What’s in Your Minimum Viable Productivity Toolkit

I confess… I love a shiny, new tool like the next productivity nerd.

How can anyone resist the promise of improved organisation and efficiency? This new app/journal/planner will make you the best version of yourself. Who wouldn’t want that?

But there’s a problem.

New productivity tools enter the marketplace daily. Switching tools takes time, and you risk spending more time planning your approach to productivity than doing the work.

With this in mind, it’s time to ask a question:

What’s in your minimum viable productivity toolkit?

I have found that this combination of tools hits the sweet spot:

• Capture tool
• Calendar
• Task manager
• Notetaking tool

It’s possible to combine tools, such as your task manager and calendar (Morgen is an excellent example of this). Using Ryder Carroll’s Bullet journal methodology, you could feasibly combine all four tool types (the actual tool here is a journal).

I am happy to use four separate tools for my minimum viable productivity toolkit (MVPT). Before I explain my specific tool choices, I will explain the purpose of each tool.