What's obvious to you may not be to everyone else

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Hello Captain Obvious

Four years.

Or maybe longer because to be honest, I’ve lost track.

Let’s just go with four years. That’s how long I’ve been using Notion to power my…well, everything.

Now before you non-Notion users delete this message, I promise it’s not really about Notion. Notion plays a secondary role in my repeat performance of, “Captain Obvious, starring Steph.”

You see, the minute I started using Notion, I knew I had found MY system. Everything about it clicked for me, and in a way that no other tool had (and I’ve tried them all).

I fell down the rabbit hole HARD. Watching YouTube after YouTube videos (thanks Marie!), tinkering until wee hours of the morning and building dashboard after database in the never-ending quest for the ideal Notion set-up.

Quickly I was showing anyone who’d listen how powerful Notion was. I held Zoom calls with clients and friends, built templates for colleagues and talked about it ad nauseum in my LEAD.Well community.

And I’m still doing that today, four years later.

This is noteworthy because I tend to be a bit fickle about things like this and shiny object syndrome can get the better of me far too easily, especially when it comes to tech tools.

With Notion though, it just made sense.

Now I know that’s not true for everyone. Some people hate the system, some give it a big, fat ‘meh’ when they share their experiences. I get that (it’s how I feel about Aasna). We all have to find a tool that works for us.

But again, this isn’t really about Notion, the tool.

It’s about Notion, the idea.

This week I launched the first issue of Notion for Leaders — a newsletter for leaders who want to leverage the power of Notion to keep them connected to what matters most.

It’s a true labour of love, and the perfect intersection for my ambitions around both Notion AND leadership.

But I can’t help but reflect on the fact that it took me four years to launch something.

I’ve been thinking and talking about sharing my Notion experience and learnings for as long as I can remember. I’ve watched others sell templates, share Notion trainings and build in public using Notion.

And while I shared what I have learned with anyone who’d ask, I haven’t had the courage to go live with my own Notion offer.

Why not?

Because it all felt too obvious.

In my head, Notion has always been this basically free tool that anyone can access, with countless videos online to show you the way. If someone wanted to go deeper with Notion, they could, just as I had done. What point would there be in me adding anything to that?

People were already doing a fantastic job of sharing Notion with the world and I wasn’t sure I could add any measurable value to the conversation.

This is a pattern that has perplexed me many times — too many times if I’m honest.

Apparently I was a David Copperfield wanna-be in a past life, because I seem to believe that my work must encompass a healthy dollop of magic to be considered good enough to go live.

One of my Itty Bitty Shitty Committee’s favourite lines is: “That’s too basic, too obvious. Everyone knows that. And others have talked about it already, and better. You don’t need to join in too.”

I have to actively work against that voice that tells me my thinking, my ideas and my words are too obvious and too basic. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t publish or say a damn thing…ever.

So despite the fact that I’d immersed myself in the Notion world for years, to the point of obsession, it still didn’t feel like it was unique enough to share more widely.

It all felt, well, too obvious.

And then I came across this post by Derek Sivers via a podcast by one of my favourite creators, Todd Henry.

“Everyone’s ideas feel obvious to them.”

Oof, right! My ideas might seem obvious to me, even if they aren’t to you. And vice versa.

Hearing those words gave me the nudge I needed to get this Notion for Leaders project off the ground. And ultimately, the market will be a far better judge of its obviousness than I ever will.

⭐ What do you do well, but discount because it feels too easy or obvious?

⭐ What do you assume everyone can do, that upon further investigation, you realize they can’t?

⭐ Where have you supressed your own ideas or opinions because you decided they weren’t good enough?

I’m glad I got up the courage to say “Screw it, I’m doing this,” and send out the invite for Notion for Leaders newsletter. And I’m finding a way to make it unique to me — to give it a little bit of my magic.

And hey, if you’d like to experience my personal brand of magical obviousness, you can subscribe to Notion for Leaders here.