One Tool Until It's Boring

A new tool is exciting.

It promises to make things faster, easier, more automated. And when the thing you're currently using starts to feel ordinary, there's always another one waiting to take its place.

That's where the problem starts.

Because ordinary doesn't mean useless. Sometimes it means you've finally used something long enough to understand it.

You know where everything is. You know what it does well and where it falls short. You've stopped spending time figuring out the tool and started spending that time actually doing the work.

Then something new comes along.

It has a feature you don't have. Somebody makes a video about it. Everyone seems to be talking about it.

So you switch.

Now you're learning again.

Everything has to be set up from scratch.

Then you have to move everything over.

And before you've gotten everything you can out of that one, another tool shows up.

There's nothing wrong with trying something new when there's a reason for it. If what you're using can't do what you need, find something that can.

But changing tools because the current one stopped being exciting is different.

A tool should eventually become boring.

You should know it well enough that you barely think about it anymore. It becomes part of the process instead of something you're constantly working on.

That's when you start getting the real value out of it.

The goal was never to become good at collecting tools.

The goal was to get good at using them.

Pick one that does what you need.

Learn it.

Use it.

And give it enough time to become boring.