We are constantly being bombarded by thousands of tools and
apps that try to attract us to use them, that we are even
being into dilemmas about which tool should we choose. Instead
of first having a motive, then a plan about what we want to
accomplish, we try to begin with a search on Google about the
best tool. Even though there are some really good tools that
can make your work easier, usually the type of tool is not the
main culprit, but yourself, because you are trying to hide and
avoid the uncomfortable work. Don’t believe me? Let’s take
some examples.
George R.R. Martin wrote A Game of Thrones and still writes with a
DOS word-processor that most of the people haven’t even heard
about it before, including myself: WordStar. Ryan Holiday is a
media strategist, a best selling author who is only at his
twenties that uses a simple piece of
paper for managing his tasks. Cal Newport has a full-time job as a
professor at Georgetown University and he is the author of
four books, and blogs regularly about productivity and expert
performance and also writes six (or more) peer-reviewed
academic journal papers per year, but
uses Gmail to plan his week in advance.
A screenshot from WordStar
Why are they doing this? Haven’t they heard about Microsoft
Word 2013, Scrivener, Evernote, Wunderlist or Todoist? I don’t
think so.
Somebody
asked on Quora:
How can I use my smartphone to increase my
productivity?
One of the most upvoted answers was:
I have found endless productive uses for my smart phone and iPad. But the most productive was the off button.
The important lesson here is that the type of app or the tool
in general is not the most important means for doing the job;
it’s actually your determination and commitment associated
with a plan that usually lead to great achievements.
Therefore, are you trying to find the perfect tool, or are you
simply sabotaging your goals and responsibilities?