The setup rabbit hole
Every few months, I fall into the same trap. I convince myself that if I just had the right tools, the right setup, the right workflow—everything would click. I'd be more productive. More creative. More effective.
So I spend hours researching. Comparing. Configuring. And at the end of it all, I've made almost no progress on the actual work.
The tools I actually use
For what it's worth, here's my current stack:
- Editor: VS Code with minimal extensions
- Terminal: Warp (but iTerm worked fine for years)
- Notes: Obsidian for thinking, Notion for sharing
- Design: Figma
- Code: TypeScript, React, Next.js, Tailwind
But here's the thing: I could do my work with almost any reasonable alternative. The tools are not the bottleneck.
What actually matters
The bottleneck is usually:
- Clarity of thought - Knowing what to build
- Consistent execution - Actually doing the work
- Feedback loops - Learning from what you ship
No tool can give you these. They come from practice, from showing up, from shipping even when it's not perfect.
The permission to stop optimizing
If you're reading this while procrastinating on actual work, here's your permission slip: Your current tools are good enough. Go build something.
The best setup is the one you use to ship.