The Art of Helping

Whenever folks ask for technical help (with Notion or any tech), I'm always delighted when they take the time to ask the whole question. What do I mean by that? It's the difference between "ugh, it's broken" and a well-defined problem statement, with tests, images, and reproduction steps.

The former is very difficult for even the most export Notion practitioner to diagnose, while the latter means you're in a much better place to receive the help you're after.

I wrote up a new guide this past week combining many of my old Twitter threads about the subject. Now that my Twitter has gone private and is no longer being published to, I thought I'd combine some of the thinking into a super guide on:

• How to have the best chance at getting technical help, and,
• considerations around the emotional weight of getting stuck and needing help.

READ "THE ART OF HELPING"

​

A New Year

At the end of December, we hosted our Annual Review event in Notion Mastery. If you're a Notion Mastery student you can watch the replay and follow along with the the review process.

What did you plan for 2025, reader?

I stopped setting measurable goals last year for the most part and there's been some real friction with this methodology, but I kind of think the friction is the point. This year I'm investing in learning a bit about astrophotography.

Of course I created a Notion dashboard for my learnings and research, but I'm not planning anything specific apart from "look at space and document the journey"! That's the "goal". Last night I was excited to add my first entry of our friend Luna to my AP Captures database. Not bad for a first try, eh?

​

2024 In Review

Marie and I both published our respective year-in-review in Notion this past week. Notion's such a great place for stuff like this. I really like the controls that the Notion Sites features gave us in 2024. Feel free to give our reviews a read if you like, and if you've written your own review, hit reply and share it with us—we'd love to read yours!

Content warning: we tend to be pretty open and vulnerable in our reviews and considerably more "familiar" with our language. As such, we may use more colourful language and discuss topics that are challenging us on a personal level, so if that isn't to you're liking, skip these ones!

• Ben's 2024: Year in Review​
• Marie's 2024: Year in Review​

​

What's up with Notion Mastery in 2025?

Of course we'll keep on delivering live events like office hours and demo days to get y'all up-to-speed with the latest Notion features, and we do have some new programs planned for this year...

First up is revamping the "Level 0" track of the Notion Mastery course into a new Foundations course that'll be great for beginners. I (Ben) also continue work on the Architecting Workspaces guide for teams.

Stay tuned!

Definitely planning on doing another beginner Formulas and Automations workshop. When I asked Notion Mastery students what they wanted to learn in 2025, almost all the answers were Formulas or Automations! Not surprising; they're tough!

Reply opportunity: If there's a side of Notion you think deserves more training love, what would you have us teach if you could hire us for your team or life?

Happy new year!

— Ben @ Notion Mastery​

---