Why do I prefer multiple systems or tools to a single system?
2023-03-29
I think one of the reasons is that they leave some space for intentionality.
If I come up with a half-formed idea, I then want to develop it into a fully-formed idea. Then I might want to think about how to present that fully-formed idea to a wider or specific audience. Those are different steps. I don't want to fully automate that process. I am happy for them to happen in different systems because that makes me rework the idea at each stage.
If I add a quick reminder to myself to do something, I don't want a system to assume that is what I need to do tomorrow. Tomorrow, I want to sit down quickly with a list of reminders and I want to figure out what I do with the day. My list of three things to do each day isn't a task list, it is a way of giving myself some clear focus.
In that way, maybe using different tools helps to enforce an intentionality at each stage in a process.
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