What a difference an iPad makes...

This past July I finally made the leap and bought myself an iPad 2 for my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me! And still to this day it amazes me the psychological impact my iPad has made on my motivation to "get things done".

Being a Geek (yes, that's a capital Geek) teacher, I am constantly teaching, battling, and playing with technology all day, so when I get home, I'm brain-drained. Yet most nights I have piles of homework (grading or planning), so I sit there in my home office with my laptop trying to get things done, trudging along feeling pressured to "just get it done" - not being relaxed, not being creative, not being very positive.

Again, being the Geek teacher, I am knowledgeable of all the tricks of getting things done quickly, this program for that, that technique for this, and this website for that - this is not the problem. The problem is the stress of the day following me home and instead of relaxing while being imaginatively clever, I race just to get those things done, no extra thought, no extra tweaking, just get it done.

Now, with my iPad, YEAH!, I'm still doing basically the same thing as above (working all day with piles of homework). The difference? I'm not sitting at a desk, I'm home reading, surfing, discovering and when something about work pops into my head I spend time doing that then go right back to reading, surfing, discovering until the next work-something jumps to the front and demands attention.

It's all about location. My iPad has freed me from the psychological desk trap and all it means - racing against the bells, quick, before the next interruption, and the dreaded at least it's done. I find my finished products are a little more snazzier which entices the need to share the joy. 

The joy? 

I highly recommend any tool that frees one from the desk trap.