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Because buying new running shoes is more fun than actually running
Merlin Mann | May 18 2005
We’re fortunate right now to see so many great tools emerging to help people get their act together. Products like 37 Signals’ Backpack and TaDaList are beautifully constructed, entirely usable, and have an amazingly high sense of fit and finish. It doesn’t go without saying that these products are also very fun to use. At the same time, a clever little app like GTDTiddlyWiki comes along that’s lightweight, portable, and is also very fun to use. And, although I haven’t played with Trumba or Sproutliner much yet, I understand they’re both turning a lot of heads and are—you guessed it—very fun to use. These are all Good Things, and I couldn’t be happier that the quality of tools we’re seeing is so consistently high. Kudos, tool persons. You have all done a good job. Still, as attracted as all we users naturally are to adopting these new apps, I have a growing concern that I want to share. And while it’s not directly related to these particular products, I do think it goes to important attitudes we have about seeing tools as panaceas for our productivity and time-management problems. My concern is that there’s a big difference between buying new running shoes and actually hitting the road every morning. Big difference. One is really fun and relaxing while the other requires a lot of hard work, diligence, and sacrifice. Ultimately, the tools that we choose for any purpose will only be as useful as our ability to use them effectively and to understand what their improved quality means to the way we approach our work (as well as the challenges that led us to seek out these new tools). You can buy a successively more costly and high-quality series of claw hammers until you’ve reached the top of the line, but until you learn how to use them skillfully, you’re going to keep making ugly bird houses. Understand: this is coming from the world’s biggest fan of productivity pr0n, and, as ever, I make no apology for my love of anything that pretends to make me more effective (or involves buying a new notebook, of course). But I think it’s critical to understand the difference between using something because it’s fun and pretty versus understanding what behaviors and habits it can help you to improve. These above-mentioned products all have huge amounts of potential for each of us, but without personal insight into what they’re meant to improve, they’re just distracting toys. No tool can save you from your own crap behavior, so as you approach these great new apps—and I hope you’ll at least check them out if you haven’t—please try to do it with a bit of perspective about how or why the old tools were not working for you. Consider the patterns that you can observe about how you do your best work and which tasks have benefitted from a certain tool or approach in the past. And, finally, as you start to choose one new, dedicated tool to improve your productivity, be circumspect about the amount of pure “dicking around” time that you spend. Yes: learn the tool well and understand its functions and limitations, but avoid the temptation to blow a week moving “your system” into the Next Shiny Product until you really understand how you’ll be better off having used it. Don’t fiddle endlessly, just because it’s fun. That’s not running; that’s just playing with your shoes. Making improvements means change and often pain along the way. It’s hard to get better, and good tools like these can definitely ease the journey. I guess I'm proposing you try to understand yourself at least as well as the widget you’re hoping will turn things around. 39 Comments
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![]() Sometimes the "dicking around" is...Submitted by Richard (not verified) on May 18, 2005 - 11:06am.
Sometimes the "dicking around" is a part of the process, a warm up. I know, this sounds like a rationalization and I'm sure it could be and is abused but I also think certain seemingly non-productive rituals are important. I have a friend who's a professional musician. Over the years I've noticed that when he gets a big commission he takes apart, cleans, and rebuilds his entire recording studio before getting started. I mean, yes, it needs a cleaning but why then? Well, maybe to build up time pressure, maybe to go through a mindless routine so his mind can start to work, or maybe just to touch everything that he is about to spend two months immersed in. Maybe he just needs to clean and redo the studio quarterly and just get to work when he gets a big commission but he tells me he tried that and for one reason or another it did not work for him. I tell that story because I find myself doing the same kinds of things at times and beat myself up for it as rationalization. But, sometimes, rituals like this are part of a process, call it a warm up or pre-work work. Of course, there is nothing like doing and I would argue that a warm up is doing as well. The question is, when does the dicking around stop and the warm up begin and then, the "real" doing? I suppose one could rationalize one's life since birth as a warm up if one wanted to (and one wants to at times). » POSTED IN:
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