I’m a big fan of productivity systems, organizing tasks and todos to make it easier to remember and get things done.

It always confused me that other people didn’t need these, until It finally clicked last year that I have ADHD and my brain works differently than most other people. Superpower in some areas, problem in other areas like focus.

Even though I like productivity systems, they always fall apart on me. It’s like I’m using them, things are going great, and then something difficult happens in my life and these systems completely disappear. Months later I’ll find a note or Kanban board filled with tasks, that will never get done. Like an old ruin.

This changed recently, when I got a Traveler’s Notebook. It’s so simple, literally just a notebook. That’s it! But it’s small, I love writing in it, and I use it every day. Even when things are hard, really hard, I’ll grab my journal and write.

This is simple, but profound. I’ve never before just wanted to use a productivity system before. It’s always stressful, never something I turn to relax.

So the question is - how can I expand this system? There’s a seed of a beautiful system here, something that I’ve never had before. I believe the key is that the system if physical. There is a scarce physical thing that I interact with, not a computer with endless distractions, files, and windows.

So as I expand the system, how can I take this concept further? Physical totems for all my productivity needs. Bringing computing, locally, to the real world. Not because I need to, but because it’s beautiful. And beautiful things are sticky for me.

I’m not sure what this looks like yet - maybe a work timer for the day. Maybe a custom built note taking and productivity system from scratch. Something beautiful.