A case for better productivity tools

You might be thinking: "gosh! another productivity tool". But wait, this is not just another tool that will do x,y,z and output is a. Rather, it is something that will aid you and train you along the way. It will give you flexibility and will become the tool that is used by different people in different ways maximizing their full potential. But before we get into this, it begs a question about the vacuum that is there in this space. Productivity tools has become just a front for note taking apps and its features. There are some general editors and some random tools. Nothing that aids and trains your mind. The brain tools or apps are pretty much puzzles and something that promotes quick thinking. Not that it is bad, but your super computer is more tough than this. So the question is:

What is the current landscape for various productivity tools?

Not much to be honest. There is almost laughable collection in the android landscape. There is nil in the voice and VR/AR space. There is some in the iOS space but none which promotes mindfulness. There are yoga apps. There are some that locks screens or promotes timer techniques such as the pomodoro technique one or the one that has music with various moods and rain/fire background scores among others. This all helps. The white noise or happy moods all helps. But after a point, you have to be on your own. While these apps certainly help you take off to that higher plane, staying at that cruising altitude and consume all that vast amount of knowledge and creating new knowledge links, new knowledge and ideas and theories and applications. That said, there are simply no tools which "aid" your minds or helps train it to behave one way or another. Even before the advent of social media and internet, the distractions were too much and many perished with their goals. With internet and its various, infinite apps and wiki articles and discussion forums, it is very easy to be doing anything other than the task at hand. This especially affects kids and those in high school and pre-graduate students constantly suffer from a lack of focus and application. Add to that the myriad articles and self help books which claim that there is really one skill or talent needed or "7 ways to do this" or "10 ways to achieve that" or "the only thing or two needed" or you get the gist...

Let us look at some of the top productivity tools in the app store and their features.

The one that switches off your computing and mobile devices?

The one that freezes your apps and phones? switches off your phone - oh wait , that is a the phone switch off button!

The one that locks your browser? or that social media app ? or puts up a screensaver? The one that spanks you - wait what ?? the one that formats, organizes and creates the most beautiful, well organized and always synced up app ? The one that resides in cloud and still continues to do so and will continue to do even after you are done reading this article? Not to be snarky, but these are just some tricks that I can see that some of the so called apps or websites do. The human will is far more superior. The mind as a computer schemes constantly, manipulates things and your brain is wired to justify and act and think in certain manner and this flow is harder to stop than harnessing wind.

Just look at some of the top productivity tools. How many of them really make you productive? How many have alternatives? How much can one leverage those and then use it in conjunction with other techniques that you have or develop for yourself? Speaking of which, what the are the techniques that you develop on your own ? What is the role of computer in all this and how much does it aid ? There was a time where computer or computing device was used to help us and to aid us. To get from Point A to Point B. These days it is pretty much being used or abused as something that overwhelmingly does lots of things for us in smaller quantities while the big picture is often forgotten. In the run up to the scale, everyone seems to have forgotten that small steps is what eventually makes the big strides. Economically speaking, a million middle class household is better than a million impoverished homes with 1 outstanding billionaire. Same way, better than average educated people who number a million make a stronger community than million worker bees (who have attention span of 20 minutes followed by distractions and doing menial tasks) and a self described visionary boss who is going to change the world and who has books and movies written after him or her.