2 billion people use Google Docs, but its missing a needed feature. Notion’s toggles.
Toggles are small triangles you can click that allow you to expand or hide information that’s under it. Toggles allow you to organize while notetaking, you can use them to create “logs”, you can design more effective checklists, and most importantly, they help you focus.
Use Toggles to Enhance Notetaking
While I’m in meetings, I like to use toggles to make the information I capture more accessible for those I share it with (and for my future self).
If I’m in a weekly meeting I create a note that includes everyone’s names as a toggle. As people speak, I organize what they said under the toggle, and once that person is done speaking I collapse it so I can focus on taking notes for the next person.
Another important feature of toggles is to create “on the fly project containers”. On almost every meeting I go to, someone comes up with a new project idea that needs to be captured. For discussions I realize are a project, I create a toggle and type “P:” and the name of the project. Under that toggle I capture all the ideas and resources mentioned. Later, once you begin a project, this toggle becomes a valuable resource.
Use Toggles to Create “Logs”
Logs help create timeline-based sets of information which makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for and simplify capturing.
There’s weekly review logs, meeting logs, and journal logs. You could even create a mistake log that helps you track mistakes you’ve made and helps you think through how to prevent it next time.
I create a log in Notion by creating a template button that generates “>@today” as the template. Make sure when you type “@today” that you select the one that says “Date when duplicated”.
I also like to color the template block gray so each entry is more clearly defined. As you use the log it ends up looking like this:
I’ve seen so many people create brand new pages when taking meeting notes, but really, all that is necessary is a “toggle log”.
There’s two benefits to this:
In the short-term: you’ll save time having to search for a specific meeting’s notes. It’s in all in one place now!
In the long-term: you’ll form better notetaking habits because you can see progress that motivates you.
Use Toggles to Create Better Checklists
Toggles make checklists better because they hide information you don’t need to currently focus on.
I use toggles to make my Weekly Review easier to follow.
By using toggles, I’m able to focus better while following a lengthy step-by-step process. Rather than getting distracted by what’s next, I can focus on what’s now.
Use Toggles to Get into the Writing Flow
Writing, and the research that comes with it, is difficult and distracting.
Sometimes, with longer pieces, you may have 2-3 pages worth of research notes. With more research comes more mess, and Google Docs doesn’t cut it.
A way around this is to capture new ideas, quotes, and sources and paste those under “topic toggles”. When I start a rough draft it’s help to have labeled as certain topics which contain all of the information needed to inform my writing.
I also use toggles to split up the sections of my essays. Even when writing this essay, I used toggles.
In a broader view, you can use toggles to inform your entire writing process. To do this, create four header toggles named “Procedure”, “Material”, “Outline”, and “Manuscript”.
“Procedure” is a pre-made checklist you use to guide your writing process. My checklist starts by requesting that I brainstorm and research my topic.
“Material” is where you capture all those brainstormed ideas and researched information. Things like quotes, images, excerpts, thoughts, and more go here.
“Outline” is where you create the step-by-step “flow” of your piece. You’ll use this to write your manuscript.
“Manuscript” is where you write your rough draft by using your outline to guide your writing process. And once you’re finished, you can edit it.
It may be helpful to add a “Reflections” toggle too which can be used to store your tangential thoughts while writing and for predicting how well you think your post might do once published.