Finding Tools versus Making Tools

Which is better? Someone else's single-use idea, or one of your own design?

When I don’t write words, and when I’m not avoiding productivity, I sometimes go out to my shop to make sawdust and wood chips.

Yeah, I have a flippin’ shop full of tools, and I’m sitting here at a desk typing things down.

Here’s the funny thing, when I’m out there, I have more fun coming up with jigs and solutions to help me ‘work more effectively.’ But then I don’t actually make things more effectively.

I have a friend who is an amateur blacksmith. He said you spend the first year or two of learning the hobby creating new types of clamps and hammers and ways to work with metal.

One of my favorite YouTube channels is an amateur machinist, he keeps a tally in the corner of his videos showing his side projects that come up when trying to create something.

Everywhere I look, people are using tools just to make more tools. It seems like madness, but I love it.

The reason this inspires me is that these people are all looking at a problem, and they’re then addressing it directly with a solution that solves it directly.

When I sit down at my computer, or in a chair to read a book, I constantly encounter ‘one size fits all’ advice for how to be a better person, or how to be more productive.

That isn’t how people work.

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This is a slightly different post than normal for Channeling Chaos, I’ll get back to actually talking about actual techniques or thoughts next week.

The path to tool building

I’ve been writing for a while now, and I often come back to a handful of concepts and some frameworks that I repeat. For some reason, I keep thinking I should create a course or a workshop to create them.

At the same time, I find that I’m never interested in other people’s courses and workshops. In one ear, out the other… the activity doesn’t stick.

Funnily enough, I also feel it’s absurd to try to create something to share with people that I don’t even think I would use. So where does that leave me?

If you guessed “create a tool” you’re correct!

I’m not a fan of “complicated” though. I don’t like to have one big, convoluted contraption with switches and buttons that I forget how to use. K.I.S.S. is what I learned in my dad’s shop, and it’s what keeps my ADHD brain from getting overwhelmed.

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What tools to build?

I’m of the school of thought that if I need something, there are others that need it too.

My short list of tools in the hopper, or already done:

• Done - Daily Journal

  • I built this a while back, it needs to be re-created. I’ve been using the Pro version for 6 months, and I feel it’s too complicated.

  • I’m dropping the price for a limited time on the Pro version while I work out the kinks, purchases are entitled to ‘lifetime updates’ meaning if you buy it and I change it, you’ll get the update for free.

  • If you’re a paid subscriber, ping me, and I’ll send it to you for free.

• In Progress - Daily Routine Generator

  • Sometimes I don’t feel like doing certain things. Some days I don’t have the mental energy to do too much. Some days I’m on fire.

  • Version 1 is focused on letting you randomly generate your morning routine each day, or just build one with things you like and then help you track it, habit tracker style.

• In Progress - Dopamine Cheat Sheet

  • What’s a good way to feel good in a healthy way. What’s the bad stuff. How can I get some in 5 minutes or less, stuff like that.

  • Simple stuff, it’ll be free to subscribers, paid or not.

That’s the list for now, I don’t want more than 3 things in my head or I’ll stop working on anything.

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What tool do you wish YOU had?

If you struggle with life management, or productivity or generally handling knowledge in your world, then you probably have an idea of something you need. Let me know and we can see what is feasible.

If you need really bespoke solutions, let me know, we can talk.

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