The Beach Principle of productivity

I am a nerd. I like productivity. I like fiddling with computers. This is a lethal combination both for my productivity and the health of my computers.

There’s always a new tip for how to organize something or a new piece of software to install and learn. A magic bullet that will unleash the magic power of my mind, focusing it like the sun through a giant magnifying glass, burning sloth and inefficiency into crumbling dust.

But that magic bullet doesn’t exist. No matter what technology you use, you are still you.

Which isn’t to say everything is hopeless and you should just curl into fetal position among the heaps of scrawled sticky notes in your office. There are good habits that help, like Getting Things Done and mindfulness. But those are habits that come from within, not from a particular piece of technological whiz-bangery.

My job is also a bit weird in that I’ll spend a lot of time doing certain tasks, like building websites, for a while, then switch over to something completely different, like project management, for a while. The fiddlier and flashier the workflow, the harder it is to get back into after some time away.

So my new rule is: I will not adopt any software or productivity scheme I will not remember how to use after spending a month on a beach.