It’s probably part of writing about using this kind of thing every day, but I feel like my productivity systems switch too often.
I’ve always seen this is an unproductive thing to do. Why switch from a system that functions well enough to something new that’s going to take time and effort to set up?
Even now, I still consider this unproductive for the most part, but I’ve come to respect the fact that every once in a while your system is going to evolve for the better.
This article’s going to talk about when this has occurred in my own journey towards the best productivity. I’m also going to show how to recognise the difference between when you really need to evolve your system, and when your mind’s just saying that you need to, for procrastination.
Let’s get started…
My productivity systems story
Things started a couple of years ago, when I tried out tools like Evernote and OneNote.
I thought I needed to manage digital notes for my A-levels (I didn’t, this was just procrastination stopping me revising), so I tried to find a service that would fit my needs.
Then I stumbled into Notion, whilst digging around in rabbit holes on the internet. I thought that it was perfect, but again this was procrastination. I didn’t need a note-taking service for my study yet!
Fast forward to last summer…
I knew I was going to university in September, so I developed a note-taking system that was going to allow me to study effectively when I got there.
It was at this point that I discovered Obsidian and underwent the first truly productive evolution in the systems that I use to get work done. I had now created a system that allowed me to take notes, create flashcards and write essays and lab reports. This had actual use when it came to my first year at university.
In between then and now, distractions have pulled me off on several tangents. I’ve tried using simpler tools like Workflowy and I’ve tried switching back to Notion a couple of times, but in the end I’ve always come back to Obsidian.
Until now.
I’ve entered what I believe to be another productive evolution of my note-taking system. I now spend a lot more time on my own writing work than I used to. This has resulted in me splitting note-taking duties between Obsidian and a new tool — Capacities.
I will continue to use Obsidian for university lecture notes and long-form assignments, because of the power and capability that the plugins there have. I can’t go without the power to insert citations and export a perfectly formatted essay, as well as using AI to generate relevant flashcards, all from within the app.
Moving over to Capacities was driven by the need for a simpler tool to manage all of my personal knowledge. Obsidian was getting cluttered and complicated with my attempts to store everything in there. I was attracted by Capacities’ Objects method of categorising notes — it’s similar to the YAML property ‘category’ which I was using in Obsidian, except that you can better manage and assign Objects to different notes, as well as create sub-categories within Objects, known as Collections.
Capacities also has a built in daily notes feature, in which I’ve started to write the ideas and link that day’s writing to. I’m hoping that in the future, this will become a single point from which I can reference my progress and development.
Systems aside, however, I was wondering what causes the feeling of needing to update or upgrade our productivity systems so regularly…
Why do we feel the need to change systems so often?
In the past I’ve blamed this on Shiny Object Syndrome — in this context this is the feeling of excitement that a new app or service provides when it’s released. You want to switch over and try it out, just to make sure you’re not missing out on the new features that they’re claiming are going to shock the productivity world, when really you should be focusing on keeping things minimal.
We’re hard-wired to chase comfort and ease, in order to stabilise important parts of our life. This includes in thinking and creating — so we’re constantly chasing making work easier and more comfortable. Combined with marketing and constant innovation in the space of productivity systems, it’s hard to stay disciplined and simply execute the work that needs to be done.
I use Capacities, but I could almost as easily create an outline to an article using the Notepad app that’s built into Windows. Often the tool used can get in the way of creating without distraction through being too complicated and high maintenance. This is what I started to find with my personal notes in Obsidian.
So what can we do about this?
How can you stop the urge to change systems? Can you tell when the time’s right to change?
Notice that in the title I said your productivity system will evolve. That was deliberate.
Evolution is slow. Traditionally hundreds of thousands of years slow.
I’ve spent over a year working in Obsidian now, and it’s only after I made a considerable shift in the work that I’m producing i.e. a lot more personal writing and creating, that I diverged to a new system.
You’re not going to require an update or a shift in systems every week.
It takes time to put notes, outlines, writing and other resources into a system and then use these to create. It takes time to see whether this system is going to work in the long term. Only by truly using what you’ve set up to manage your work day-in, day-out are you going to be able to tell when it’s time to upgrade or move on.
Like my change above, it’s likely going to take a large deviation from what you’ve been using the system for previously to justify a productive change to how you manage your work. Otherwise, it seems like a waste of time because you can just continue to use your normal system in the same way you have been.
Having struggled with procrastination, I find it easier if I complete my priority work and get off my screens. Once there’s nothing to do, I find that the pointless overthinking creeps in and convinces me that I should be tweaking things in my system to make them more efficient. Really this is only happening because I’ve completed my tasks and my brain is just inventing new problems to solve.
Instead, research information relevant to your goals, improve yourself outside of work and spend time with people you care about. So long as you limit your time on your screens, you’ll find the time you do spend working will be executing the tasks that have consequence rather than making unnecessary edits to the system you use to do this work.
Perhaps this article and my corresponding move to Capacities are just productive procrastination. We shall see, but to the best of my knowledge, which is what I’ve shared with you above, it is a meaningful change that will help me work more effectively in the future.
I hope you resonated with what I’ve written here and have learned something you can put into action.
Thanks for reading!