Notion Mastery Review: The Single Best Investment I’ve Made In Myself

1K

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I'll get a commission if you decide to purchase through my links, at NO extra cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Last updated on February 11th, 2025

When I grow up, I want to be like Marie Poulin. She seems to have perfected mindful productivity and intentional wellness using Notion in the way I hope to one day master.

When I was looking into joining a Notion course to improve my workspaces, I never thought it would change the way I look at my life. I have been using Notion for a few years, but it wasn’t until Marie that I started using Notion, as it was supposed to be used.

In this Notion Mastery review, I am going to show you why Marie Poulin’s course is the best Notion course online and possibly the best investment you can make in yourself.

Let’s dive in.

Who runs Notion Mastery?

Notion Mastery is run by Marie Poulin and Benjamin Borowski – some of the friendliest, most helpful course creators I have come across.

Play

Marie Poulin

Marie, the visionary behind Notion Mastery, is not just a digital strategist and Notion expert. She’s a passionate advocate for helping people build systems that support their goals and personal growth. With her extensive experience in design, productivity, and workflow systems, Marie is dedicated to helping you build Notion systems that suit your needs.

Marie is such a delight to learn from, and I hope to one day think the way she does when it comes to systems thinking & design (more on that below).

She makes the messy world of productivity & personal development manageable and even fun! And because of her, I got a refreshing perspective on female productivity that’s almost never seen in the online world (more on that below, too).

FUN FACT: Marie was one of the first Notion Ambassadors, and she contributed immensely to the early growth of the company. (Now, who wouldn’t want to learn from someone like that?)

Benjamin Borowski

Ben is an official Notion Ambassador and certified Notion consultant. As the brain behind the Formula Fundamentals course, he is the go-to guy in the membership for anything related to Notion formulas. He’s also a Notion for Teams specialist, so if you’re looking to implement it in a larger business, he’s the person you want to talk to.

I once thought about becoming a Notion consultant myself. But, after reading one of Ben’s newsletters where he shared the real behind-the-scenes of what it’s like, I realized it wasn’t what I expected. His honest insights in areas I’m curious about have made learning from him incredibly valuable.

Who is Notion Mastery For?

Notion Mastery should really be called Life Mastery because you learn about so much more than just how to use Notion.

If you’re interested in any of the following, then this course is a perfect fit for you:

• Building effective workflows & processes for yourself so you can show up better in your business and personal life
• Organization of Notion workspaces so your space is something you actually want to come back to
• Learning more about yourself and improving self-awareness
• Designing habits and productive routines to get the life you want
• Building and selling Notion templates

What do you get in the Notion Mastery membership?

The course covers 4 tracks across 4 levels. As you advance through each level, you gradually customize your Notion workspaces to suit your needs.

Here is what you will get access to once you join:

• Demo days to stay on top of latest Notion features
• Weekly office hours – direct one-to-one help from helpful and friendly Notion ambassadors who know what they’re talking about
• Monthly trainings about Notion, personal development, and productivity
• Circle community to get your questions answered anytime
• Weekly reviews every Friday to set up your upcoming week for success

Here’s a snapshot of the video library.

Test out the course content

If you want to try out the course without spending too much, check out the two trainings below that are included with the membership.

After these workshops, the audience had such great feedback that Ben and Marie decided to offer them separately so that people could get a taste of the course content.

If you decide to buy one of the workshops, you’ll get a coupon that you can use for your Notion Mastery membership if you want to upgrade later.

• Capacity Planning Workshop – break the cycle of overcommitting, overworking, and generally overdoing it. Develop your own criteria for saying “yes” to new projects, better visualize your commitments, and make a plan for narrowing that gap between your intentions and output.
• Principles of Dashboarding – Learn to build dashboards from scratch with tools and strategies to create effective, visually appealing dashboards that enhance your productivity and collaboration.

If you’d like a sneak peek into Marie’s Notion system – the same one that she uses to teach you how to build yours – you can check out her latest talk at Make With Notion, where she highlights how Notion can be used as a curiosity engine.

Play

How has my life changed since joining Notion Mastery?

When I started, I just thought I would learn how to use Notion to create and sell notion templates. But what I got out of it, and am still getting, is so much more.

Here are a few ways my life has changed for the better since joining Marie and Ben’s membership.

1. Habit tracking no longer pressures me to be perfect

Marie has taught me that tracking your daily practices, moods, and energy levels isn’t about having a perfect streak. It’s more about approaching your daily life from a place of curiosity and getting to know yourself better.

What insights can you gain about yourself along the way?

For example, I’ve noticed that my entire day tends to be more productive when I get in my early morning workout. As much as I hate getting out of my bed before sunrise, seeing evidence of how great my day was after hitting the gym the last time motivates me the next time I feel like pressing snooze.

While you may know some of these things at a subconscious level, seeing direct evidence of how they impact your day is hard to ignore.

“What gets measured gets improved” ~ Peter Drucker

2. I no longer feel guilty for my monthly fluctuations in energy & productivity levels

Notion Mastery was the first time I got to experience a female perspective on productivity.

I have been in the personal development world for a few years now, and it’s flooded with men preaching about grit, discipline, and grinding 24/7. There’s no room for imperfection or even a bad day.

I always felt like crap about this because a woman’s energy and mood levels fluctuate throughout the month, so no matter how much discipline and grit I used, I couldn’t fight my own biology. 

When I met Marie, it was the first time that I felt validated for those fluctuations because she went through them, too.

Instead of guilt-tripping people for not being 100% productive all the time, she acknowledges the “seasons” we go through while still encouraging us to be our best selves.

Below is a screenshot of my “monthly scores” in my Notion journal. This score is based on how many habits I get done for the day. Good habits give me more points, and bad habits deduct points. This gamification of habits is also something that Marie teaches inside the Notion Mastery course material.

Once upon a time, I used to beat myself up over the day-to-day fluctuations. But Marie taught me to zoom out and look at the big picture (i.e., trends over a longer time period) to understand that it’s just a part of the seasonality of life.

This refreshing shift in perspective and the validation that it’s okay to be different is probably my favorite aspect of this program.

3. I no longer feel ashamed when I can’t follow someone else’s system exactly

I read alot of productivity and personal development books. And my biggest hurdle was trying to force myself into following their systems without considering if it was a right fit for me. When that didn’t work, I blamed myself, thinking something was wrong with me.

Marie taught me that it’s okay to take bits and pieces of someone else’s systems that work for me without needing to box myself into their rules.

A great example is Tiago Forte’s PARA system. I tried using it in Notion but ran into limitations, so I abandoned it completely, even though I really liked the concept.

Play

Then Marie showed how to adapt a looser definition of PARA for Notion (more details in the video above). As a person who tends to default to an all-or-nothing kind of mindset, this was mindblowing.

Since then, I have read nonfiction books differently. Instead of trying to adapt the whole system to my life, I have learned to take what I need and leave the rest without feeling guilty or shameful about it.

4. I now value trial periods and testing to find what works best

As a naturally born perfectionist, I want my work to be flawless from the beginning. But Notion doesn’t work that way.

Building in Notion involves a lot of trial and error. It’s not something you can create once and leave; even now, I tweak workspaces I thought were finished as I notice friction points while using them.

Marie calls these “feedback loops,” and Notion Mastery has taught me to embrace this trial and error as a part of the process and to see it as an essential part of refining my system rather than something to be afraid of.

5. Systems thinking & design have changed how I solve problems

If you’re not familiar with systems design and thinking, don’t worry. Neither was I before I started Notion Mastery.

Basically, Systems thinking & design is about understanding how different parts of a system fit together to make a whole and creating designs that help everything work smoothly as one unit.

I always used Notion as a slightly more glorified version of Google Docs. Sure, they’re databases that do all kinds of fancy things, but I never thought about building an interconnected, well-oiled system that truly served me. My frustration with Notion led me to seek courses because I felt like I was at the tool’s mercy and couldn’t make it do what I needed.

That’s when Marie taught me that sometimes we search for technical solutions or new tools to be more productive, but the real issue often lies in the underlying systems we use. A fancy new tool can’t fix a broken system. No matter how great Notion is, it can’t do its job if the system you’re giving it is flawed.

Thanks to Marie’s expertise in workflow design and systems thinking, I learned to focus on building a solid foundation that aligns with how my brain works rather than against it. This drastically changed how I look at my processes in life and business.

6. I’ve saved money by building Notion templates that fit my needs instead of constantly buying ones that don’t

Have you ever bought Notion templates and gotten frustrated that they weren’t built to fit how your brain works?

This was a common problem for me, and it goes back to my point above about trying to box myself into another person’s system & workflow.

The only solution was to build templates myself, which this course helped me with.

Don’t get me wrong, templates are great for saving time, and creating templates yourself is definitely the long route. But at the end of the day, you can build something that serves YOU.

6. My Notion dashboards have never looked prettier

I have always watched Notion workspace walkthroughs on YouTube or seen Pinterest images and wondered how on earth the creators got their dashboards to look so pretty and aesthetic.

After observing how Marie set up her workspace and going through her Principles of Dashboarding and Workspace Design workshops, I finally got my workspace to look the way I wanted.

Here are two before and after shots of my Pinterest and Content Hubs.

My Pinterest Hub before Notion Mastery

My Pinterest Hub after Notion Mastery

My Content Hub before Notion Mastery

My Content Hub after Notion Mastery

Pros of Notion Mastery

Here are my favorite things about Marie Poulin’s course:

1. Learning from a small team

You interact directly with Ben & Marie for personalized support.

And there’s just something about that level of intimate support that makes the whole experience that much more meaningful, and you don’t feel like just another random student.

2. Access to Notion Ambassadors

Learning from Notion ambassadors like Ben and Marie is incredibly valuable.

Not only do you receive up-to-date information on the latest Notion features, but you learn to push Notion to its limits while still tailoring it to your specific needs.

3. Affordable pricing

Given the tremendous value I’ve gotten since joining, I was surprised that this course isn’t priced in the thousands.

Payment plans and parity pricing options are available as well.

4. More than just Notion

While you do get to learn how to use Notion, you also learn about productivity, personal development, and building efficient business systems.

One of my favorite trainings, which had nothing to do with Notion, was the Capacity Planning workshop. It was a huge eye-opener for those of us who always overestimate how much time we have to take care of the things that matter.

5. Female-centric perspective on productivity

As I mentioned above, learning from Marie, who understands things like energy changes and menstrual cycles, has been refreshing. I’ve started to feel less guilt and shame for not always being 100% productive.

6. Workspace flexibility

Marie loves to geek out on her Notion workspaces, and while I can only dream of achieving her level of complexity, the course material allows you to build your workspace as simple or as complex as you like, without any pressure.

For example, Marie uses Notion heavily for project management because she works with a team. I found it hard for a solopreneur like me to use all her bells and whistles, mainly because I was spending more time logging the tasks than actually completing them.

So, I scaled mine down to a simpler version where I manage most of my tasks using a mindmap tool and my Agendio paper planner.

7. Great student support

I am a part of a lot of membership communities, but I don’t always like to engage inside them (blame the introvert in me). But the Notion Mastery community is the only one I have bookmarked in Google Chrome & one I always check and post in almost every day. The members are friendly, innovative, and hilarious.

The community support from the course creators is also great. I’ll never forget when Marie answered my question in Circle with a super lengthy response with screenshots, detailed paragraphs, and even screen recordings. I was so blown away.

It’s nice to know how much they care about making sure you understand everything.

8. Feedback is valued

I’ve seen in past trainings where they’ve adjusted and added new course material based on student feedback. It’s comforting to know that my responses are read and valued when I fill out the feedback forms.

9. No need for the paid Notion version

You don’t need the paid version of Notion to succeed in this course. While you might require it to upload larger files or use database automations, most users can comfortably get by with the free version.

I’ve been using the free version since day one, and I don’t feel I’m missing anything—though this might vary for team users.

Cons of Notion Mastery

I had to really think hard to find any downsides to this course, and even then, the one I found isn’t a big deal for most people.

The primary course material is text. But there are ALOT of supplemental images, training videos, workshops, and screen recordings throughout the course to help out those who are visual learners. Even though I prefer video lectures, I found the course easy to follow because of all the helpful diagrams and videos.

Now, there is a catch you should know about, which Marie also mentions on her Notion Mastery sales page – you have to put in the work to build a Notion system that works for you, and that takes time. So, if you’re looking for a quick fix, this course isn’t for you.

Joining this program won’t magically change your life overnight, but if you’re patient and willing to put in the work, you’ll be amazed at how much your business and life can improve.

Notion Mastery’s Pricing

You get a one-year membership for $799, which includes access to everything, including the Formula Fundamentals course by Ben.

If you’re interested in just learning about Notion formulas, then you can purchase the Formula Fundamentals course separately.

Payment plans are also available for persons who are interested in that.

Is Notion Mastery worth it?

In short, heck yes!

How do you think about your life in an intentional and effective way, and how do you use Notion to support that?

This is the question that Notion Mastery answers, and if you’re interested in answering it for yourself, then this course is more than worth it.

Conclusion

Marie’s course blends three things I love—productivity, self-improvement, and Notion—in a way that delivers actual, everyday results. And I feel like I found the course at just the right time when I was ready to learn and grow, both personally and for my business.

If this sounds like something you need, then I hope this Notion Mastery course review has encouraged you to give it a try. It might just be the best investment you make in yourself.