Stop doing and start...doing?

Wait! What? That doesn't even make sense. Or does it? Ok, now I'm even confusing myself. Let's see if we can unravel my thoughts here.

First off I've mentioned before (here as well as other platforms) that I am guilty of running to the next "new" thing. Usually this involves apps for my phone and/or iPad. I've tried multiple apps for todo's, food tracking, note taking, social media posting, journaling and a host of other categories. I'm ashamed to think of the amount of money I've spent on different apps and different ways to track daily functions (oh yeah....habit tracking is another category).

Currently, my routine hasn't changed much as of late. I'm still using a pocket notebook for notes, todo's, grocery list items, etc. I still use the app Today for repeat items (medicines, bills, etc). I use Day One for digital journaling (still worried about people reading my physical one). Even though I feel like I have a good routine down, I still battle the need and desire to try out different apps.

What I had to realize a while back is that changing apps all the time made me appear a lot busier than I was. I was so busy transferring all my tasks from one app to another. Changing my notes from Obsidian to Apple Notes to Bear. I wasn't as busy as I thought. I had a lot of anxiety but wasn't busy. As a matter of fact I wasn't being productive at all. At the end of the day, I had just as many items on my todo list as I did when I started the day. Why? Instead of banging out that report for my boss, I was too busy transferring a list of items from Todoist to Apple Reminders. The next day I would read an article about Things 3 and I had to run and try it. So now, I've wasted two days transferring reminders around. Instead of actually doing things, I was too busy doing other things.

Thus the title of this post. At some point in time, I had to stop doing this. I had to stop switching apps all the time. Once I found an app that works for me and the way my brain thinks, why should I change? The other app may work great for someone else. It might be the best app for their workflow. That doesn't mean its the best for mine. My brain doesn't work like other people's. I don't like having reminders set up for a specific time. As I've said before, if I have an item that's due today, it's not necessarily driven by time. It doesn't have to be done at a certain time of the day. As long as it gets done today, we are good. Not everyone thinks like that. Some people need time based reminders and that's fine.

The key here is to find what works for you and start doing more. Stop doing the app change. And start doing the stuff that will move the needle forward in your life.