How Do Your Tools Help You Move Forward?

 The itch to try out a new shiny app or workflow method is perhaps something of an occupational hazard for ProfHackers and others drawn to productivity improvements and lifehacking. After all, we try things out so that we can tell you whether they are worth your time. And some experimentation is a good thing.

But if something is working for you, then don’t feel like you have to change it. I’ve seen too many people think they ought to make their workflow completely digital, or go all-Google or no-Google just because they’ve heard it recommended to them.

The best tool for you is the one you will actually use — because you like it, because it fits your style or habits or aesthetics, and because it does what you need it to do.

In a post at GTD Times earlier this year, David Allen (the author of the now-famous productivity book/method/lifestyle Getting Things Done) explained what he means by calling his organizational tools “maps.” Allen says:

Any tool used to orient yourself. Where am I relative to today’s commitments? (Map = calendar.) What do I need to be aware of, as I meet with my boss? (Map = agenda list.) What should I know or be reminded of about the family vacation? (Maps = travel checklist, calendar of travel events, any plans or details about the content to review.) (source)

I really like Allen’s metaphor, because it points out that different kinds of tools serve the purpose of orienting us for different kinds of projects or actions. If I want to drive to a city 200 miles from my current location, a map of the whole United States won’t provide the right level of detail.

I also like the metaphor of a map because it foregrounds the user’s many choices: a map doesn’t tell you what to do. A map gives you an idea of the territory (range, scope, difficulty) so you can make a plan, a spontaneous detour, or a rest stop.

A map is not a GPS navigator, to which you declare I’m here, and I want to go there, and it tells you step by step what to do.  Few of us really want our calendars and task lists to be quite that annoying and intrusive.

Allen often connects GTD to his study of martial arts, suggesting that if your mind is quiet can you make powerful decisions moment to moment.

It’s too easy to fall into the fruitless quest for a Magic App that will transform everything you don’t like about your environment, habits, and productivity into sparkly unicorns waving iPads. (Or whatever you imagine the magic to look like.)

No matter how carefully you set up your calendar, your task list, your writing software, and your reminder systems, you still have to make choices. And that’s a good thing.

Do you ever find yourself searching for that one magic app? Let us know in the comments!

[Creative Commons licensed image by flickr user Rob Boudron.]