Are My Productivity Tools Making Me…. Less Productive?

I love efficiency. I want to be able to interact and recall at the click of a button. I want automated pushes instead of plea-filled pulling.

I want complex discussions referenceable and summarised by AI. (Lifesaving stuff in some of the workshops I've been in - yeesh.)

As someone who manages multiple complex projects with many new concepts and "unknowns," it's best practice to record certain calls for reference and to build from - notes, plans, timing, risks, tasks. It also means that in calls, I can actively participate more, right?

Yo - what just happened there, Bob?

I found myself saying that more frequently (to myself, in my head). But why?

There was something about knowing I could go back to a recorded and summarised moment in time that made my note-taking- especially in calls - less frequent and less useful. At the same time, I was using Asana to manage all my tasks. Email comes in, forward to create a task. Calendar, kanban, colour-coded, timeboxed. Wow, such efficient! 🤩

I was getting stuff done, sure. BUT I found my overreliance on these tools was making me lose my connection, my brain, my talent, my being, my purpose, my well.. everything.

I've always been good at connecting the dots, but I found myself seeing… well, lots and lots of dotting-dots. It was harder to make connections. It was harder to commit something to memory. I was becoming more efficient on the transactional fire-offs but less strategic. Less smart. Most interactions we have aren't a moment in time with a transactional fix.

Brain on Handwriting

There's a bunch of research on how connections are made when you write by hand. Your brain creates far more elaborate connectivity patterns than when you type, creating space for new memory and connecting to other memories. You're not just recording information, you're processing it.

And I've really experienced this firsthand (pun intended) - writing by hand is slower and forces your brain to engage in heavy "mental lifting." NB: NOT 🎵 heavy METAL 🎵 lifting like my husband does in his 6AM workouts. What a way to wake up….

I don't know shorthand and I can't transcribe everything verbatim, so when I notetake by hand, my brain does three things at once: listen, digest, and summarise. Brains are inherently lazy (yes, even yours, Simon), and they will work to conserve energy where possible. So it makes sense to me that if we rely on process and efficiency too much, it’s at the cost of the extent of comprehension we’re capable of.

I would reference said studies but… I didn't write it down! Ba dum tsh. (Here all week. Try the veal.)

What Happened When I Started Writing Things Down Again

THINGS HAVE CLICKED. Like, genuinely, I have felt more in control and "on it". I reverted to bullet journaling, and quarterly, monthly, and weekly planning on paper. I always note down new information I hear in meetings, take a beat to carry on downloading before I hop into my next task (not always possible on the back-to-backs). Not only do I feel more "on it," I feel genuinely happier. More in control of outcomes and more connected.

When I commit pen to paper, I'm forced to be more selective, more thoughtful. There's no cntl-select-all-backspace, no lots-of-content-where-is-the-context, Dorris?

I no longer hoover up every word someone says and make assumptions that I'll process it later. I've noticed my participation in meetings may be less active, less vocal, but having more mic-drop moments for sure.

I'm remembering things without having to search for them. The best bit? Going from feeling fried to feeling fine, Fred, changed literally as quickly as I put pen to paper. Connections are forming naturally again.

And so…

I will not personally, and am not saying anyone should, abandon digital tools that are designed to make you more efficient. The digital systems I've created around work management, home management, and use of AI is making me work faster and better. I love my Notion system for visibility, collaboration and assigning tasks to my husband from the bath. Never going back. I am, however, tweaking the ratios and use cases with ME being smarter as my North Star. My ratio may well be different to yours. Our brains are unique.

So, if you're feeling like you're living from one moment in time to another, and don’t know what the blank is going on, try going analogue. Dust off that journal, planner, notebook. Write your to-do list by hand, even if it's on a screen too. Take meeting notes on paper and use AI notes to build out that comprehension. Journal before bed.

Your brain will thank you. And you might just rediscover how smart you are, and, Glen Coco, you do know how to solve that challenge.

You go Glen-Coco. 💪