This is an updated version of an earlier piece called Productivity Obsession (v1) originally published on January 28, 2026.

I will admit that I have a bit of an obsession with the notion of tracking personal productivity.

I have tried apps, journals, lists, calendars, logs, books, spreadsheets, databases and more.

In October I coded a new app to take another swing at the “productivity tool” challenge.

Past attempts have been simple task tracking apps with checklists and goals.

This latest attempt has been a behemoth of curiosity and complexity: it posits an imagined futuristic city inhabited by a creative underground market where skills are traded and jobs are posted. The more creative work one logs in the system the more the city grows and the more interesting things are unlocked.

My proudest achievement is that the imagined city has a radio station that plays lo-fi tunes in the background while I work, encouraging me to have the app open on my computer for easy logging.

It’s immensely cool and I’m having so much fun exploring the little novelty, but…

Does any of it actually work to make me more productive?

I’d like to sit here and write the virtues of all these tools in leading to a more productive creative life, but at the end of the day what probably works best is just simple accountability to self. All of these little gimmicks, checklists, logs and databases no matter their format, are meant to bolster that accountability, but if one doesn’t have accountability to start with then no amount of filling pages, sorting lists, or checking boxes is going to change what ends up on the pages that actually matter at the end of the day.

Outdated · v1 I’ve revisited this piece. This post is outdated. Read the updated version: Productivity Obsession (v2) (November 4, 2026)

I will admit that I have a bit of an obsession with the notion of tracking personal productivity.

I have tried apps, journals, lists, calendars, logs, books, spreadsheets, databases and more.

This afternoon I vibe coded an app for my Mac that (for now) emulates the key features of the popular and once-trendy bullet journal but in a task list-meets-log sort of way. Maybe I’ll even use it… for a while.

Does any of it actually work tho?

I’d like to sit here and write the virtues of all these tools in leading to a more productive creative life, but at the end of the day what probably works best is just simple accountability to self. All of these little gimmicks are meant to bolster that accountability, but if one doesn’t have it to start with then no amount of filling pages, sorting lists, or checking boxes is going to change what ends up on the pages that matter at the end of the day.