I recently returned from my first ever trip to Europe. I live in Canada and have been to the US a number of times, but never over the pond. We visited London and Paris and had a great time.
So what does that have to do with software?
Well, as someone who frequents this forum I see a lot about workflows, dropping subscriptions, paring down on the unnecessary. I’ve always admired this and tried to follow suit but the moment I’m trying to do something and it’s not working as I expect (e.g. pinch to zoom in Apple notes isn’t a thing), I immediately start hunting for a new app, workflow, solution – whatever.
When I was away I had my phone and iPad with me, but I was more consumed with the moment and the sights I was seeing. My screen time went down, I lost a few lbs (lots of walking!), and I feel reset in some ways. When I opened up my computer today to get back to work and started looking through things, it was apparent that I need to simplify things.
I started by clearing my homescreens of any and all apps, leaving them blank. As I need to do something (e.g. write a text, check a calendar), I add that icon to the homescreen if I know it’s something I’ll use frequently.
But what this doesn’t address is bloat. If I have Evernote, do I need Drafts? Do I really need Fantastical? Do I need Spotify & Apple Music? Do I need to subscribe to two newspapers when I’m trying to reduce media consumption?
I relied on CityMapper to get me around those cities yes, but other than navigation and photos, my phone was barely touched. I’d like to keep that rolling now that I’m home and feeling reset in some ways.
I feel like I know all the answers to my own questions but being home and reset in a way, I thought I’d reach out to the MPU community for tips on minimizing the number of apps and not getting too riled up when an app that is otherwise perfect is missing one feature.
I really want to get to a point where when I want to perform a task the steps are just muscle memory instead of “well, this is a note so Evernote but it’s also a file, is that Dropbox? Evernote? Maybe I should get a new app to solve this”.
So out with the “I’ll find the perfect app for this” and in with the “eh, this is good enough”? Lets hope.