Productivity Costs
2 min read

Productivity Costs

I went to Wal-Mart, Target, and Office Depot after work today.  I ended up with a quarter less tank of gas and a $10 pair of slip-on shoes that I didn’t need.  I wasn’t in the mood to shop and I dislike driving.  I was in search of the perfect portfolio/padfolio/notepad and I’m left believing that I’m better off without one.

I am in the middle of reading MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN by Scott Belsky.  I knew two things when I pre-ordered the book…

  1. “This book chronicles the methods of exceptionally productive creative leaders and teams”
  2. Scott is the CEO & Founder of Behance

What I didn’t do was research all of the products that Behance has, thus predicting that the book was going to be one long advertisement for their $100/yr web app called Action Method.

The methodology can be broken down very easily.  You capture a log of Action Steps, References, and Backburner Items.  In doing so, you increase efficiency by spending most of your time focusing on actionable tasks, instead of spending it planning potential projects which may never see the light of day.  That’s all there is to it.

I’ve contemplated buying the app.  They allow you to create an account for free with 50 Action items.  I did this and downloaded the iPhone app as well.  Verdict – I spent entirely too much time trying to add, manage, and check off my Action Items.  This process was the opposite of productivity.  Thank you Behance for allowing me to test drive your app and methodology, as I probably would have bought it if I wasn’t able to try it out for free.

“Productivity” tools can get expensive…

  • $100/yr for the apps for Action Method or even more for Things on a Mac + iPhone + iPad
  • The $11.69 + Shipping for MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN and the lost time spent reading that this is the best way to push ideas forward
  • A quarter tank of gas and an unnecessary $10 pair of slip-ons in search of a “Perfect” writing pad
  • The toll that this developed obsessive compulsiveness would weigh on myself and those around me
  • The impact of not completing the single most important task that you couldn’t list when your iPhone battery was dead
  • The time wasted maintaining the logs

My point – Modern “productivity” tools are too expensive for my taste.  I’m sticking with the “Just Fucking Do It” method.