Productivity spaces are moving towards silo-breaking apps. Everything is blending into one because people don’t want five disconnected systems anymore.
My own workflow has always felt like a Rubik’s Cube. Notion is one app that helped me make sense of it on my mobile devices and computer.
I once used it to plot character development for a video game project I was collaborating on. It worked, until it didn’t. My work has since started demanding different directions.
The tool I eventually turned to wasn’t as advanced as Notion.
Tana, coincidentally named after a village in one of my story worlds, trimmed parts of Notion that I needed it to. It offered a simplified way to connect ideas without the overhead of building entire databases.
These are my favorite parts of the tool.
A bottom-up organization system that just works
If you’re going to build ideas, start from the foundation
Where Notion is based on fixed pages and rigid databases, Tana is a note and knowledge tool built around tiny building blocks. They’re called nodes and supertags.
I would say it’s an outliner that behaves like a living graph without you actually seeing the graph. The whole time, you’re mostly pressing Enter to make a nest.
You’ll write a short note, capture images and videos, record voice memos, or upload files. Then label them.
Presets exist, and you can create custom tags the way you’d tag something on social media. Type # followed by your keyword. Then, press Enter.
Everything is made to be documented fast and linked later. You can call it on demand when you’ve made sense of it.
Each supertag can carry a schema, such as Date, Attendees, Action items, or Links. Until you assign these values, your entry is simply a piece of text with no identity.
The meaning of the information comes from what you said it is and not from where you placed it.
If I were to use Notion, I’m expected to design the structure before I start working. I’ll create a database, decide which columns it should have, determine the views I need, and then start filling in the rows.
It’s all one big table, even if you later view it as a board or a calendar.
There is artificial intelligence to build the databases. If you tell it you’re planning a project, it will generate a project tracker and pre-fill it. You may still need to tweak the columns.
I’m a one-person army who shifts between roles depending on the day. Some days I’m writing reviews, and on others I’m world-building.
My short-lived collaborations disappear as quickly as they form, and they aren’t neatly spherical or predictable enough to justify building heavy systems ahead of time.
Command a flexible workspace
My word is order across all nodes
A single node on Tana can belong to many contexts at once without being duplicated. I record voice memos frequently during calls. The memo may sit in the Today menu as a normal file until I tag it as a meeting.
If the meeting contains action items, I may convert each line into a task by tagging them individually. Those tasks appear both in the meeting supertag and my general task view.
Daily preparations are another reason to adore the app.
I’m a lazy yet goal-oriented person. I’ll hardly sit down to write a to-do list unless I’m far away from my device. It’s why I move around the house commanding Gemini to arrange my events and chores with voice commands.
I’ve carried that same behavior into Tana. The platform has a Daily prep supertag that provides soft cues to guide my answers. I’ll talk about what I’m excited about, what would make the day a success, what I’m grateful for, and more.
The prompts are open enough to be used for food prep, chores, groceries, work, or even an emotional check-in. But you can customize them to fit different contexts.
I prefer to record my answers, and the app transcribes them neatly underneath the appropriate questions.
I talk to myself a lot, especially when I’m stressed or preparing for a big project. It’s how I calm my anxiety and hold my own hand through what I need to do. The voice memos filter all that yapping into a more usable form.
Supercharge your second brain
I’ve tried different workspace apps to know that none of them are perfect. Each one solves a problem and then creates a new kind of friction somewhere else. At the same time, they’re fluid enough for you to build almost anything if you’re willing to put in the time.
I’m choosing to stick with Tana for now. It’s mobile-friendly and removes any overhead. If you decide to try it, lean heavily into your supertag and the powerful referencing system. They change your whole experience for the better.
