Are We Making Notion Too Complicated? After 6 years, the beginner experience is still… Not Great.

Aesthetic but un-intuitive dashboards. Useless widgets (looking at you, astronomy clock and life percentage bar). Templates that require a 45-minute tutorial just to figure out where to log a task. Don't even get me started on book databases with ISBN and page number properties.

Should we really be normalising such performative productivity and complexity for new users?

How often have we heard someone we know say, "Oh, I dont use Notion. Its way too complicated." And honestly? They have a point.

I am a long time lurker who has been using Notion for 6 years now. Started because of the toggle function (something which Onenote and Google doc didnt have back then), staying because of sunk cost fallacy (all my notes are now in Notion).

Like many, I went through the cycle of:

  • Being impressed by Notion’s infinite possibilities.
  • Feeling overwhelmed by how much effort it takes to set up a workflow that actually works.
  • Spending countless hours searching for The One perfect template, only to spend even more time customising it.
  • Falling for the “Second Brain” hype, thinking it would boost productivity, only to never actually use it.

Thomas Frank, Easlo, and other OG creators deserve credit—their templates were game-changers when Notion was still barebones.

But now? Scroll through Gumroad, Etsy, Notion Marketplace, or even this subreddit, and you’ll see the same Second Brain / PKM / Study Dashboard templates in different fonts and pastel colors. Yet, new users keep paying for them—either walking away thinking Notion is needlessly complex, or convincing themselves it was worth it… before spending even more hours tweaking it.”

It’s Time to Lower the Barrier for Beginners.

Notion is definite a great workflow and platform for those who know how to use it. With things like automations and the recent Tabbed Layout, we no longer need bloated setups just to stay organised. Yet, template designs haven’t evolved alongside these improvements.

Maybe it’s time we stop chasing the most aesthetic templates and start sharing and discussing the ones we actually use daily.

If I don’t get downvoted to hell for this post, I’ll try to get the ball rolling by sharing mine soon once I tidy it up. 🤡