I didn't really understand org-mode for a long time either - my problem was that I would read tutorials which gave very detailed descriptions about the various theoretical abilities of org-mode, which are like tools, but left up to the reader the task of determining an overall "goal" or workflow to be accomplished using these tools. So I ended up just working in a single org-mode file, not really understanding which tools I might like to use, how I could use it as an organizational system.
For me, the lightbulb moment came from a couple of blog posts called "Building a Second Brain in Emacs and Org-Mode" [0][1], which outlined an actual workflow (based on Getting Things Done or GTD [1]) and explained how org-mode enhanced it. If you follow along, you may find it helpful to see the author's actual emacs configuration (especially the parts that relate to org-mode) [3], the templates he uses to create projects and e.g. weekly reviews [4], and a talk he gave at an Emacs meetup about his workflow. It could be a little more organized in a single place, but this is the best "tutorial" I've ever found about org-mode.
After implementing this myself, I've found that I use certain parts of it a lot, and other parts not at all. I also found that I prefer to periodically refile org-mode notes into a "knowledge repository" (a series of text files in my org-mode directory), rather than in evernote as suggested, and that this is best managed/browsed (for me) using Deft [6] rather than org-mode itself. So I've also managed to extend the system for my preferences a bit.
Sorry for the brain dump - hopefully this answers your question a bit.
For me, the lightbulb moment came from a couple of blog posts called "Building a Second Brain in Emacs and Org-Mode" [0][1], which outlined an actual workflow (based on Getting Things Done or GTD [1]) and explained how org-mode enhanced it. If you follow along, you may find it helpful to see the author's actual emacs configuration (especially the parts that relate to org-mode) [3], the templates he uses to create projects and e.g. weekly reviews [4], and a talk he gave at an Emacs meetup about his workflow. It could be a little more organized in a single place, but this is the best "tutorial" I've ever found about org-mode.
After implementing this myself, I've found that I use certain parts of it a lot, and other parts not at all. I also found that I prefer to periodically refile org-mode notes into a "knowledge repository" (a series of text files in my org-mode directory), rather than in evernote as suggested, and that this is best managed/browsed (for me) using Deft [6] rather than org-mode itself. So I've also managed to extend the system for my preferences a bit.
Sorry for the brain dump - hopefully this answers your question a bit.
[0] https://praxis.fortelabs.co/building-a-second-brain-in-emacs...
[1] https://medium.com/@tasshin/implementing-a-second-brain-in-e...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done
[3] https://github.com/mwfogleman/.emacs.d
[4] https://gist.github.com/mwfoglemanhttps://github.com/mwfogle...
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpmkeh4D98s
[6] https://github.com/jrblevin/deft