People’s habits don’t change. So simplify your approach.
At the Tech Minimalist, and MacJunky, my job to help coaches and consultants simplify their tech stack, so that they’re not swimming is ‘friction frustration’.
However, that is easier said than done.
Not because they don’t need it but because the current system they’ve used has become a habit they can’t be changed easily.
I too had that problem. Just take a look at the picture above…
It’s my desktop. I always have a simplified Dock on my Mac. But the apps I now have pinned changed. Now only have…
Notes
Mail
Calendar
Reminders
Safari
And my RSS reader
That’s it. That’s all I need to do my work, help others with theirs and enjoy things people post on the internet.
It’s simple. It works. And there are no distractions.
Why complicate your work with systems/apps/workflows/frameworks you don’t need, and take valuable time away from your day.
There were many apps I used to use to run my business in the past. Things like Todoist, Twist, Basecamp, HEY, Fantastical, and many more.
But I came to the realisation that…
it wasn’t really helping me
my client’s weren’t really benefitting form it
And that’s the point, especially if you’re a coach or consultant like me, your first priority to your client is to make their life easier, not harder.
When I stopped use Basecamp with my clients I thought my life was gonna get a whole lot worse. But the fact is my clients HATED using yet another app!
They’re there to get advice to their question in the simplest way possible, and that’s either by telephone or email.
Simple.
So why bother having all the apps to ‘help’ your clients when you can simply talk to them directly with no friction?!
And that’s the exact ‘habit’ that can’t be changed, and you shouldn’t even try to change it, unless they really need it.
The business might ‘want’ something different because they’ve seen something that ‘could’ help them, but do they really ‘need’ it?
The answer to that question in my experience is often… ‘no’.
In the workshops I host, I often get questions about the workflow I use to run my own business. And how it could even be possible.
Here’s the thing… you have to think outside the box and implement it. Not just talk about being out side the box.
Start by thinking what you could remove from your workflow rather than trying to shoe-horn in yet another app to fix a hole in said workflow.