Apps: The Time-Saving Paradox (#4)

I have Evernote, SMemo, Any.do, Stickynotes, Calender, and Smart Voice Recorder on the first two screens on my phone.  And I still didn’t get much work done when I came home last night.  Actually, let me clarify.  I sent off some emails, put the rest in archived folders, and deleting extraneous downloads and setup files on my computer.  On the way home, I put deep thought into which apps I use most to move to the front page (Flipboard or Snapchat? Definitely Flipboard), and, within that page, moved Facebook and Music Player (the top picks, of course) to the place where my thumb most naturally hovers.  So, I did no real work after work yesterday.

That day was a bit extreme, but not so unusual that I failed to realize a trap I fall into, that I think much of the young professional world is drifting toward.  We are obsessed with saving time to the point that we don’t care if we’re taking seconds to shave off milliseconds. We feel like we have no spare time…so we use it poorly, as a reflex.  This extends from our myriad task management strategies (I’ve seen friends write on themselves, carry around a whiteboard in their bags, put sticky notes everywhere, and worse).  Seriously, the hundreds of hours spent designing and integrating weather widgets is probably greater than the time people save vs. touching the app (…or sticking their heads out the window).  I believed I've reached the limit of time-saving apps.

What I mean is, apps are great.  So is the internet.  So is device syncing and streaming from the cloud and SD cards that can store a million articles for you to read later.  But none of these save as much time as goal-setting and focus.  If I had just closed every other window last night, I would have gotten through those stat software tutorials.  I don’t need the Self Control App, I just need self control.

I made a rough list to set priorities, to constrain my options as the tech world insists on giving me more every year.  I won’t tell you how to live your life, but I do better when I follow rules like these:

1. Do not let yourself call organizing work.  That’s a copout.

2. Unplug at some point every day, not because cell phones are giving you cancer or carpal tunnel, but because you’re human, and it’s alright that you can’t resist your devices.

3.  Don’t allow more than ~5 tasks to accumulate on a note app each day (put the low priority ones somewhere else), and aim to complete just over half of them.  You don’t need the stress of clearing a self-memo, or an inbox, every single day.  In fact, just delete that one that will take a month right now.

Keep it reasonable, organize it once, and Nike.