You Waste More Time on Productivity Tools…
The other evening Tony and I were sitting watching TV and, as usual, I had my laptop in my lap. Tony glanced over and asked what I was working on. I mentioned that I was testing a new productivity program, to which he responded, “You waste more time on productivity tools.” I can’t say he’s wrong…
I enjoy staying busy and working on a variety of things. As such, I have a penchant for wanting to be organized and maximize my effectiveness. Over the years, I’ve tried a myriad of systems, none of which has been quite right for me.
How had I come upon this one? I read an article that talked about productivity tools for visual learners. This, in part, was one of the gaps in the previous systems. They were all very linear. This one spoke of color coding and a myriad of visual displays of data. Beyond this, the developer shared that he’d built the program because he couldn’t find anything that worked for him.
What piqued my interest were the methodologies upon which he based the application. He talked about leveraging The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, Measure What Matters by John Doerr, Getting Things Done by David Allen, and The Eisenhower Matrix. I draw upon each of these works in my own practice. So I was curious as to how they might interplay in a single application.
While I’ve just begun to delve into the system, I do appreciate that it starts with having you think about your vision…what is the life you are trying to create. That said, I am cognizant of Tony’s warning not to “waste time” on this tool. As I mentioned in the opening, I am well aware that I have a weakness for programs that promise to make my life easier. So, rather than my usual approach of a deep dive immersing myself in this new “pretty, shiny object,” I am going to take my time dabbling with this as my current schedule permits. Only time will tell if this “productivity tool” is yet another waste of time.
What are the things that you find yourself drawn to, those things that seem to suck you in and consume your attention?
