The Magic Pill... I think I need a bigger ‘medicine cabinet'

Related: Dyslexia, More TagsCentral Auditory Processing Disorder, technology, compensation skills, Fewer Tags

by wheresgrant
Monday, May 04, 2009

I just caught myself doing something that I do frequently.... spending money I shouldn't be spending on some gadget, software or method that I think will help me become more productive. Mankind calls it the ‘The Magic Pill' syndrome.  It's the insatiable need to always find the quick fix, the crutch, the organization aid to help  become more productive, meet deadlines, and improve my quality of work. I get excited every time I go to Office Max, or Staples. It's the feeling of ‘I must be getting something important out of this'. It's not that the item I purchase won't help to achieve these things... it's just that I never stick it out long enough to find out if they are helpful. For me going to Staples is like attending a gym and never working out.

It all started with my Trapper Keeper. Remember those... the Trapper Keeper was to the iPhone what Gutenberg's printing press is to the Kindle.  I loved my Trapper Keeper. They always came in cool colors, had pockets to ‘trap' items in. I think it may have been 5^th or 6^th grade... and for the first time we were allowed to use a loose-leaf binder.  (ok kids, I'm really dating myself). My trapper keeper gave me more than a path toward organization. It gave me hope that everything was going to be OK. That ‘this year' I was going to be on the right track. Start out the new school year on the right foot.

Well best laid plans, right?   Well I would always forget to bring it to school, and sure enough, I would be behind, missing assignments and utterly disorganized. Something about that September air would always get me excited for school before it even started. And hating it before the first month was over.

I follow the same pattern as an adult. Every January I spend about $30 for Day Timer 2-page per day refills, and get as far as mid-February when I stop taking notes and using them to plan. In fact I have every year since 2003. That's $150 dollars of wasted productivity potential.

As I look across my desk I can see an array of items I've bought in past years that I thought would help me be a more productive person;

• An Olympus WS-100 Digital Recorder -I lost the instructions and never figured out how to delete items.
• A Day Timer calendar-used for just 2 ½ months.
• A 5 year old Palm Pilot used for less than a year.
• A box of unopened color coded folders.
• A Quicken software box still uninstalled(for budgeting).
• Legal pads bought three years ago still with the wrapping on them.

The software item that I almost purchased just a few hours ago is an upgrade from a previous version of the software I already own.  It  sits, installed on my work laptop unused. Dragon Naturally Speaking 10. Two years ago I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 and never used it. I subsequently lost the CD and serial number. Version 10 was on sale at Amazon. Was I even in the market to buy Version 10?  No... of course not. I just saw that it was on sale (50% off) and I decided it was a good deal... and maybe if I bought version 10 I would finally spend the time calibrating the software to my voice. Yeah, right. Best laid plans. After I plunked it into my Amazon shopping cart, whipped out my credit card, my brain hit a wall of reality... I should probably just use the version I already own, before I waste another $75.