Could this $12 piece of plastic change your life, too?
On the silly little tool that's upended my productivity, mood, and life.
Today I want to tell you about this thing I bought for $12 that has, somehow, radically changed my life. But first, let’s zoom the fuck out and start with an existential question:
When was the last time you got exactly what you wanted? And how did it feel?
I’ve noticed something recently about myself in this regard. Maybe it’ll resonate with you, too:
When I finally get something I’ve strived for, the felt sense of achievement is nothing but a hollow echo compared to what I expected to feel.
And a lot of times, a shred of fear crops up alongside the joy, too: the weight of responsibility for this new opportunity or achievement.
Let me give you an example.
Every time I land a new client project, there is no more than a split second of thrill before my body settles into the weight of it.
I rapidly move from, “Fuck yes! Another juicy project to sink my teeth into! Rent will be paid and fun treats can be acquired next month!” to “contract-agreement-kick-off-meeting-deadline-feedback-invoice…”
This is all very curious, because I still place the act of achieving on a pedestal. It sits up there all shiny, while I’m down here in the dirty muck of the process.
I hate the process, by the way.
Or at least, I resent it deeply. Dreaming about doing things is so fun!! But when I bring a dream down to earth and start to execute in real time, the shine fades away and I’m left with a raggedy to-do list longer than my arm.
However, I’ve recently set my sights on some pretty big goals that will likely take years to achieve.
Because of that, I figured it was time I giddy up and learn how to actually enjoy (or at least not resent) the practice of digging in. Getting my hands dirty. Toiling, thinking, working, excavating the truth and making things happen—one sweaty brow at a time.
And so the question became: how do I dig in, but make it cute and fun? How do I get shit done, when the shit I need to do looks overwhelming or even a little miserable?
Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to the little piece of plastic I bought off jeffbezos.com that is—without hyperbole—changing my life.
This lil green guy has upended my creative process and made me a total productivity troll. Wanna know why?
It starts with the fact that me and my to-do list are sworn enemies.
As soon as I write it down on a clean notebook page, I swear I can feel the list’s little evil eye sizing me up. All the tasks I want to accomplish—so big and scary in the way they stare back!
WRITE THAT FIRST DRAFT and CALL THAT CLIENT and DO THAT RESEARCH. Malicious fuckers I’m forbidden from crossing off the page until I’ve toiled and toiled to complete the entire task.
The visual timer erases all that. It doesn’t say “WRITE THE NEWSLETTER.” It says “relaaax—just spend 60 minutes headed in that direction.”
Since I’ve started using the visual timer a month ago, I’ve noticed:
I often don’t need as much time as I think I’ll need to complete a task. Maybe because before, I’d check my phone and email 16 times mid-task, greatly stretching the time it took to cross it off my list.
I give myself more permission to pursue loosely oriented tasks like: which new budgeting system might I want to use? Or, how might I want to approach launching my next project? In the past, I’d demand an answer out of a to-do item. Now, I’m actually making decisions faster because I’ve taken away the pressure to figure it out in one go, so I’m no longer avoiding the task.
I blow through my to-do list. It feels amazing. In the past, I’d only get to cross something off my list when I completed it in its entirety. Now, I get to cross something off my list just for putting some time towards it. This paradoxically is helping me do more faster and with more ease.
I think underlying all of this is the fact that now, I get to feel that elusive sense of achievement throughout the entire process.
I no longer have to wait until the very last moment to feel like I’ve gotten anything done.
Instead, each minute I faithfully dedicate to the things I want to do becomes a mark of my own success. I’m no longer constantly delaying my own gratification and punishing myself for it along the way.
Now, I get to luxuriate in the mess of it all—up to my elbows in something good, just cooking away and not worrying about when I get to clap the dirt off my hands and call that task done.
By flipping my focus from task completion to task devotion, I’ve started to feel so much more aligned with my own values and priorities.
After all, as Annie Dillard reminds us—“how we spend our days is how we spend our lives.”
Honey’s Toolbox is your weekly go-to for filling your creative cup and putting your ideas into action—from prompts to spark your imagination to gentle nudges that get you moving. Grab a few tools my friend, it’s time to start tinkering alongside your creative spirit.
1. Pre-order ’s new book of ordinary prayers
As a non-organized-religion-type person with a spiritual practice all my own, I love the idea of a daily reader, except I don’t want to see a single mention of J*sus. No offense if you love the guy, he’s just not for me. (Why yes I was raised Catholic, how did you know?)
Enter this pocket-sized book of ordinary prayers LOOK ABOUT YOU, by Cody Cook-Parrott, who facilitates my beloved co-writing group Landscapes.
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2. Explore what it means to show up as a genuinely relaxed person
As Liz Gilbert explains on this podcast episode:
“There’s some part of us that thinks it would be irresponsible not to be angry, not to be tired. Just look at the world and how much it needs us. How much there is to be angry about. There’s a million reasons to not be relaxed.
And yet the question I have is, if you were to think of the biggest shit tornado going on in your life… whether it’s your activism, or your family, or your work, or a medical issue, or a bankruptcy, or an addiction issue… And if you were to go into that same shit tornado tomorrow and not one external thing changed, but you were relaxed, would you be more or less effective at handling it?
Martial artists know that the most related person in the room wins the fight…
And so I’ve narrowed it down to three things that I need for me, for my system to be relaxed. And it’s boundaries, priorities, and mysticism.”
I highly recommend listening to the full clip, which starts at 59:24, then spending a few minutes considering:
What do you need to show up as a genuinely relaxed person in this world?
And how might that help you cope with the shit tornado that is reality right now?
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3. Consider your own complicity
I don’t mean to come with fighting hands today, I promise. But there was another juicy quote from that podcast episode, that as soon as I heard it I wrote it down in all caps on a sticky note above my desk and it has been running through my mind ever since:
HOW AM I COMPLICIT IN CREATING THE CONDITIONS FOR THINGS I SAY I DON’T WANT?
Oof, I know. Something to think about this weekend, perhaps?
(P.S. You can hear it posited and briefly discussed at 12:25 in that same podcast episode.)
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That’s all for now.
Talk soon,
Katie