Happy New Year!

I finally finished my yearly tradition of doing an annual review process.

It's interesting to see how these have evolved over the years, as I've been doing them since 2013 or so.

In my 20s I was hungry to hone my skills, develop new products, and figure out my unique advantages.

My 30s were about refining my systems, streamlining my processes, and stabilizing revenue.

My 40s are now focused more on sustainability, harmony, and alignment.

My reviews (and my goals + planning processes) have become less rigid, less quantitative, and more about leaning into qualitative reflections. What brings joy and energy vs resentment and friction? What were the relationships I nurtured, and which do I want to cultivate in 2025? What were the daily moments of joy, and memories that have stayed with me?

After a hip injury, I had no choice but to slow the F down in 2024, and focus on rest and recovery. As a result, I initially had thought of this year was a "write off." And yet, in the process of doing this review it feels so jam packed full of wonderful memories and amazing connections!

• Started a Podcast with Ben called Grief & Pizza
• Attended two local Harvest Table dinners
• Visited Notion HQ and (finally!) met the team
• Launched Principles of Dashboarding masterclass
• Attended a mastermind in California with internet friends
• Met amazing people at the IP2 conference
• Hosted a Clothing Swap party at my place
• Spoke at the Second Brain Summit with Ben
• Spoke at the Make with Notion conference and got to hang out IRL with all the Notion Ambassadors!
• Launched some new templates through Notion’s new Template Marketplace
• Attended a Breathwork retreat in Nevada City hosted by our friends Jonny + Kelly Miller
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This is why reviews are so powerful. It's so easy for your brain to remember what's not working, or all the ways things didn't go to plan, and we so easily forget all the good that happens.

Since this year was so different than past years due to my injury, this one skips the "data" and roundups, and just shares my highlights, challenges, and favorite experiences.

Get good at asking for help

There is an art to asking good questions, especially when looking for technical support.

If you've ever spent any time in the Notion subreddit for example, you'll often see questions asking for highly technical help that are completely devoid of any useful context. Sometimes the question is a single sentence followed by HELP!

These questions either don't get any responses, get snarky responses, or require the reader to ask many follow up questions to gather context.

Ben wrote a helpful article outlining How to get Technical Questions Answered.

If you regularly post on forums to get your questions asked, you might want to check out this post! Become a better problem-solver by developing a systematic approach to problem-solving.

Principles of Dashboarding

Have you had a chance to check out our Notion workshop, Principles of Dashboarding? It's an intermediate crash course in how to set up your Notion workspaces from first principles. Explore the core components of Databases, Views, and Dashboards, learn to build dashboards from scratch, utilize Notion’s templates, and master the art of designing component-driven workflows.

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That's all for this week,

Hoping your new year is off to a good start!

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Marie Poulin
​Notion Mastery​

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