Find The Right Tool

A few months ago, I found myself in a Camera shop in Singapore. The previous day, I had been playing with a colleague’s Sony A7. I was so enamored by the fancy features it offered that I decided it was time for an upgrade. Somewhat objectively speaking, the current Sony lineup has the sharpest images, the best autofocus, great build quality and ergonomics. So this was a logical choice, right? Well, six months later, I am preparing to sell this camera… so no.

I’ve since swapped it for the cheapest and most basic Fujifilm camera (no, the X-Half doesn’t count). The Sony was the best camera if you used it like a reviewer, but reviews missed that the Sony was not particularly fun to use.

My new FujiFilm X-M5, on the other hand, is fantastic. The image quality is worse, the autofocus is worse, and nearly every other objective measure is also worse. However, this camera has gotten orders of magnitude more usage than my Sony. Why? Because I actually enjoy using the thing. It weighs next to nothing, is cheap enough that I don’t care if I break it, and most importantly, the photos it takes have soul. All these things contribute to a really enjoyable experience, in contrast to the imposing and soulless Sony.

Similarly, I have set up a new NixOS workstation to replace my MacBook. Why? Even though my MacBook makes the most sense on paper with its fancy M1 processor, it is miserable. At every stage, it feels like someone asked how to make this device unpleasant to use. I can’t just run a binary on my computer. Oh no, you have to read the warning message, and you have to click the button, and you have to do a little dance for Tim Apple. Don’t you dare hit the play/pause button on your keyboard because half the time it will open Apple Music, which you have not and will never subscribe to. Not to mention the serious regressions in seemingly every new MacOS release. You know what sounds better? A system where I get the joy of running whatever I want and choosing exactly how it behaves.

While both the Sony Camera and MacBook are better tools in the abstract, I do not live in the abstract, and my motivation to use a tool isn’t captured in spreadsheet comparisons. I need imperfect tools that invite usage rather than perfect tools that are grating to use. I find that now that I have replaced these tools, I actually want to take time to use them, and I’m much more productive.

I believe most people underestimate the cost of a tool that is unpleasant or just bearable. Every time you hesitate before picking it up, every project you do not start, every time you tell yourself you will get to it next weekend. This delay begins to compound across weeks and eats into your motivation budget. For me, bad tools had slowly been killing my hobbies, and the simple action of changing them was enough to massively increase my productivity.

Consider this a reminder to reconsider the tools you use every day. Ask yourself which ones you enjoy using and which ones you merely tolerate. Life is too short to ask Apple for permission to run a binary on a laptop you own.