Here’s a simple truth: The better you become at your distinct craft the more simple your toolkit becomes.
What’s fascinating is that this has been shown to be true of some of the best and most well-known “doers” out there, entrepreneurs, artists, and businessmen and women.
What does this practically mean and look like? It means that there seems to be a direct relationship between the quantity of tools that you use and the quality of your craft – the less you have the better you are.
For example, the amount of applications that I typically use on a day-to-day basis may actually surprise you – I can count them on one hand:
It has surprised many people when they ask what I do and what I use to get stuff done and the list isn’t too long. Sure, I use some other apps here and there but these are really my “core” – these are the things that get the job done. In fact, if you were to follow the line of actual physical devices it would really be three:
- Macbook Air
- iPhone
- Notebook
Ta-da!
The question, naturally, is why this is true and the reason is simple: There are tools that you use that seem natural and easy to you – these are the things that you keep going back to, every time you encounter a “new-ish” device or application that does what the previous one did but does it “better” – but you don’t need better, you need done - the things that help you get things done.
That’s why I always return to the sheer basics – the tools that I know that I can trust day-in and day-out to get the job done and with excellence. Hugh Macleod from Gaping Void once put it like this:
Actually, as the artist gets more into his thing, and as he gets more successful, his number of tools tends to go down. He knows what works for him. Expending mental energy on stuff wastes time. Heʼs a man on a mission. Heʼs got a deadline.
Hugh is best known for his design work – but it’s important to know that his toolkit is super simple: A black pen and the back of a business card. That’s what’s made him famous – that’s him, at his very best in his craft.
Steve Jobs did this well too – he knew his toolkit and he framed Apple, Inc. to leverage a unique and focused toolkit as well telling his company when he got back, after having been kicked out, that they would only build four types of computers (via Steve Jobs Biography):
After a few weeks Jobs finally had enough. “Stop!” he shouted at one big product strategy session. “This is crazy.” He grabbed a magic marker, padded to a whiteboard, and drew a horizontal and vertical line to make a four-squared chart. “Here’s what we need,” he continued. Atop the two clumns he wrote “Consumer” and “Pro”; he labeld the two rows “Desktop” and “Portable.” Their job, he said, was to make four great products, one for each quadrant. “The room was in dumb silence,” Schiller recalled.
He simplified their toolkit, focused their efforts, and made them the best products in the market. No wonder they became so good at what they do!
Your challenge is to simplify your toolkit. Become hyper-selective about what you use and even more selective about what you don’t. Who cares if everyone else is using Evernote? I know I tried it for a while and even liked it – heck, I even blogged about it!
But I had to leave it eventually – it just wasn’t me and it didn’t enhance my craft – it forced me to create a pattern and a workflow that just didn’t work the way I did. I didn’t want the tool to shape me, I wanted to shape the tool.
Do this and you will become better at your craft. Period.
Wise advice, John. I’ve recently downsized the number of apps and tools I use as well…and life is so much sweeter this way (unlike you, Evernote made the cut though). I’ve been thinking about trying iA writer…obviously you like it if it made your list. Any particular reason you like it above other word processing software?
I use Evernote a good bit also, great for syncing notes between laptop and desktop.
Excellent advise John!
@Andrew, I downloaded the iAWriter after reading John’s review of it and I’ve completely fallen in love with it. If you use a mac, you probably would’ve used textedit as your text editor of choice. However, the Focus mode for the iAWriter really seals it for me. It really allows me to concentrate on the chunk of text that I’m writing at that point in time.
Also, what pretty much got me hooked is the the pleasing to the eye font and blue cursor used in the iAWriter. Everything just somehow falls in place and my productivity with regards to writing went up after the purchase. If you’ve got a few bucks to spare, I’d definitely recommend it!
//Daniel
focus mode rocks!
simplicity. no bloat.
Wow, that’s really light for all the hats you where. I don’t know many developers that can beat it software wise.
Here’s one question for you… Why iA writer? Why not one of the other word processors or even WordPress itself?
that’s easy: http://tentblogger.com/draft/
Good reasons. Thanks
One tool that helps me a lot is Evernote. I input ideas and I write the first drafts of my posts there. In my job, I also save hints and tips, tutorials, procedures, etc there. I also put things from my personal life, like receipts, recipes, medical information (prescriptions, exam results) and articles from the Web that I find interesting.
So when I need to find something, I look for it in just one place.
i tried, but didn’t work.
Only three devices?
those are my main ones. yup. sure, i use a ps3 controller every once in a while……..
This is a great post! It’s funny how we (or definitely me) see a new app or program and convince ourselves that it will help us be more productive, when in fact it’s just cluttering our workflow.
Of course it depends on what type of industry you are in but if you can nail down a solid list of 3-5 apps, focus on them, learn them, and use all of the features included, than you will be much better off compared to using one or two features from twenty different apps. Another great thing to do is find multipurpose apps. For example, John uses Coda. The great thing about Coda is that is not only a spectacular code editor but it’s also an FTP client. Essentially, he has two apps in one. Time is saved and there is much rejoicing.
this is true. sometimes you can effectively combine your “tools”
For you to achieve everything you do with such few devices and apps it goes to show that you don’t need the latest and greatest of everything that comes out!
I got caught up in this and have just started trimming my toolkit and already finding things much easier.
shane,
yup. it’s easier that way. become a master at a few instead of mediocre at all…
Wow, great and practical post! Now comes the hard part…cutting away. I’ve heard the art of writing and film is knowing what to edit away. Great post. Man. Great post.
sure thing darien. it’s not that i came up with this… i’ve just learned it the hard way over time.
Excellent advice, John. Thank you for the reminder of the power of simple.
I’ve tried to pair down my toolkit and even minimize the number of apps on my mobile devices that just serve to distract.
iA Writer is awesome! What do you think of their new iPhone app? I like the distraction free writing and the ability to save to Dropbox.
I’ve been carrying around a 3×5 Moleskine notebook for awhile and I don’t hardly use it. I feel like some of my ideas would evolve better if I took the time to physically write them out or illustrate them first.
my notebook is action method, for sure. in terms of iphone, i don’t blog on that device.
I agree that we need to master a select amount of tools; and unfortunately I find myself wanting to find the next great tool, only to realize that they are distracting me from mastering the ones I have.
Sorry John, I had to chuckle a little though.
I got this mental picture when you mentioned your tools and I will try to share it the best I can.
There you are standing on the job site with your tool belt on.
Another contractor walks up to you and asks how you can do such great work.
You reply: See my tool belt? In this pouch I have the tool iAWriter, in that pouch I have Coda, and in that pouch I have Notebook.
Oh, and that big extended work van over there full of tools is Google Apps.
My droid phone just announced that Google Play will now be my droid app gateway.
Kind of creepy how Google keeps taking over things and I seem to enjoy it. Got to love Google.
Whatever you use, you have proven that you have mastered your tools by the great content we see on Tentblogger.
thanks jonathan. … the picture you painted actually works pretty well…!
Ignoring shiny objects and utilizing the full potential of what you have is a commonality in every great master.
but i like shiny objects!
Completely off topic, but was wondering what case you used for your iPhone
… easy:
vapor case.
Not anymore http://tentblogger.com/iphone-5-case/
daily you are talking about very nice topics ! nice selections .
Out of curiosity, how do you use your action journal?
i have a unique method but ultimately it’s quite simple: find the action items. be hyper-judicious. follow-through.
Huh, you know I didn’t realize until just now that I’ve done the same over the years subconsciously. Computer, iPhone, notepad — coda, photoshop, mail