specific to the IT work environment, it has some niche functions that the Sidekick system doesn’t have (for example, build tracking, KPIs and status reporting). One could rebuild those niche systems into Sidekick, or just plug Cubicle in as an Expandable and continue to use it as a standalone system.
Personally, I lived in both systems simultaneously for a little while. As I started phasing out the old system I took my time and hand-selected the most important content to keep available and migrated it to the new system. Then finally, I archived Cubicle where it was safe and out of the way, but still available for reference. In reality, I found that I haven’t needed to reference it at all (go figure!).
Whatever you decide to do, I will be here to support and assist you the whole way! 🤝
Wow! When is this coming out? I’ve used notion all through university and now I am looking for a new structure to split up all areas but keep linked DB’s for a unified todo list. I thought my scripting was pushing the limits of notion but this looks so great!
Hi Tim! I’m aiming for the next 30 days, but it may be longer. See, there was some really great functionality from Notion that I’m beta testing right now that would have greatly enhanced this experience, but now it will not be released until the end of 2023. I’ve been busy rebuilding the workspace without this cool new feature and it’s taking a bit of time… Please feel free to join the mailing list if you would like notifications and updates!
I really love this! I would love to share my own Notion tour if it was THIS good, but sadly I am struggling with finding a good workflow system for myself. I can’t wait for the template version :)! I feel this will be able to help me get more organised in the different areas of my life, so I’m very grateful for the time and effort you have put into making templates! Many Thanks!
I will make sure to let you know when I’m able to release the template! I hope you’ll be able to share some feedback on how well it works for you. 👍🏻
This is on another level than most Notioners, including myself, will ever get to in their lifetime. Great work Jamie, I still have it on my list to buy you a coffee or two or three. Don’t worry, I will not forget. Thank you for your templates.
I doubt that’s true, Vilcheesey, it just takes persistence with some obsession thrown in! But thank you so much for your kind words!