This Is How We Do It: Testing Your Systems

Ari M November 29, 2010 Posts No Comments

The Setup

We have said before that there is some element of trial and error whenever developing a Less Doing system. Whether it’s paperless billing or automated e-mail responses, you’ll rarely get it perfect the first time, and even if it is, your needs might change over time. If you enjoy the game aspect to this lifestyle as much as I do, you constantly want to do it better. I am always looking for ways to shave time off an activity and make a process smoother because I think it’s fun and rewarding. You need to test your systems to make sure they work in the first place and that brings us to my desktop computer.

The Story

Two Thursdays ago, I turned off my desktop computer after realizing I hadn’t used it once that day. I have made a concerted effort over the past few months to make it so I can do anything I do on my desktop computer from my iPad or if need be, another person;s computer in a pinch. There were several snags along the way…the first issue was signing, scanning and returning documents. The app Zosh takes care of that on my iPhone. Then I couldn’t scan without my computer, while it’s a fairly rare occurrence, I still wanted to be able to do it. Again, an app saved the day, this time it was CamScanner. You just take a picture of the page, it auto corrects perspective and color and then saves it directly to Google Docs or Dropbox. I was running out of excuses to use the computer. No matter how nice your office is or how fast your computer is, nothing beats sitting on your porch with your iPad drinking a cup of coffee, with the sun on your arms and fresh air all around you. So now I have gone ELEVEN days without even turning my computer on and it feels incredibly liberating. More importantly, I worked out the kinks in the system, and lets face it, the desktop computer is the quintessential ball and chain. There were a couple times when I wanted to use the desktop for something and was able to figure it out on the iPad. You must put yourself in challenging situations to really figure out how to deal with them.

The Challenge

We’d like to hear from the readers, what activities do you believe you can only do on your desktop computer? Other than very specialized software, we want to hear from you, and hopefully we can provide a solution?

About The Author

Ari M

In 2006, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Crohn's is an incurable disease of the digestive tract. My case was severe, and required over a dozen daily medications and several hospital visits. After reaching a personal low point in hospital, I decided he would do everything in my power to strengthen my by then weak body. Through a combination of yoga, nutrition, natural supplements and rigorous exercise (Ironman and Crossfit) i was able to fight back the symptoms of Crohn's until I was finally able to suspend my medication. Eventually I was declared free of all traces of the 'incurable' disease, and competed in Ironman France in June of 2011. I has since spoken at seminars and at a regional TED Talk about my struggle against a seemingly insurmountable opponent. Through the process of data collection, self tracking, and analysis, I helped develop Less Doing. This was a way of dealing with the daily stresses of life by optimizing, automating, and outsourcing all of my tasks in life and business. Now I focus on Achievement Architecture, helping individuals be more effective at everything.