The Tantilizing Trap of Templated Toolkits

Jonathan Stewart: 00:00:00

The tantalizing trap of templates and toolkits.

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Yes.

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I really wanted to say that out loud.

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Productivity and systems templates have a problem.

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They are often marketed because that's what you're supposed to do as

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the one stop shop that'll solve your productivity and system problems.

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The sad thing is they very rarely do.

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And they're often misused by the users thinking that

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it's going to fix everything.

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It is the black Friday weekend cyber Monday.

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And chances are a lot of digital products are on sale with templates

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that are promising you to get you more productive, more organized,

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and more efficient in your business.

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The sad reality of that after experience with many clients is it's

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unlikely to do any of those things.

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In fact, I dare to say that the templates that are on offer are

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probably chopped up versions of the original creators systems that they

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probably won't even use themselves.

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And that is where my problem with templates start.

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When you create a template or a pre done system as i've done in the past, I'd have

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to chop pieces out to make it closer to what a typical business owner would need.

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And that's the exact problem it's generalized.

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And so it fits.

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Nobody.

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It's sad because of the templates or tool kits and solutions aren't necessarily

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terrible and awful per se, more misguided, misunderstood and sometimes yes.

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missold.

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Now, I'm not saying don't buy tantalizing, templated toolkits.

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I love that.

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At all go for it.

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But here's my.

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Caveat and consideration for you.

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Don't use it as is.

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Don't just use it as the template exists because it's highly unlikely

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to work for you because it doesn't have all of the context that you do.

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Don't try to force yourself and shove yourself into the

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process that another person uses.

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Take a look at it from a higher view.

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Let me explain.

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Look at how it's put together, what constraint has it added, that might

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actually be really helpful for you.

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A good example of this is many notion templates constrain the view

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by creating dashboards that are filtered to see only certain things.

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What do you want from this system?

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What things did you see that you want?

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For example with these dashboards would less information suit your system better?

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What.

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Would it help you?

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And if so, how will it help you?

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Then take a peak at what you have, what already exists in the things

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that you have created or bought in the past and perhaps have abandoned

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due to it not quite working for you or perhaps you completely forgot about it.

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Can you use the constraint that you found that you have liked in this recent

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product with what you previously used?

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For example, the new template you bought has things broken down and put into

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different places that can support you all of these things allow you to adapt

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a system so that it really does fit you.

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Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel and force yourself to work

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into something that someone else has created, but often isn't even the same

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as what they use on a day-to-day basis.

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We are bombarded by hundreds of templates and toolkits

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promising solutions that fit you.

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However often they're solutions that are lacking the key component that fits you.

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You.

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Instead of starting from a template that doesn't have you in mind, start from you!

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Don't want to go it alone or want help tweaking a template to fit you.

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Reach out to me at simplicity-specialist.com