Matt Ragland argues digital productivity apps cause distraction and lost tasks. Start with pen and paper, bullet journals, and sticky notes to capture ideas, then move to Notion or ClickUp for execution. Analog tools give you clarity and focus that digital-first workflows lose.
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Welcome to Analog Action, the best channel on YouTube for getting things done with pen and paper. Or a pencil. Or a whiteboard. And timers. And the paper can be sticky too. Ask yourself, how often do you really go back through that endless list of to-dos that are stuck in your reminders or productivity app of choice? If you're anything like me, then too many of those to-dos get lost in the infinite archive of the internet. But that's not even the worst part. The worst part is the distraction. Even when I use those apps, and to be clear, I still do a little bit, but I'm going from one task, one note, one notification to another that even if I go in to a productivity app with the full intention of doing a thing, it's so easy to get distracted that I forget what I was looking for, what I was doing in the first place. Pen and paper never really does that to me, at least not in the same way. Specifically, I really like using the Bullet Journal. There's a bunch of different things that you're going to get to know on this channel, and there are a ton of videos that already exist for you to learn these practices. I also love tracking projects with sticky notes. I love seeing ideas come to life on a whiteboard, and I even like making actual literal physical note cards that become building blocks of new content and things that I'm going to bring to life on the internet But everything starts with pen and paper. Everything starts analog before it becomes a digital asset. Look, I'm not against using technology. I love technology. My career has been built on technology. I also do a lot of work with my team on tools like Notion, ClickUp, Google Docs, and many more. But that's after I've planned, organized, and listed everything on paper. I already know what to do because I've written it down, and these digital tools are just where I do the work. Subscribe to Analog Action and ring the bell for the best videos on YouTube on how to be productive, intentional, and focused with your work just using a pen and paper.
