Having a pleasant, tidy environment to work in is one of the best things you could give yourself. However, many don’t adhere to this regarding their tech, specifically their Apple and Mac systems.
Transcript
Over the years I've seen hundreds, no, thousands, multiple thousands of Macs. I mean, I've been doing this for over 30 years.
So I've seen thousands of Macs and how people work on them. And one common feature, not with everybody, with the vast majority, I would probably put it up to like 95% of those people.
There's only a small portion of that percentage that actually knows how to file.
Now, I'm not saying that the people themselves are untidy not at all, but when it comes to their computers and their Mac, it seems like their documents are everywhere.
They don't know where they've filed their work there. I mean, I've had clients that say, I just file it in the app. Well, the app isn't filing it per se.
It's actually being filed somewhere, but they don't really know where that somewhere is.
The email's being all over the place. Not knowing what task managers to use. Even though the Mac comes with actually a really good one, especially now, actually. It's pretty good. So it's a pretty big mess in a way.
However, they still have a system. And as you know, I hate systems, but when I say system, I mean the way they work.
They have a way of working and it has worked for them. But what they don't realise and they really just don't realise is how much time you're wasting by not knowing some of this stuff.
It's always good to have a basic understanding of how things work before you use them.
Now, we know how computers work because we just type on them. But there's so much to that. There's so much depth to that. There is how the system works, where you file stuff, how the kernel works.
I mean, you don't need to get too technical with the kernels and the Linux system and stuff, but you just need to know the basics of, where am I putting my files? What app should I use? What email service should I use, for instance?
And these things are not always known.
They get known by the fact of they know someone that's using it or someone's told them or they've read an article back then or they read an article or watch a video. But it's not always the best thing for them.
Now, as you know, I hate systems, as I said. I can't stand systems, 2x4s and GTDs and stuff. It just makes no sense and in fact confuses a lot of people.
And this is where the paradox of choice comes in.
There's so much choice in the tools as well as the systems because people see a lot of different systems and they don't make a choice or they cobble together crap choices and then thinking they are the productivity king and it's just not right.
Productivity, to me, is not doing anything. That's productivity to me. Just sit back, do nothing.
And what I mean by that, and that's such a top-down view, mean by that is that your tech should be so organised that you shouldn't worry about it
Worry that you're using the wrong thing, worry not knowing where you're putting your files and emails and stuff and just worrying that you're doing it wrong.
I mean, those things should be out of your head. You should just get on with what needs to be done. That's what productivity means to me, not apps and systems and services and tools and stuff.
So you have to understand that after seeing thousands, thousands of machines and how people work, any consultant that's seen that kind of knows the ways that you should work and you shouldn't work.
And when I say you, and I don't mean a collective you, I mean you personally.
Because you personally work differently to the collective you. And that's why I don't like making kind of how-to videos, but mainly courses. I don't like doing courses because that's like a collective you.
And I personally prefer to work one-on-one because everyone's individual, as you know, and you have a different way of working to myself or your neighbour effectively.
So just be careful out there. It's a paradox of choice hellhole.
Anyway, have a great day and I'll see you in the next one.
And as always, Keep IT Simple.
Ciao.