After spending over two weeks away from home, I was incredibly happy to get back to it. Not that I didn’t have an amazing time during my travels (I clearly did), but it was my time away that made me realize that home has so much to offer me.
The road has a way of bringing that to the forefront – as well as a lot of other things. And they all have a sense of “home” to them.
This week I’ve already talked about going back to Gmail for Vardy.me email and making a return to OmniFocus for individual-based task management. It would seem as if I wasted time by trying other apps or services now that I’ve essentially “gone home”. It might even look like fiddling. To many people, it probably is.
But that’s not entirely the case.
Spending time testing my workflow has a lot to do with my job. Whether that’s being a productivityist or my work for Lifehack, trying out new things is a component of what I do. It’s not something I recommend everyone do – and I’ve said as much in my manifesto. It’s my job to do these things so that you can avoid doing some (or many…or all) of these yourself. And as I do these things I remain productive. You see, I keep a very full toolbox but I know what tools to use and when because I’ve been doing this for a long time.
My time on the road allowed me to meet people who gave me new ideas and new perspectives. They offered their own advice and tips in terms of what projects I should forge ahead with and which ones I should abandon. And while I may not necessarily heed every piece of advice, I had plenty of time to think about every one. That thinking time is also a means of “going home”. I reconnected with myself – my vision – by disconnecting to a lot of other things. After doing that I did wind up killing projects. I did focus more energy and resources on other projects as result. I did reflect on where I was and where I want to be.
I went…home.
I’ll keep tweaking — and every once in a while I will fiddle. I’ll test out new tools and tactics so that you can decide whether or not they’re for you. I’ll keep doing my job because I love doing it. I’ll keep going down the road. And I’m sure you will too — no matter what it is you do.
But keep this in mind: Sometimes you just have to go home in order to go further down the road.
Photo credit: Allan Foster (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
