Writer's Block

I've been having some computer troubles since I returned from a trip out of state, and the combination of those two factors has made it virtually impossible to keep up with my online activities. This has been doubly frustrating because my recent travels and other experiences have given me so many ideas to write about!

Fortunately, I think the logistical storms have passed, and I look forward to rediscovering all the little notes I've written to myself to remind me about all those ideas. We'll see what thoughts have survived the temporary upheaval. It all certainly serves to reinforce one of David Allen's key points about productivity -- if your tools lack the features and functions you need, or if they are not working perfectly, they act like an anvil around the neck of your creativity.

I also discovered how a little, relatively invisible problem with a computer can turn into a big one if you don't pay attention to the small cues that something is not right. (After 30 years of working with the silly things you'd think I'd have caught on to that one!)

Today's free advice, worth every penny you paid for it, is: don't put up with flaws in any tool you need to be productive. If you don't love it, or it doesn't work perfectly, it's time to get it fixed or replaced. The cost in money to have the right tools is a pittance compared to the cost in time, trouble, frustration and sapped creativity to tolerate stuff that doesn't work for you.