Solutions

If you've read this blog at all, you've read about me switching back and forth between my memo based system and Life Balance. This morning, I finally had some insight into why I keep doing this.

I am a software generalist. I know a little about a lot of programs. This makes sense, since my job for many years has been software support. One of the things that interests me is what a program is trying to do, how the developer solves that problem, and how easy the interface is to use. Since Palm software is so much cheaper than computer software, I've played around with many programs. I've found that I literally can't use some of the most popular ones. Datebk5 comes to mind. I've looked at it several times and then delete it right off. It simply doesn't work the way that I do.

I started using Life Balance on the Palm, on my TRGPro. It's been a favorite for a long time. In fact, I started using Macs so I could try the desktop. Now, I'm not crazy about the desktop. It does a nice job, is easy to use, and runs flawlessly on my Mac. Yet I can take it or leave it. The Palm program is a different story and that confused me. Both programs work the same and have essentially the same interface. Why do I keep coming back to the Palm version? It dawned on me that there are two reasons for it and both involve animations. I love the way that the pie chart is redrawn on my Zire 71. It just recalculates so quickly. It's interesting to see where I've been focusing and to decide if I really want to focus on any of the things I've been avoiding. The real reason I keep coming back to Life Balance is the llama animation. I like having the llama calculate my priorities. Isn't that silly? It's the one thing that isn't present on the desktop. Life Balance really is amazing and is an interesting program to puzzle over.

The problem with it, for me, is that I don't think in outlines. A "web" of ideas works better for me and that's why I've been drawn to Cyberpoche for so long. The programs I've been using work together nicely. I haven't invested in Acrowiki yet, so maybe the missing piece for me is a colorful home page. I do know that I seem to get bored with the system and that's when I reinstall LB. Since I have the desktop version, I can just check off the things I've done and pick up where I left off. And that lasts for a few weeks, until I get tired of being told what to do ;)

I feel that any time you can analyze why you are doing something, you can finally move towards changing it. I'm hoping this analysis will help to stick with a single system and not spend so much time flipping back and forth. I know that I'll still miss the llama ;)