It is obvious to most of us when we shouldn’t attempt to lift a load without support. If we attempted, many issues could arise:

• We might hurt ourselves or someone else.

• We might damage the load we attempted to lift.

• We might be overcomplicating the solution.

• We might take longer than it would’ve taken to use the right tool for the right job.

What’s at risk when you use the wrong tool for the job?

• Safety

• Quality

• Simplicity

• Speed

And yet, we don’t treat our brains with this same amount of respect.

What your brain is not optimal for:

1. Keeping a to-do list.

2. Storing objective memory and context.

3. Multi-tasking.

What your brain is optimal for:

1. Creative problem-solving.

2. Pattern recognition.

3. Building relationships.

So why is it that we wastefully use our brains on certain activities when we have (highly affordable) access to better tools for the job?

The same reason someone tries to lift something they shouldn’t.

Hubris. We want to be the hero. The expert. The guru. We want to feel needed by others. We want to be the solution to problems.

Our journey of daily continuous improvement requires humility.

• The humility to understand that you can’t remember every detail about every step of every process.

So what are some better tools than your brain?

Notice: your brain might not be your standard. If that’s the case—congratulations!

Don’t assume that the following tools will be improvements for you. I’m simply sharing these discoveries in an effort that one of them might be helpful for you and your team.

Top 3 Recommendations for Tools that Should Replace Your Brain

1. Motion

2. TextExpander

3. Loom

Motion

Motion is probably my favorite tool in my toolbox at the moment. I am so impressed and there’s simply nothing else like it.

Using Motion feels like you hired an executive assistant to manage your calendar. It automatically schedules your calendar based on what your priorities and deadlines are. It will also shift, shuffle, and adjust — automatically — based on what you complete.

I use Motion to book meetings with people, document my project and task templates, and document my projects and tasks for execution—and of course, most importantly, Motion tells me what I should be working on through a simple glance at my calendar.

I’m hardly doing it any justice. Check out this video for a more detailed and in-depth overview.

TextExpander

I’m such a latecomer when it comes to this tool. But I’m probably not as late as I think. TextExpander is a wildly affordable, simple, and powerful tool.

Here’s a video (jumps right into the action) of a great use-case and example.

You can try it free for 30 days. After that, it’s like $4.16 per month for an individual license. Crazy!

Loom

If you’ve worked with me for any period of time, you know that I love using Loom. It’s a great way to communicate via video asynchronously with your customers and colleagues.

But how does it relate to this post, specifically?

Loom AI. It’s worth the up charge. Stop wasting time writing down all of the steps to get something done. Instead, just record a video and execute and Loom AI will take care of the rest.

Accompany your recorded video with an automatically written SOP.

What’s the bottom line?

Your brain is prime real estate. Don’t clutter it with endless to-dos. Offload that stuff onto a rock-solid process.

Keep your mind clear for the creative problem-solving.

And let machines do the heavy lifting.