New Stuff is the Best Stuff

About a year ago I was catching up with my brother.

We were sitting on his couch watching something on his massive 80 inch TV when he got a text.

Everything alright? I asked

Yea, I just need to get my laptop. I need to send something to a client. He replied.

His business was starting to take off and I was pretty happy for him. 

He got his laptop and it took him a couple of minutes to send what he needed to. 

I kept watching the TV. 

Just before he pulled the screen down, he asked have I shown you this before?

What happened next blew my mind. 

He showed me this app called Notion. All his life and work was in one place. Everything was neatly organised in this one app called Notion. 

It blew my mind, and I immediately downloaded it and started using it. 

Months later when I decided to start the book, my first draft was written in Notion. 

Now, my entire life is based in it. 

- Everything I learn from books, podcasts and people

- My ‘capture everything’ inbox 

- My client folders 

- Everything to do with my business and ideas surrounding it

- All the courses I complete

- Wedding Planning Stuff

- Reading list

- The names of my neighbours and their dogs, so I don’t forget. 

- My business plan and OKRs

+ much more

Having this multi-tool became a game-changer for my life. 

If my brother hadn’t shared this with me randomly, I would have been using so many different tools to account for everything I mentioned. 

My entire book was on there! 80,000 words. 

Shortly after this discovery I went down the rabbit hole of discovery. What else is there that needs to be discovered? What else can help me more than what’s already on my phone or laptop? Should I really need to stick with the standard tools that everyone else uses? And for that matter, should you? 

My second draft of the book I wrote in an a website call ‘Writer.ai’. Not just as a spell check but a readability check, so I can see how ‘complex’ my sentences are and determine the reading level. It helped me improve my writing. It helped my emails too, I made complex emails much simpler to read. 

But wait, there’s more:

- I downloaded the momentum extension to chrome so it reminds me of my main priority for the day whenever I open a new tab.

- I directed all of my email inboxes to a service called ‘Fastmail’ so I could actually keep track of everything I was getting. 

- I was early on the ChatGPT bandwagon (life changing).

- I started using ‘DBTC!’ to track my consistency for early morning wake-ups. 

And in the process of finding the things that work for me, I tried so many different tools out there on the internet. 

For Christmas, my fiancé got me a Remarkable 2 tablet. A tablet with the sole purpose of taking notes and nothing else. It’s my favourite gift ever because I never need to buy another journal again. Every new client I meet is amazed by it.

Without that fateful day where my brother sought to share Notion with me I don’t think I would have investigated and tried so many things. It’s helped me level up my life, not just at work. My productivity and enjoyment overall improved. A lot.

So don’t be afraid to try the new stuff out there. You don’t need to have all your reliance on the big companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple. Fight the system, man. There are plenty of smaller companies that are developing products that can help you accelerate. 

Conventional tools are for conventional people. You’re a leader not a follower. 

Feel free to check out the tools I use but do your own experimentation! Don’t skip the fun part. And if you’re worried about the cost all I have to say is this; let your outstanding results pay for the sunk cost.