Why I don’t wear my red dress too often (or what productivity apps consistently miss out on)

Is it just me? I often find myself remembering that I need to do something and quickly write that into an email that I send to myself.

How come the proverbial “note to self” became so naturally the “email to self”? And why is it that I email instead of using the myriad of options out there promising to unleash my most productive self?

One explanation may be related to the increased amount of time that I spend reading and writing emails. So the more time I spend emailing, the more likely my mind is to start wondering and recall, miraculously, that my red dress has been at the dry-cleaner for two weeks now.

So at the same time this “miracle” happens, I am faced with the following available courses of action:

A. Exit what I’m doing (e.g. the email I’m reading/writing), exit the email app, swipe a couple of screens, look for the now-in-use to do list app, open it and start typing: pick up dry-cleaning.

The likely outcome this exciting journey: it won’t even begin! That split second that would take my finger to hit the back button in my email is sufficient for my brain process what these next clicks and swipes mean and decide: “mm … this takes too long… I’ll do that later, let me finish reading this first.”

Or:

B. Hit the button “compose new email”, which is right there, handy, one click away and then write quickly on the subject line “dry-cleaning”. That’s it. One click = magic. With a bonus feeling of accomplishment, of course, as this replaces the likelihood of postponement with the certainty of doing something.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that I actually go to the dry-cleaners’. All it means is that I get a sense of accomplishment by remembering to do something and then telling myself, in writing, that I should remember that again.

Now, the likely next stage in the digital existence of that seemingly successful reminder is email oblivion. Yes, it managed to stay top of mind for 30 seconds and it lead to a fleeting sense of accomplishment when it morphed into an email. But then it reached my inbox. And my inbox, even on my most disciplined days of archiving and deleting, is still a deluge of information, most of it relevant and all competing for my attention and time. So the likelihood of me actually wearing that red dress tomorrow may have slightly increased … but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

Then the next logical question arises: why don’t I use another tool? One of the many reminder apps, to do list apps, note taking apps, calendar apps… (to be fair, when the availability of clothing to wear next day becomes a problem, the note to self “dry-cleaning” is upgraded to my calendar — and there, the chances of the dress actually being picked up dramatically increase). But back to apps and tools: I do use my phone’s native apps and have also downloaded (used for a while, most often got annoyed and subsequently deleted) dozens of others from the “productivity apps” section.

The biggest problem in my view: access.

But access does not mean proximity, as in: “keep the to-do list app on your home screen to save a couple of swipes”. I personally like to keep my home screen as clean as possible and I am very strict in keeping only the most important, frequently used and useful apps there (each of them with the must have feature that I should really enjoy using them). That’s why to do list and reminder apps are not on my home screen. But email is.

Granted, I may be a bit neurotic and a bit obsessed with efficiency and with spending my time on important things, not on useless actions. But, bombarded as we are with more and more information and claims for our attention, isn’t this resistance to useless actions (even the so minute as a few extra clicks and swipes) a means of expression of our self-preservation instincts?

So then, why not make tools that serve us better?

I realized that I end up not using any of these productivity apps because they’re not part of my workflow. They’re each too specialized, too niche. Yes, some do very well in their particular niche and serve a specific need beautifully. But the thing is, we rarely want to do a single action, in isolation. Our actions are interrelated (and “sharing with friends” is not always the single thing you want to do). Our actions have a cause, a result, are a sequence in a flow.

Productivity is not only an outcome; it is also, or rather mostly, a process: a sequence of actions with an optimum output.

I think most of the productivity apps focus too much, too narrowly, on optimizing the output.

To me, the process also needs to be optimized, simplified. And what I think we need, besides creating new niches and perfectly serving them, is a smoother path connecting these niches. We need elegant shortcuts. And a sense of delight when we actually get where we want to!