We’ve talked several times about the trap of getting caught up using productivity tools. Before you know it, you are spending too much time looking for new tools, and tweaking existing ones, instead of just using them to be productive.
On the other hand, tools can become stale to us over time. Some of us need to occasionally experiment to find a tool that makes it easier for us to be more productive. Or, even if it doesn’t make it easier, it is “cool enough” to give you that extra little kick in the butt to get more done.
I was reminded of this recently when I added the Remember The Milk Gadget to Gmail. I use Gmail as the home page in all of my browsers, and I keep one window (or tab) of it open at all times. So, having RTM integrated with Gmail just made it so much easier to use RTM for adding new tasks and for managing the ones I have.
This made me think back over other software I have used, and I recalled having liked Basecamp for project management. I got away from using it because it had more power than I felt I needed. But, as I have thought about it some more, I think I have not been challenging myself with enough projects. So, I have gone back to using Basecamp, and its “coolness” (simple interface, lots of features) is helping motivate me to do more.
In my case, doing more is a good thing … with me being retired, it’s just too easy to decide that I really don’t have to do anything, and to let that keep me from being as active as I should be. In your case, you probably already have too much that you have to do, in which case a cool tool might just help you better manage it. Provided of course that you don’t get too caught up in “worshipping and tweaking” the tool.