As I write these words, I am contemplating two blog posts. The first, which inspired this writing, was a post by Cal Newport at http://bit.ly/J16l4k called Welcome to the Post-Productivity World. The second was by Lynn Terry, written more recently at http://bit.ly/J16GUP called A Day in the Life of Lynn Terry.

Cal Newport argued that blogs about productivity are no longer all that interesting to people anymore. That they are more interested in big picture stuff, about the quality of life, etc. Lynn Terry discusses how she gets things done while making sure quality of life matters are also cherished.

So what’s the real story? Well – having dealt with thousands of people over the years, I know some things will NEVER change. Why? Because we are human. We all have 24 hours in a day. No more; no less. How we spend this time is directly impacted by how productively we dance toward our goals. The quality of our time is also impacted by the style, the verve, and the panache of our dance toward our goals.

The idea of getting more and better tools is still with us. Look at the frenzy for every release of the iPad and the iPhone.

But the tools have to be intrinsically interesting, and above all they have either improve the productivity or the style of our dance toward our goals – preferably both.

Productivity is about doing things as effectively, quickly and cheaply as possible so that we can do more in less time or have more time to luxuriate in our deeper passions.

If I could show you a product that could shave off 10% of the time it takes you to write something, would that be of interest? Granted if it takes you 30 seconds to write something, 3 seconds doesn’t sound like much (though it adds up). But if you’re writing something that takes a half hour, then that’s 3 minutes. Do that just 20 times, and you’ve given yourself the gift of an hour. An hour to be productive on something else or to have coffee with a friend, etc.

Tell me that such a tool wouldn't at least garner a tad of interest.

So is Cal Newport wrong? No. Not at all. But neither is Lynn Terry nor any of the myriad of other people who involve themselves in the subject of personal productivity.

What I think is going on is that we no longer care as much about the tools, per se. After all, they are evolving – rapidly. By the time we might get attached to something, another thing is put into the public arena capable of knocking what we have off it’s perch.

And then, of course, there are "tools" that are pitched to us that have no greater likelihood of improving our productivity or our quality of life than a Turbo Entabulator...

What we need is to have these tools tie in to our lives in more significant ways. The impersonal tool made personal. The MP3 player isn’t just cool because it’s a technological marvel, but also because it helps us stay motivated as we work on data entry. Action Machine Pro (aff link) is powerful not because it’s easy to use (which it is), but mainly because it helps you automatically feel confident about the way you’re staying on track.

Your motivation. Your confidence. These are the personal results that you get from the productivity improvement.

Thus the lesson and its effect going forward: The personal matters every bit as much as the practical. This blog will, from now on, show you possible personal benefits as well as those that I myself have experienced by using a product, a tool or by following a method.