You're not "bad at tech" (here's what's really happening)

You might have a Notion learning leak

Signs you have a tech learning energy drain

Here's what I mean by that:

You download Notion with so much excitement because you can see the potential. You watch a few YouTube videos, maybe even buy a course, but when you sit down to actually build something, your brain feels like it's short-circuiting. You stare at that blank page and suddenly feel like you're back in algebra class, overwhelmed and convinced you're just "not a tech person."

Or maybe you've tried multiple times to set up a system in Notion. You'll spend hours following a tutorial, only to realise halfway through that the person teaching assumes you already know what a "database relation" is. You abandon the half-built system and go back to your scattered Google Docs, feeling defeated.

Perhaps you've even successfully built something in Notion, but it feels rigid and foreign. You can navigate what you built, but you have no idea how to modify it when your needs change. It's like living in a house where you can't move the furniture.

Here's the approach I use with clients to plug the learning leak:

Step 1: Start with how you think, not the platform you use - Before you open Notion, spend time understanding how you actually learn. Do you need to see the big picture first, or do you prefer learning through real problems? Do you learn better by reverse-engineering something that already works, or by building from scratch using theory?

Step 2: Choose one tiny thing that would make a real difference. Instead of trying to build a comprehensive life management system, pick something simple that you use daily, like a task list or a place to capture ideas. The goal is a quick win that builds confidence.

Step 3: Commit to the behaviour change, not just the system. Building in Notion isn't just about learning the features, it's about changing how you approach learning itself. This means giving yourself permission to go slowly, to experiment, and to make an imperfect version 1 without judgment.

Let me share how this has gone for my clients:

Sarah came to me after abandoning three different Notion templates. She was convinced she was "too old to learn new tech." We spent our first session just talking about how she learns best (she needs to understand the why before the how). Six weeks later, she had built a client management system that actually reflected how her brain works, and more importantly, she felt confident modifying it when her business evolved.

Maria had tried to replicate a productivity guru's elaborate Notion setup and felt overwhelmed every time she opened it. We stripped it back to one simple database for tracking her writing projects. That small win gave her the confidence to slowly add complexity as she actually needed it, rather than because someone else's system looked impressive.

P.S. Here's where things are likely headed if you don't address this learning energy drain:

You'll keep cycling through different platforms and systems, always looking for the "perfect" solution that doesn't require you to actually learn anything new. Meanwhile, your business information stays scattered across dozens of tools, creating the exact overwhelm you were trying to solve.

But here's what I want you to know: You're not broken, and you're not too old or too anything to learn new things. The traditional ways we're taught to approach tech - through tutorials that assume we all learn the same way - simply don't work for many of us.

Once you understand how your brain actually learns and start honouring that instead of fighting it, everything changes. You stop feeling like you're "bad at tech" and start feeling curious about what's possible. You build systems that actually support how you work rather than forcing you to contort yourself into someone else's productivity fantasy.

Learning Notion (or any platform) becomes less about memorizing features and more about understanding yourself. And that understanding? It transforms not just your tech skills, but how you approach challenges in every area of your business and life.

Your brain is already perfectly designed for learning. You just need to work with it instead of against it.