The Importance of Quality Tools

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Technology Thursday

In our fast-paced information-rich world, there is a whole lot of advice out there on how to streamline work-flow and life-flow. I'm personally partial, although not always nearly as successful as I'd like to be, to approaches that urge simplification over complexity. I've written before how my own approach, on the good days--which are unfortunately few and far between, is to try to adopt as much of David Allen's approach in Getting Things Done as possible. Lately I've also been reading a lot of Zen Habits and have a copy of Babauta's book Less on my desk for periodic inspiration. I'm a huge fan of Unclutterer and am on an ongoing quest to remove, remove, remove stuff from my house and my work spaces. The less I have, the less I have to maintain, the less I have to worry about, the less that distracts me from things that really matter.

But I think there is one area in which minimizing, reducing, and economizing is counter-indicated. And that's in the tools that touch your life every day--both at home and at work. Bruce Sterling, a noted science fiction author and currently blogging at Wired, wrote about this a bit in his last post to his Viridian Design newsletter. He emphasized the importance of not cheating yourself out of good tools:

Do not "economize." Please. That is not the point. The economy is clearly insane. Even its champions are terrified by it now. It's melting the North Pole. So "economization" is not your friend. Cheapness can be value-less. Voluntary simplicity is, furthermore, boring. Less can become too much work. The items that you use incessantly, the items you employ every day, the normal, boring goods that don't seem luxurious or romantic: these are the critical ones. They are truly central. The everyday object is the monarch of all objects. It's in your time most, it's in your space most. It is "where it is at," and it is "what is going on."

It takes a while to get this through your head, because it's the opposite of the legendry of shopping. However: the things that you use every day should be the best-designed things you can get.

[...] Get excellent tools and appliances. Not a hundred bad, cheap, easy ones. Get the genuinely good ones. Work at it. Pay some attention here, do not neglect the issue by imagining yourself to be serenely "non-materialistic." There is nothing more "materialistic" than doing the same household job five times because your tools suck. Do not allow yourself to be trapped in time-sucking black holes of mechanical dysfunction. That is not civilized.

Spend a few days monitoring the tools you spend the most time with and the tools that are most crucial to your effectiveness. At home, my husband and I have invested in only one piece of truly heirloom furniture - a bed - taking Sterling's advice (in the piece, but not quoted above) albeit before he'd published it. It's an expensive hardwood piece of furniture that no one who comes to our house ever sees. But everyone spends hours each day sleeping. Now, we still have some cheap Ikea furniture. We still have some furniture from graduate school kicking around. But the bed is great. Similarly, we each have comfortable desk chairs, since when we work at home, we spend hours in them. (Some day perhaps a standing desk is in order, but not yet.)

But this rule applies to smaller items as well. Don't use pens or writing implements that annoy you. Every time you go to use them there'll be a twinge of irritation - find something that works for you and buy in bulk. Do you make coffee or tea every day? Invest in a quality coffee maker or teapot - the drink will taste better and using quality tools can be part of a pleasurable morning ritual. Discard any and all uncomfortable or scratchy or pinchy underwear and socks! Refresh your toothbrush every few weeks. And so forth.

And when it comes to technology, don't skimp there, either! If you use a laptop every day, make sure you have a powerful enough machine to handle any routine tasks routinely. If your work depends on being readily accessible, make sure you have a powerful smart phone and chargers in each car and each desk where you work. Yes, you can make deliberate decisions about turning things off or going offline, but when you're using your tools, you need your tools to do what you need them to do and otherwise stay out of your way. Spending time and energy keeping an old laptop limping along is a false economy. Buy quality monitors that won't strain your eyes. Get a mouse or trackball and a keyboard (I recommend ergonomic split keyboards) that won't contribute to repetitive soreness or injuries.

As a first step, take a moment and look around at what's near you. Declutter: if there's anything within arm's reach that you haven't used in more than 2 months put (or throw) it away. Simplify: Set your email to check only every 15 minutes or less and turn off sound notifications; unsubscribe from one mailing list. Tools analysis: Decide on one tool you use frequently that isn't quiiiiite right for you and make arrangements to upgrade or replace it.  Report back in comments on what you removed and what you upgraded!

Comments

[Liz]

Agreed! Never underestimate the value of quality kitchen tools - especially knives. I've actually found great silicon spatulas at the dollar store, but you're gonna spend more for a good knife. And tedious chopping tasks will be *much* more pleasant.

[acm]

I often think we "make do" with leftover dishes or glasses or whatever, especially in our earlier post-college days. I was willing to put a little money into getting things that I liked, not because they made me function better but because they gave me a little pleasure every time I had a glass of water. Better a set of towels that makes you feel pampered or an elegant teapot than a sculpture you have to dust (at least if it must be a choice)...

[Liss]

That is so, so, SO true. I am also in a huge decluttering/paring down/streamlining mode, and part of what I'm doing is trying to identify not just what needs to GO, but what needs to be replaced. That crappy, dull, hard-to-use can opener needs to be replaced by a higher-quality, ergonomic, nice-to-use version. All of those cheap clothes bought in desperation? Get rid of them and have fewer, nicer things instead.

That's the goal. It's taking awhile, but I'm hopeful that I'll get there one of these days.