In a fit of frustration, a friend of mine posted on Facebook “I’ve gotta get organized! Time to go buy some baskets.” I won’t share names to protect the innocent, but I struggled with finding the graceful way to respond. Because over 16 years in the organizing and productivity industry has taught me unequivocally that baskets don’t make you organized. I spent many, many hours with various clients going through those supposedly “miracle” baskets that had just become catch-alls for clutter.
Did they hide it slightly? Maybe, but really that just meant that things were even harder to find when needed because there was no specific system that ensured the baskets became more than “stash zones” for whatever was in the way at the time.
This issue is one of the most common organizing myths, which all the big retailers would like you to believe. If you just bought more baskets, bins, and storage solutions, then suddenly your life would become more organized and easy. But, it really is a myth.
Now, that I focus on productivity with my clients (or the “intangible” organizing of information and decision-making), I can say definitively that the same is true for productivity apps and tools too. Just finding the “right” app for your new habit tracker or project management system will not magically make life easier or more organized. Want to know what will?
The Secret Recipe for Excellence
The problem is that trying to solve your productivity or organizational challenge with just a (however flashy) new tool is kind of like trying to bake a cake with only milk and flour. It won’t rise. It will taste bland. You might get some flat bread, but that’s definitely not a cake.
What’s needed is a basic recipe that will get you a solid cake each time. (Then, you can always tinker around with the details to make it your personal signature cake that everyone loves.) So, here’s your basic recipe:
Tool + Habits + Mindset = System
Let’s break that down. If I were to point you toward the best project management tool or habit tracker on the planet (not that such a thing exists, but there are several that I do recommend,) then you would still need to put your information into it and create the necessary habits to interact with it and utilize it effectively.
Have you ever found a new tool and been all excited about it only to lose steam, stop looking at it, and forget it exists a few weeks or months later? Then, you know what I’m talking about.
For a tool to work effectively, it needs YOU! There’s a relationship you build with your tools on an ongoing basis that allows them to fulfill their purpose. If you lose steam on building that relationship, if you don’t maintain your habit of checking it, interacting with it, adding new information to it regularly, then it will become stale, and you’ll end up even more scattered than before.
Suddenly there’s one more place where you might have written down that task (in addition to your notebook, post-it notes, or the back of that random envelope.) If you’re truly interested in getting more organized and more productive, then, even more than a tool, you have to commit yourself to building the needed habits for that tool to be effective.
Additionally, if you have a mindset that says… “Ugh, I hate looking at my to-do list.” Then, guess what, you probably won’t do it. You’ll likely avidly avoid it, which means that building that habit will be even harder. So, you also might need to check-in about your mindset patterns that ensure your system is able to work for you effectively. This topic is much bigger than I can cover here, but here’s a past post that might help more in this area.
What Does This Look Like in Action?
Let me play out what I see happening often with an example. You’ve decided that you need a better task management system than that little notebook you occasionally write things in and toss in the bottom of your bag. So, you poke around and ask friends, Facebook groups, and other digital nomad colleagues what they use. They give you a list of options: Asana, Trello, Basecamp, Wunderlist, ToDoist, etc. You take a look at each of them and decide that Asana looks good to you, so you’ll “give it a try.”
You spend a couple hours typing a bunch of tasks into Asana. Then, you get back to work. Perhaps the next day you open up Asana and go looking for your tasks, then you get frustrated because you have to “hunt” for them. Oops, you forgot to “assign them” to yourself, so while they’re hanging out on that project view, they aren’t showing up immediately on the “My Tasks” page. Ah… ok beginner’s error, lesson learned. Now you know that you need to “Assign” tasks.
By this time, many people have already given up. Hit that first snag or learning curve and they are back looking for a “better” tool. But, not you, you’ve figured it out and are ready to get back to work again. Great!
Over the next few days you’re ticking off tasks and whittling down your list, then you get to the stuff that isn’t urgent. There’s a bit of resistance to doing these things, and sure enough, you stop looking at Asana. You haven’t checked it in days, partially because you know that what’s there either isn’t that important, or because you don’t want to remember that you still have to do those tasks.
What’s wrong with this picture? Two things:
- If what’s left in your system isn’t urgent, but there are other things that are… then you forgot to capture those new tasks into your system too.
- If you haven’t looked at your task management tool in days (or weeks), then your system is slowly collapsing because it’s missing the key ingredient that raises the cake and brings it flavor: YOU!
The tool alone can’t make magic (just like the basket itself doesn’t get you organized.) Your habits of defining what goes into it, interacting with it consistently, and keeping it up-to-date, relevant, vibrant is what turns a tool into a system.
If you’ve recognized some truth here, or had that squirmy feeling that this might be a mistake that you’ve made in the past. Don’t worry! It’s fixable (and you probably don’t even need to spend hours finding another new tool.) You just need to re-evaluate how you’ve been using it.
If you’re ready to “reboot” your relationship with one of your key tools and start building the habits that can make it work, then you might be interested in my free tool kit “Create Any New Habit and Make It Stick!”
If you know that you’ve got your systems in reasonably good shape and you want to take it even further, then you’ll want to also watch this Facebook Live that I did about the difference between Systems and Processes, and how they can add HUGE value to your business both now and in case you might ever be looking for an exit strategy ;).
If you have more questions about systems and processes, then feel free to comment below!
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