Decluttering: Work Over Tools
I used to have an expensive guitar.
I loved that guitar. There was a sound quality to that particular instrument (especially when it was amplified) that made me happy inside and out.
That guitar is no longer in my posession.
A much less expensive instrument now graces my office (I don’t really play that often anymore).
If BB King or Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughn were to have picked up the guitar sitting in my office, with their decades of experience and tens of thousands of hours of practice, they would make it sing. It would sound far better than I ever did with an instrument with five times the value.
Some might say that’s talent over tools. But it’s not really even about talent. Guitar greats consume hours, decades, a lifetime devoted to gaining their specific skill. (Don't demean this by calling it "talent." It's ridiculously hard work.)
Quality tools are great. I love owning them.
But having a great guitar doesn’t make you a guitarist.
Having an expensive, full-frame, professional-quality camera doesn’t make you a photographer.
Having a garage full of woodworking equipment doesn’t make you a carpenter.
Having a genuine, battle-ready, hardened carbon steel, Claymore broad sword doesn’t make you a warrior (I have one of those in my office, too.)
Work makes you better. Not tools.
Use your digital tools to make better work.
Exploit them for the greater good.
Avoid using a tool as merely a toy.
Your digital tools have more potential than you know.
