Should You Switch To The Latest Apps?

This week, should you switch to the latest app? Well, it depends and that’s the question I am answering this week.   Links: Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | Website The Time Sector Course Carl’s Time Sector System Blog Post The FREE Beginners Guide To Building Your Own COD System Carl Pullein Learning Centre Carl’s YouTube Channel Carl Pullein Coaching Programmes The Working With… Podcast Previous episodes page   Script Episode 140 Hello and welcome to episode 140 of the Working With Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein and I am your host for this show. Over the last few months, we’ve seen the launch of the noting taking app Roam Research and the email app HEY! Both of these apps have received quite a lot of publicity. The question is should you switch to any of these new apps? Well, it does depend on a number of things and that is what I shall talk about in this weeks episode.  Now, before we get to that, I just want to give you a heads up that the 2020 Your Digital Life course will be launching very soon. It’s a little late this year because I’ve completely re-recorded it and updated it with the Time Sector System.  Although this version is now the 3.0 version, anyone already enrolled in the Your Digital Life 2.0 course will, of course, get this huge update completely free. I know, I’m mad! But for me, it’s always about helping you to become better organised and more productive. So, keep an eye out for the launch. It’s coming very very soon. Okay, it’s time for me now to hand you over to the mystery podcast voice for this week’s question.  This week’s question comes from Jez. Jez asks; hi Carl, what do you think of the new notes app Roam Research and Notion? These new players look like they are taking over from Evernote.  Hi Jez, thank you for your question.  Every few months I get a lot of questions like this on Twitter and my inbox is inundated with app developers asking me to promote their latest offerings and I think it is fantastic that these amazing people are working hard to make our lives easier.  That said, though, App stores can be very dangerous places. You see one of the biggest issues is people app switching every few months because the latest and newest shiny object in the App Store is offering to solve all your productivity problems.  Let's get one thing straight first. No app whether it’s new or old, will solve your productivity problems. Ever. Full stop.  You see if you have productivity issues it is not the app that is the problem. I mean, let's be honest here, as a species we survived pretty well with paper-based desk diaries and legal note pads for to-do lists. The issues many faces today, are the exact same issues knowledge workers have faced for decades. It’s not the apps. It’s the system you use, or not use.  So, there are two parts to this.  If you enjoy trying new apps and your productivity and time management systems keep you on top of your work, then that’s great. Go ahead, play, research and learn. It can be fun trying out new apps and seeing what they can do. I do that myself. Last week I played around with HEY! The new email app. And for those you interested, it’s not for me. I cannot send emails from my business email address only my HEY! Address. So it’s a non-starter. I also do not like being forced to manage my emails in the way the app developer wants me to manage my emails.  There are also some marketing issues here too. Picking a fight with Apple may seem a noble cause, but to me, it smacks of a publicity stunt to get attention. And forcing people to only use their HEY! Email address seems to be exactly the same way Hotmail developed a following in the 1990s. It all feels very fake to me. But that’s just my opinion.  Then there’s the other side to this. If you believe that if only you have the right set of apps your productivity issues will somehow miraculously be solved,