I've Tried Notion Three Times. Here's Why It Finally Worked.

By Courtney Carpenter, Founder — BlackSheep Strategic Advisory

I have undiagnosed ADHD, one client, a half-built website, and until Monday — absolutely no business systems to speak of.

I'd tried Notion before. Twice. Maybe three times. Each time I'd open it, stare at the blank canvas, watch a YouTube tutorial about someone's "perfect productivity setup" with seventeen databases and linked views and colour-coded everything, and quietly close the tab.

It wasn't that I didn't want a system. It's that every system I found was built for a brain that works differently to mine. Rigid. Complex. Optimised for someone who has already figured everything out and just needs somewhere to put it.

My brain doesn't work like that. And if yours doesn't either — this is for you.

The Actual Problem With Most Business Systems

Most business advice assumes you need more structure. More categories. More places to put things.

What neurodivergent business owners usually need is the opposite.

Less. Simpler. Just enough to be useful — and no more.

The system that works is not the most comprehensive one. It's the one you'll actually open on a Tuesday morning when your brain is already halfway somewhere else.

I had to learn that the hard way. Three abandoned Notion workspaces hard.

What I Built Instead

On Monday I sat down and built the simplest possible system. Four pages. Nothing more.

🧠 Brain Dump — one page, no structure, no rules. I open it and type. Thoughts, ideas, observations, things that annoyed me, things clients said. It's a mess and that's the point. This is where content comes from. This is where the thinking lives before it's ready to be anything.

📋 Today — three sections. What matters today. What's in progress. What's done. I look at this when I start work. That's it.

👥 Clients — one page per client. Who they are, what's active, what's next. Right now that's two entries. It'll grow when I need it to.

✍️ Content Bank — where Brain Dump ideas graduate to when they're ready to become posts. A simple list with a status. Ready to post. Needs work. Posted.

No databases. No linked views. No automations. No colour coding. Nothing that requires a tutorial to understand.

Twenty minutes to set up. Actually used it every day since.

Why Simple Works for a Neurodivergent Brain

Here's what I've learned after years of watching complex systems collapse under the weight of themselves:

The enemy of consistency isn't laziness. It's friction.

Every extra step between you and the thing you need to do is a place where your brain can detour. Every dropdown, every template, every "what category does this go in" decision is cognitive load that adds up faster than you think.

The system that works is the one with the least friction between the thought and the place it lives.

For me that's four pages and a rule: if I won't open it daily, it doesn't exist.

The One Thing Before You Build Anything

Before you set up a single tool, answer this question:

What is the one thing that's costing me the most time or energy right now?

Not "what system do I need." Not "what would a productive person have." What specific friction, right now, is slowing you down?

Build for that. Only that. Add more later when you hit the next wall.

That's it. That's the whole methodology.

Systems aren't about building the perfect setup. They're about removing the specific thing that's in your way — and nothing more.

Start smaller than feels right. You can always add.

You cannot always subtract.

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Courtney Carpenter is the founder of BlackSheep Strategic Advisory. She works with business owners who are ready to stop carrying the noise and start making clean decisions. Start with a clarity conversation at weareblacksheep.com.au