Today my good friend N and I traveled to Leipzig to meet a common friend in Leipzig, M. While she waited for our train to arrive, M bought a book with sentences that can create mindset shifts, e.g. „nothing grows inside your comfort zone“ or „you can be replaced in your job, but not in your family“ or „acting is better than judging.“ M called those sentences „tools.“ I liked that idea of having a problem and explicitly turning to words to help you. I assume people have always done so (especially with religious writings).
A few hours later, M told us all about her freelancer business. It was so interesting. She explained how a tool helped her shift how she thinks about her work load: Instead of first taking on projects and then working as many hours as they required her to work (leading to overhours), she now first plans how many hours she can and wants to work, and then plans how (and if) projects can fit into that schedule.
I first assumed (or hoped?) it would be another „mind tool“ like those sentences in the book she bought (or the Eisenhower Matrix or SWOT etc.), but as M continued talking, it became clear it’s a software called awork that helps her do so.
But then I was intrigued how this (apparently fairly biased?) software had helped her to finish her days early — not by „being faster“, as so much software promises you with their stock photos of relaxed-looking people in front of a computer — but by going a bit deeper and changing how she thinks about project scheduling entirely. I wonder if there’s more software out there like this.