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Back to basics - you don't need all these apps to be productive

It's easy to get lost in a whirlwind of productivity apps...

By Mark EllisPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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We live in an amazing world that is full of wonderful productivity tools.

Arguably, we’ve never had such direct access to systems, processes and software that are designed to help us get more stuff done. Take one look on your app store of choice and there’s a wealth of options, all of which promise to make you more productive than you ever thought possible.

There’s just one issue: it’s possible to have too many of these tools. So many, in fact, that you never get anything done. Rather than become more productive, you spend more time installing, setting up and tweaking these apps in a bid to make them make you more efficient.

It’s a false economy, most of the time. Sure, sometimes you strike gold and find a tool that works for you straight out of the box, but ask yourself this: how many times have you downloaded an app to help raise your productivity and spent more time configuring it than getting stuff done?

I was struck by this blog post from Cal Newport. Cal is the author of Deep Work and a respected productivity expert, and in the blog notes how simple his productivity system are.

I think we can learn a lot from his approach.

Simple notebooks

If you’ve already gone back to pens and notebooks for organising your daily to-dos, having spent time in the digital productivity realm, you’re probably a convert.

Keeping it simple is vital when it comes to planning each day and capturing ideas. You don’t need a fancy app, and you definitely don’t need one that ties you into a costly monthly subscription.

Cal now uses a simple Black n’ Red notebook which provides two spiral-bound pages to work on each day. And he uses nearly every square inch to capture tasks and notes, with plenty of room for changes.

A pen and a piece of paper - that’s all you need. It’s this kind of thing that defines the difference between productivity apps and systems.

Plain text file print outs

The paperless office is an impossible dream. But it’s also a needless one; there’s nothing wrong with paper if it’s used correctly.

This is presumably why Cal isn’t averse to printing out simple plain text files that contain his weekly plans. He’ll even revise and reprint them several times each week if he needs to.

It’s easy to get lost in complex word processing apps, when a simple text file might be all you need.

Email yourself

No, really - try it.

Cal ensures he gets started on temporary plans by emailing himself each week (sometimes as many as six times).

It makes sense when you think about it. We react when we receive an email from someone we know; we’ll reply, file or action it in some way.

This means you’ll instantly recognise an email you’ve sent yourself, and are probably more likely to action whatever it is contained within.

It’s a brilliant way to keep yourself aligned in the right direction, and follows the same rules and benefits as setting time aside for yourself in your diary each day.

Wrapping up

Try and keep your daily tasks, goals and notes as simple as possible.

If going the digital route works best for you, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, equally, if you find that a simple ‘old-fashioned’ pen and paper is more productive, don’t feel like you’re somehow letting the side down.

Keeping things simple and going back to basics often delivers far better results in terms of productivity than the constant pursuit of the next miracle productivity app. Because it doesn’t - and will never - exist.

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About the Creator

Mark Ellis

Content marketer, blogger, podcaster and video maker.

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