“A world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds. It will be a world of thinks and think-nots.” - PG
Tools Shape Thinking
There's a famous observation, often attributed to Marshall McLuhan: "We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us." I used to think this was a clever saying. Now I think it might be the most important idea in technology.
Consider something as simple as a text editor. If you use a word processor, you think in terms of pages, formatting, and documents. If you use a plain text editor, you think in terms of words and ideas. If you use a tool like Notion, you start thinking in terms of databases and properties.
None of these tools is objectively "better." But each one subtly pushes your thinking in a different direction.
The tool-thought feedback loop
When you adopt a new tool, something interesting happens:
- You adapt to the tool. You learn its constraints, its shortcuts, its way of organizing information.
- The tool adapts your thinking. Over time, you start to frame problems in terms the tool can handle.
- You forget the adaptation happened. The tool's way of thinking becomes your way of thinking.
This is why switching tools can feel so disorienting — and so productive. It's not just about features. It's about being forced to see your work from a different angle.
Choosing carefully
If tools shape thinking, then choosing your tools is one of the most important decisions you can make. Not just "which is the best tool?" but "what kind of thinking does this tool encourage?"
A spreadsheet encourages quantitative thinking. A whiteboard encourages spatial thinking. A journal encourages reflective thinking. Each is valuable. Each has blind spots.
The wisest approach might be to rotate between tools deliberately, using each one to compensate for the blind spots of the others. Think with a pen, then a keyboard, then a whiteboard. Each medium will show you something the others can't.