We all know the guy I mean. At the golf club, the gym, or at work. He’s the guy with the brand new set of clubs, the crisply ironed gym kit, and the top of the range PDA. He’s also the guy who can’t hit the ball, can’t operate the weight machine, and whose work is embarrassingly poor. All the gear and no idea.
Every work place and sports club has one. In fact every group of friends or wider family set has one. It is the person who thinks that the best kit equates to the best performance. That your tennis shots improve when you have a more expensive racket. That you are more likely to be promoted when you wear a designer suit to work.
Now whilst we can all tut and laugh at such characters, there is something innate in all of us that likes to take refuge in material things. I have nothing against material things, but they are comfortable place to go – it is a lot easier to buy a new pair of running shoes than it is to run an extra day-a-week. And all of us do this in some aspect of our lives.
In particular, those of us interested in boosting our productivity have a dangerous road to cross. You see, the more ethereal a concept is, the more gadgets, tools, and frameworks there are for you to use a crutch, or blame as a cause. And boy have we got a load in productivity and GTD…
How many times have you changed how you manage your to do lists? Have you used Remember the Milk? What about Toodledo? Omnifocus? And Things? Teux Deux looks good doesn’t it…
And you use GTD right? What about the Covey system? Have you looked at Zen to Done? But then there is Inbox Zero too.
Do you manage all this in a nice new Moleskin? Or iPhone? Or have you moved to Android because it is fractionally quicker? Did you buy an iPad because it would revolutionise your productivity?
I openly admit that I am guilt as sin in this respect. I genuinely think there is merit is changing parts of your system occasionally purely to keep it fresh, but I also know that I am the first in line at the Apple store, and have whored my way around the world’s productivity software vendors. But what I will say is that I try very hard to make sure I do that next action.
Because that is all that really matters – having all the gear is not a problem. As long at you do that next action.
