Beauty in Limitation
One time, I was trying out a digital todo-list software. It was great. It had the bells and whistles: grouping todo-lists, scheduling them, reminders about todos, setting up recurring todos, calendar integration etc. I had one problem, though, whenever I used it, I never got anything done.
This obviously defeats the purpose of the app, so I tried to figure out exactly that was. My first thought was that I wasn't using it properly, so i researching and experimented. I tried some techniques such as the Eisenhower Matrix, Pomodoro, grouping my todo's in different ways and more. Nothing worked.
Eventually, out of habit, I found myself using sticky notes more than my super-capable todo-list software. It was after I realized why I was using sticky notes that I figured out my point. They had three things
- They were quick
- They were intuitive
- They were limited.
They were quick because all I had to do was pull them out and write whatever. I never had to open up some software, wait for it to load, and apply meta-data such as tags to it.
They were intuitive because of it's simplicity. Write down a task, then cross it out once you finish it.
It was limited in that it didn't have folders, matrixs, tags, integrations etc. Also you can't just write an infinite amount of tasks on a sticky note. I found this to be the most important factor. It forced me to pick out tasks I actually had to do instead of just stockpiling on things I wanted to do. There's only so much time in a day, so that helped weed out the non-priority tasks.
It was after that I realized the beauty of limitations. Sometimes less is more.
I was going to waffle some more but I'll cut it there.