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Thursday morning, I left home at 8 a.m. for a medical appointment in Asheville. Since I was already in the area, I decided to spend a little time wandering through the gardens at Biltmore.
I love to walk. What I apparently love a little less is walking uphill at higher elevations. By the time I made it back to my Expedition, I'd logged 10,000 steps and was thoroughly worn out.
I still had errands to finish, including picking up rugs I'd been waiting months to have bound. You would have thought I'd be over the moon to finally bring them home. Nope.
By the time I returned to my desk at 3 p.m. I was tired, hungry, probably a little dehydrated, and staring at work that still had my name on it.
Cranky wasn't my middle name. It was my first.
And the drama of trying to get that work done? Oh, it was real.
When the tools become the work
For the past six months, I've been battling one computer problem after another. After the third major breakdown, I turned to Dell ProSupport, a service I'd deliberately invested in so I wouldn't have to navigate these situations alone.
I had planned ahead. I had documented the problems. I had a support agreement.
What I apparently didn't have was a straightforward resolution.
Weeks of negotiations followed, adding another layer of work to an already full schedule. The very system I'd put in place to make my life easier had become something else I needed to manage.
And Thursday, when I sat down at my desk, the emails, unfinished tasks, and unresolved issues felt like they were screaming at me.
The interesting thing? I already had tools to help me manage my work. I wasn't lacking a task manager, a calendar, or a productivity system.
What I was lacking was the energy to process everything demanding my attention.
I couldn't make the work disappear, but I could decide what really needed my attention. Rather than staring at the entire list, I started sorting through what was important, what was urgent, and what could wait. Some things got pushed to another day. The rest? One task at a time. Nothing magical happened. I was still tired, and the work was still there.
But at least I could hear myself think again.
What are our tools really costing us?
We invest in tools and systems to make our lives easier. Sometimes they do. Other times, we spend more energy maintaining, troubleshooting, and accommodating them than doing the work they were meant to support.
That doesn't mean we should abandon a tool every time it frustrates us.
I'm learning an entirely new computer environment right now, which apparently involves rewiring decades of neural pathways. Some days it feels more like a computer migraine than a computer migration.
But I'm choosing to make that investment because I want my devices to work together more seamlessly.
There's a difference between investing time in something that will serve us better and continually maintaining something that no longer does.
And even when our tools work beautifully, we still have to decide what deserves our attention and what can wait.
I've been exploring these questions as I finish an upcoming article, Before You Add AI, Understand the Work. It's about why understanding what we're trying to accomplish matters more than adding another tool to our collection.
I'll share it soon. I promise!
In the meantime, here's something worth considering: Is there a tool or process in your life that's requiring more from you than it's giving back?
You don't necessarily need to replace it. Maybe it's time to reconsider the role it's playing.
Sometimes, a cup of coffee is enough
Amid all the technology drama and competing demands, something rather lovely happened recently.
Someone reached out to me through LinkedIn and suggested we meet for coffee.
No agenda. No expectations. Just an opportunity to get to know each other and learn a little about the work we do.
And you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. It felt like catching up with an old friend rather than meeting someone for the first time. Our hour together flew by, and I suspect we could have easily continued the conversation over lunch if she hadn't had a plane to catch!
It was a welcome reminder of how much I value genuine human connection, particularly when so much of our time is spent managing responsibilities, technology, and the endless demands of everyday life.
So I'd love to extend that same invitation to you.
If you're in the Upstate South Carolina area, let's meet for coffee. I'd enjoy getting to know you. If you're farther away, pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea and join me virtually for Let's Untangle It!, a 20-minute conversation where we can get acquainted and perhaps untangle something that's been holding you up.
Sometimes a fresh perspective and a good conversation are just what we need.
