007 • My new MacBook ruined my productivity

I bought an iPhone a couple of months back.

From that point, I knew it was only a matter of time before I bought a MacBook to go along with it.

Last Sunday was that day.

I made the trip out to the shopping mall at Meadowhall on the outskirts of Sheffield and headed for the Apple Store.

Half an hour later I got back on the tram with a 13-inch MacBook Air M2.

“Great”, I thought, “my productivity’s going to be through the roof with this new piece of kit.”

Wrong, as it turns out.

Today was one of the first days since a week ago that I’ve managed to keep my head for long enough to post multiple pieces of writing.

The rest of the time has been spent fumbling around trying to build a productive workflow on my Mac when I should really have been creating content.

This issue’s going to be about what went wrong and how I didn’t expect it, and also how I’ve pushed through and learned from my poor MacBook productivity streak…

So why did I buy a MacBook in the first place?

I’m a photographer and filmmaker to go along with writing on Medium and this newsletter. I did all my previous work on a several-year-old HP laptop that served me brilliantly but lacked the firepower to deal with complex photo and video edits.

Because of this, I chose something more advanced. I’d just finished my first full month of monetisation on Medium too, so I decided it was time to invest in my digital development, considering the past month was a success in terms of engagement and growth.

What problems did I face with the new MacBook?

I’m completely new to MacOS, and someone who falls victim to chasing the dopamine provided by using new technology and services online.

Day after day was spent installing and signing up for new Mac productivity and note-taking offerings, trying things out without any one product sticking in my system.

Of course, I could have chosen to use the same apps that I did on Windows previously, but where was the fun in that, my mind rationalized.

It took the best part of three days before I realised that I wasn’t going to get anywhere new by trying all these different apps and platforms, and I tried reverting to simplicity.

What am I using now to get work done?

Apple Notes.

That’s it.

My mind was in desperate need of a detox, so I went back to the simplest application that I could.

Now all I do when I log into my computer is find an idea for a piece of content, open Apple Notes and start to draft it in outline format.

You can open a single note in a new window to focus purely on your one piece of writing.

Basic interface, basic formatting.

It allowed me to focus on the words rather than the tool.

My attention still gets pulled away more than it did with a Windows OS, but as I continue to work in this simplistic system I hope that I’ll forget about trying other solutions, the same way I had done previously.

What can you learn from my experience?

The tools do not the artist (or rather the focused creator) make.

You can have the most expensive computer, but if you don’t write things down and publish to the world it’s pointless.

You’ll be losing to the person who has patchy internet connection and places their antique laptop on an ice pack when working to stop it exploding from the effort, but still publishes work to their blog with several devoted readers.

This is not to say that I’m not grateful for this upgrade in technology. The quality of my other creative work, especially my videography is going to skyrocket with the newfound power that the MacBook provides.

I merely wanted to provide you with a warning, showing you that it’s easy to get distracted from what matters.

If you suffer from shiny object syndrome like me, you can try making a new friend on the platform where you publish, instead of installing a new app. Instead of altering your task management system, you could write a short-form piece of content like a tweet or a thread.

Build meaningful things in public. Don’t tinker pointlessly where nobody can see you.

It’s still early days in my Apple Notes productivity journey, but I’m constantly learning how to create and publish better work on this new operating system. If you want to stay up-to-date with how I get on, follow me on Twitter.

See you next week!