You have a classic second-generation Notion problem: the workspace was designed around how you thought your work would operate 12 months ago, rather than how it actually operates today. For your situation, I would not rebuild the old 150+ pages one-for-one. I would create a deliberately small operating system with 6 core databases, 4 top-level areas, and one command center. The design principle is: > Capture once → relate once → surface automatically → review briefly → archive aggressively. Notion currently supports the relations/rollups, database buttons, recurring templates, dependencies, and database automations needed for this architecture. 1. WORKSPACE STRATEGY AND ARCHITECTURE The new architecture Your sidebar should contain only: 🏠 HOME │ ├── ⚡ THIS WEEK │ ├── 💼 CLIENTS │ ├── 🚀 PERSONAL PROJECTS │ ├── 🧠 KNOWLEDGE │ └── 🗄️ SYSTEM That's it. Do not put individual projects, meeting notes, blog posts, books, or tasks directly in the sidebar. Those should live inside databases and appear through filtered views. --- What each area means 🏠 HOME Your command center. It should answer five questions immediately: 1. What must I do today? 2. What needs to happen this week? 3. Which client projects need attention? 4. How many billable hours have I logged? 5. What's moving forward in my personal projects? The Home page should contain linked views—not additional databases. --- ⚡ THIS WEEK A focused weekly operating page. Think of this as your execution cockpit, not another dashboard. Recommended sections: THIS WEEK 🎯 Weekly outcomes [3–5 outcomes] 🔥 Priority tasks [Tasks due this week] 💼 Client work [Active client projects] ⏱ Billable hours [This week's hours] ✍️ Content [Blog/case studies due] 🚀 Course [Current course tasks] 🧠 Capture [Inbox / uncategorized items] 📅 Weekly review [Review button] --- 💼 CLIENTS Everything related to paid client work. This area contains: Clients Client projects Tasks Meetings Time entries But don't create separate pages for every client in the sidebar. Instead, the Clients page contains a filtered Clients database. --- 🚀 PERSONAL PROJECTS This is where your: UX blog Case studies Course Other future projects live. The important distinction: Personal projects are operational projects, not "miscellaneous tasks." Your course can therefore have its own project page containing its related tasks, content, milestones and resources. --- 🧠 KNOWLEDGE Your long-term knowledge system. Contains: Notes Resources Books Design references UX research Articles Frameworks Inspiration This should be deliberately separate from active work. That's important because your current workspace likely suffers from knowledge and execution being mixed together. --- 🗄️ SYSTEM Hide this from your normal workflow. Put here: Master databases Archive views Database documentation Templates Workspace rules Migration staging area You should almost never need to visit it. --- 2. THE DATABASE ARCHITECTURE I recommend six core databases. Database Purpose Projects Every meaningful outcome Tasks Every actionable commitment Time Billable-hour tracking Notes Thinking/knowledge capture Resources External references Goals Strategic direction Then add Clients as the seventh because your freelance work makes it worthwhile. So the final system is: Clients → Projects → Tasks → Time and Goals → Projects while Notes → Projects / Clients / Resources can connect knowledge back into work. --- DATABASE 1 — CLIENTS Purpose One record per client/company. Properties Property Type Client Title Status Select Type Select Contact Text Email Email Website URL Projects Relation → Projects Active Projects Rollup Total Hours Rollup → Time Notes Relation → Notes Last Contact Date Next Review Date Priority Select Status Prospect Active Paused Completed Archived Views 1. Active Clients 2. All Clients 3. Needs Attention 4. By Status 5. Client Directory Key rollups Total Hours Time → Client → Sum Hours Active Projects Projects → Status → Active --- DATABASE 2 — PROJECTS This is the heart of the system. Every substantial outcome becomes a project. Examples: Acme SaaS redesign Fintech onboarding redesign UX blog redesign Case study: Acme UX Design Course Properties Property Type Project Title Area Select Status Select Client Relation → Clients Goal Relation → Goals Start Date Date Due Date Date Priority Select Project Type Select Tasks Relation → Tasks Time Entries Relation → Time Notes Relation → Notes Total Hours Rollup Completed Tasks Rollup Task Count Rollup Progress Formula Health Select Next Milestone Text Area Client Personal Content Course Status Keep it simple: Backlog Planning Active Waiting Complete Archived Health 🟢 On track 🟡 At risk 🔴 Blocked Project views Minimum five: 1. Active Projects 2. Client Projects 3. Personal Projects 4. At Risk 5. Completed 6. Timeline 7. By Client I would make Active Projects your default. --- Project progress Connect Projects → Tasks. Then roll up: Total Tasks Completed Tasks Your formula can calculate: Completed Tasks / Total Tasks and display it as a percentage/progress indicator. Notion specifically supports using relations and rollups to calculate project completion from related tasks. --- DATABASE 3 — TASKS This is your single task database. Do not create: Client Tasks Blog Tasks Course Tasks Personal Tasks Those should all be views of the same database. Properties Property Type Task Title Status Status Project Relation → Projects Client Rollup/Relation Due Date Priority Select Type Select Billable Checkbox Estimated Hours Number Time Relation → Time Actual Hours Rollup Waiting On Text Notes Relation → Notes Completed Date Area Formula Status Inbox Next In Progress Waiting Done Cancelled Priority P1 P2 P3 Type Design Research Admin Communication Content Course Personal Views You want at least: 1. 🔥 This Week 2. 📅 Today 3. 💼 Client Work 4. ✍️ Content 5. 🎓 Course 6. ⏳ Waiting 7. Inbox 8. Completed This Week filter Status ≠ Done AND Due is within this week Sort: Priority ascending Due ascending Today filter Status ≠ Done AND Due is today --- Use dependencies sparingly For larger UX projects, use dependencies where sequence genuinely matters: Research complete ↓ Wireframes ↓ Prototype ↓ Usability testing ↓ Iteration ↓ Handoff Notion supports task dependencies and can automatically shift dates when upstream tasks move. Don't turn every task relationship into a dependency. --- DATABASE 4 — TIME This is essential because you're billing clients. Do not attempt to calculate billable hours from tasks alone. Create a dedicated Time database. Properties Property Type Entry Title Date Date Client Relation → Clients Project Relation → Projects Task Relation → Tasks Hours Number Billable Checkbox Rate Number Amount Formula Description Text Invoice Period Select Amount formula Conceptually: Hours × Rate Views 1. This Week 2. This Month 3. Billable 4. By Client 5. By Project 6. Invoice Period --- Your Home dashboard should show BILLABLE HOURS THIS WEEK Client A 8.5h Client B 6.0h Client C 4.5h ------------------- TOTAL 19.0h You don't need a sophisticated analytics system. The goal is visibility, not accounting software. If invoices, taxes and financial reporting become important, keep those in dedicated accounting software and use Notion as the work/time layer. --- DATABASE 5 — NOTES This becomes your thinking database. Instead of 150 scattered pages, create one Notes database. Properties Property Type Note Title Type Select Area Select Project Relation Client Relation Source Relation → Resources Tags Multi-select Status Select Created Created time Last Reviewed Date Types Meeting Idea Research Learning Decision Reference Reflection Project Note Views 1. Recent 2. Project Notes 3. UX Knowledge 4. Ideas 5. Needs Processing 6. By Type --- DATABASE 6 — RESOURCES This is for things that exist outside your own thinking. Examples: Articles Books Websites UX tools Templates Research papers Videos Design references Properties Property Type Resource Title Type Select URL URL Topic Multi-select Status Select Notes Relation → Notes Projects Relation → Projects Author Text Rating Number Date Added Created time Views 1. Recently Added 2. Read/Used 3. To Read 4. UX Research 5. Tools 6. Books --- DATABASE 7 — GOALS Keep this very lightweight. You don't need a complicated OKR system as a solo freelancer. Properties Property Type Goal Title Period Select Area Select Status Select Target Text Projects Relation Progress Rollup Review Date Date Outcome Text Example goals Q3 — Maintain $X/month freelance revenue Q3 — Publish 4 UX case studies Q4 — Launch course MVP Q4 — Publish 12 design articles Views 1. Current Goals 2. Quarterly 3. Client Business 4. Content 5. Course 6. Completed --- THE RELATIONSHIP MAP Your system should essentially look like this: ┌──────────┐ │ GOALS │ └────┬─────┘ │ ↓ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │ CLIENTS │──────→│ PROJECTS │ └────┬────┘ └────┬─────┘ │ │ │ ↓ │ ┌────────┐ └─────────────→│ TASKS │ │ └────┬───┘ │ │ ↓ ↓ ┌─────────┐ ┌────────┐ │ TIME │←─────────│ TASKS │ └─────────┘ └────────┘ ┌────────┐ │ NOTES │ └───┬────┘ │ ├────→ PROJECTS ├────→ CLIENTS └────→ RESOURCES The important principle: Relations represent meaningful relationships, not everything imaginable. Don't connect every database to every other database. --- 3. COMPLETE TEMPLATE LIBRARY Daily Planning Template Your daily page should be tiny. # Daily Plan ## 🎯 Today's 3 1. 2. 3. ## 🔥 Must Do [Linked view: Tasks due today] ## 💼 Client Work [Linked view] ## ✍️ Content [Linked view] ## ⏱ Time [Today's time entries] ## 🧠 Capture - ## End of Day What moved forward? What needs to move to tomorrow? What am I waiting on? Do not create a separate task list manually inside the page. The linked database is the task list. --- Weekly Review Template This is the most important template in the entire system. # Weekly Review — {{Date}} ## 1. Wins - ## 2. What shipped? - ## 3. Client status ### Client 1 - Status: - Next action: ### Client 2 - Status: - Next action: ## 4. Billable hours - Total: - Target: - Difference: ## 5. Projects at risk - ## 6. Personal projects ### Blog - ### Case studies - ### Course - ## 7. Open loops - ## 8. Next week's 3–5 outcomes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ## 9. Cleanup - Archive completed projects - Process inbox - Reschedule overdue tasks - Remove unnecessary tasks --- Project Brief Template Every new project should start here. # Project Brief ## Outcome What does "done" look like? ## Client / Audience Who is this for? ## Problem What are we solving? ## Scope ### Included - ### Not Included - ## Deliverables - ## Milestones - ## Risks - ## Key Decisions - ## Communication Primary contact: Communication channel: Meeting cadence: ## Definition of Done - - - ## Next Action [Linked task] --- Meeting Notes Template # Meeting — {{Date}} ## Purpose ## Attendees ## Agenda 1. 2. 3. ## Notes ## Decisions - ## Action Items - [ ] Action - [ ] Action - [ ] Action ## Waiting On - ## Follow-up Next meeting: The action items should become actual Tasks—not remain permanently trapped inside meeting notes. --- 1-on-1 Template For client stakeholder conversations: # 1-on-1 — {{Person}} ## Check-in ## What changed? ## Current priorities ## Concerns / blockers ## Decisions ## Feedback ## Actions - [ ] ## Follow-up questions - ## Next meeting --- Personal Development Tracker Don't create another complex database. Use a simple page with linked Goals + Notes. Track: UX Skills Business Writing Communication Leadership Teaching For each: Current level What I'm learning Current practice Evidence of progress Next skill --- Decision Log This can actually live inside Notes using: Type = Decision Template: # Decision — {{Decision}} ## Context ## Decision ## Options Considered 1. 2. 3. ## Why? ## Expected Outcome ## Revisit Date ## Result ## Lesson This avoids creating another database. --- Reading List / Book Notes Use Resources for the book record. Then create a book template: # Book Notes ## Why I'm reading this ## Core thesis ## Key ideas ### Idea 1 ### Idea 2 ### Idea 3 ## Useful frameworks ## Quotes / references ## How this applies to my work ## Actions - [ ] ## Final assessment Rating: Would recommend: --- 4. WORKFLOW AND AUTOMATION SYSTEM The mistake I'd avoid is trying to automate everything. Your system should automate administration, not thinking. Automation #1 — New project Button: ＋ New Project Creates a project using your Project Brief template. --- Automation #2 — New task Button: ＋ Task Creates: Status = Inbox Priority = P2 Then you assign the project and due date. Notion buttons can create database entries and pre-populate properties. --- Automation #3 — Complete task Database button: ✓ Complete Actions: Status → Done Completed → Today Database buttons can modify properties and perform multiple actions from one click. --- Automation #4 — Weekly review Use a repeating database template. Every Friday afternoon: Weekly Review — [date] is automatically created. Notion supports recurring database templates on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly schedules. --- Automation #5 — Overdue task If you're on a plan supporting database automations: Trigger: Due date is before today AND Status ≠ Done Action: Notify yourself Database automations can use property changes or recurring triggers and perform actions automatically. But I would not create an automation for every conceivable situation. --- YOUR STATUS SYSTEM One of the biggest sources of Notion complexity is too many statuses. Use these universally where possible: Tasks Inbox Next In Progress Waiting Done Projects Backlog Planning Active Waiting Complete Archived That's enough. --- 5. THE HOME DASHBOARD This is where the system becomes genuinely useful. Your Home page: # 🏠 HOME Good morning. ## 🔥 THIS WEEK [Tasks — Due this week] ## 🚨 NEEDS ATTENTION [Overdue + At Risk projects] ## 💼 ACTIVE CLIENT WORK [Active Projects] ## ⏱ BILLABLE HOURS [Time — This week] ## ✍️ CONTENT [Blog + Case Study projects] ## 🎓 COURSE [Course project + current tasks] ## 🧠 RECENT CAPTURE [Recent Notes] --- ＋ New Task ＋ New Note ＋ Log Time ＋ New Project ## 📅 WEEKLY REVIEW [Open Review] The Home page should contain zero manually maintained information. If you find yourself typing status information into Home, you've designed it incorrectly. --- 6. CLIENT VS PERSONAL SEPARATION This is particularly important for your situation. Use: Area = Client for: Client projects Client tasks Client meetings Client time Client research And: Area = Personal for: Blog Case studies Course Professional development This means you don't need separate databases. Instead: Projects │ ├── Client │ ├── Client A │ ├── Client B │ └── Client C │ └── Personal ├── UX Blog ├── Case Studies └── UX Course That gives you separation without duplication. --- 7. COURSE MANAGEMENT Your course is large enough to deserve its own project. Create: UX Design Course inside Projects. Then create its tasks: Research course positioning Define audience Course curriculum Module 1 Module 2 Module 3 Module 4 Record lessons Edit videos Create worksheets Build landing page Beta launch Collect feedback Revise Launch Use project milestones rather than creating 30 different databases. Your Course project page should contain: # UX Design Course ## Outcome ## Current milestone ## Progress ## Tasks ## Course Notes ## Resources ## Decisions ## Launch checklist This gives the course enough structure without turning it into another Notion monster. --- 8. BLOG + CASE STUDY SYSTEM I would not automatically create a Content Calendar database. You are a solo designer publishing a relatively modest amount of content. Your Projects database can handle the workflow. Create content projects such as: Blog — Designing Better Onboarding Case Study — Acme SaaS Case Study — Fintech App Then use: Project Type = Content and create a filtered Projects view: Content Pipeline Idea ↓ Research ↓ Draft ↓ Design ↓ Edit ↓ Scheduled ↓ Published If you eventually have 20+ pieces simultaneously, then create a dedicated Content database. Don't build it now. That's a critical part of avoiding your previous problem. --- 9. DATABASE VS PAGE DECISION FRAMEWORK Before creating anything new, ask: Create a database if: There will be 10+ instances. You need filtering. You need sorting. You need properties. You need relationships. You need recurring reporting. You need multiple views. Create a normal page if: It's a dashboard. It's an instruction page. It's a reference document. It's a system guide. It contains mostly static information. Put it inside an existing database if: It is just another type of project. It is just another type of note. It is just another task. It is just another resource. This last rule will prevent your workspace from exploding again. --- 10. TEAM COLLABORATION SETUP You're primarily a solo freelancer, so don't build a team-management system you don't need. For client collaboration: Client permissions Default: Can comment rather than edit. Give edit access only where a client genuinely needs to modify content. --- Client portal If you need client-facing collaboration, create a project page with: PROJECT PORTAL Project status Current milestone Recent decisions Deliverables Feedback Upcoming meetings Action items Do not expose your internal: Time tracking Private notes Business goals Other clients Internal strategy --- Documentation standard Every project should have: Outcome Scope Status Next milestone Key decisions Current blockers Next action That's enough. --- 11. MIGRATION FROM YOUR 150+ PAGE WORKSPACE Do not manually reorganize 150 pages one by one. Start with a clean workspace structure. Then migrate only valuable information. Use this classification: KEEP Active client work. MIGRATE Important knowledge and reusable resources. ARCHIVE Completed projects and historical information. DELETE Duplicate, obsolete or meaningless pages. IGNORE Anything you haven't needed for 6–12 months. Your migration rule: > If you wouldn't search for it in the next 90 days, don't migrate it into the new operating system. Keep the old workspace read-only/archive for historical reference if necessary. --- 12. YOUR 20-MINUTE WEEKLY MAINTENANCE SYSTEM This is the most important part. You explicitly want the system maintainable in 20 minutes per week, so design around that constraint. Monday — 2 minutes Open Home. Look at: This week's tasks Active projects Overdue items No reorganizing. --- Friday — 10 minutes Minute 0–3 Process Tasks: Inbox → Next Overdue → Reschedule/Delete Done → Leave alone Minute 3–6 Review Projects: What's active? What's stuck? What's finished? Minute 6–8 Check: Billable hours Minute 8–10 Choose next week's: 3–5 outcomes --- Monthly — 10 minutes Once per month: Archive completed projects Archive completed goals Delete duplicate resources Review unused database properties Review dashboards That's it. --- 13. DATABASE HEALTH METRICS Don't measure 20 things. Monitor just five: Metric Healthy Inbox tasks <10 Overdue tasks <5 Active projects 4–8 Unprocessed notes <15 Unused databases 0 Your biggest warning signal is: Number of active projects > your actual capacity. With 4–6 simultaneous client projects plus your blog and course, I'd treat 8 active projects as the ceiling. If the course and blog are both active, you may need to consciously limit client work rather than letting Notion encourage unlimited commitments. --- 14. COMPLEXITY MANAGEMENT RULES These should become your permanent Notion rules. Rule 1 — One database before another database Ask: > Can an existing database handle this with a new property or view? If yes, don't create another database. --- Rule 2 — One task database Never create: Client Tasks Blog Tasks Course Tasks Personal Tasks Use views. --- Rule 3 — One notes database Don't create: UX Notes Client Notes Book Notes Research Notes Ideas Meeting Notes Use: Notes → Type --- Rule 4 — Dashboards are views, not storage. Never duplicate information just to make a dashboard look nice. --- Rule 5 — Don't automate decisions. Automate: creating records changing statuses recurring reviews notifications repetitive administration Don't automate: prioritization project strategy deciding what's important evaluating client relationships --- 15. YOUR IDEAL FINAL SIDEBAR After rebuilding, your sidebar should look almost embarrassingly simple: 🏠 Home ⚡ This Week 💼 Client Work └── Clients 🚀 Personal Projects ├── Blog ├── Case Studies └── Course 🧠 Knowledge ├── Notes └── Resources 🗄️ System ├── Projects ├── Tasks ├── Time ├── Goals └── Templates And importantly, you don't actually need to open most of those database pages directly. Home and This Week should do 80% of your daily work. --- 16. THE OPERATING LOOP Your entire workspace can be reduced to this: CAPTURE ↓ ┌─────────────┐ │ INBOX │ └──────┬──────┘ ↓ CLARIFY ↓ ┌─────────┴─────────┐ ↓ ↓ TASK NOTE ↓ ↓ PROJECT KNOWLEDGE ↓ EXECUTE ↓ LOG TIME ↓ COMPLETE ↓ REVIEW ↓ ARCHIVE That's your personal operating system. Not a collection of pretty Notion pages. --- 17. THE BUILD ORDER Don't attempt to build everything simultaneously. Build it in this order: Phase 1 — Foundation 1. Create the new top-level pages. 2. Create Clients. 3. Create Projects. 4. Create Tasks. 5. Create Time. Phase 2 — Knowledge 6. Create Notes. 7. Create Resources. 8. Create Goals. Phase 3 — Relationships 9. Connect Clients → Projects. 10. Connect Projects → Tasks. 11. Connect Projects → Time. 12. Connect Notes → Projects/Clients. 13. Connect Projects → Goals. Phase 4 — Views 14. Build This Week. 15. Build Today. 16. Build Active Projects. 17. Build Billable Hours. 18. Build Content. 19. Build Course. Phase 5 — Templates 20. Daily Plan. 21. Weekly Review. 22. Project Brief. 23. Meeting Notes. 24. Decision. 25. Book Notes. Phase 6 — Automation 26. New Task button. 27. Complete Task button. 28. New Project button. 29. Repeating Weekly Review. 30. Optional overdue notification. Phase 7 — Migration 31. Move active client work. 32. Move active personal projects. 33. Move important knowledge. 34. Archive everything else. --- The most important design decision Do not try to make Notion contain your entire life. For your freelance UX workflow, Notion should be the layer that answers: > What am I working on, what needs to happen next, what have I learned, and where does my time go? Your email remains email. Your calendar remains your calendar. Your accounting system remains accounting. Your file storage remains file storage. Notion becomes the orchestration layer connecting your work—not the replacement for every other application. That is what will make this system sustainable at 20 minutes of maintenance per week, rather than turning it into another 150-page project. [Notion's official database relations and rollups guide](https://www.notion.com/help/relations-and-rollups?utm_source=chatgpt.com) · [Notion's database automations guide](https://www.notion.com/en-gb/help/database-automations?utm_source=chatgpt.com) · [Notion's database buttons guide](https://www.notion.com/help/database-buttons?utm_source=chatgpt.com) · [Notion's repeating database templates guide](https://www.notion.com/en-gb/help/guides/automate-work-repeating-database-templates?utm_source=chatgpt.com)