As an avid user of new technology, this post from 43 Folders hit a bit too close to home:
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 benefited 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.
I’ve been working on my personal productivity solution for several weeks now, and I think I’ve gotten it down enough to share it with you (in a post later this week) — so long as I quit looking at amazing apps like Backpack, Sproutliner, Tasktoy, GTDTiddliWiki, etc. The tools I have now are enough. And I’m making the resolution now (a la this great advice from Steve Pavlina) to stick with what I’ve got for the next 30 days to make sure it works, before looking for the next best thing.
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