Digital Functional Optimization: Get to Flow State With Software

I write a lot about technology and productivity generally, but today I’d like to talk about an approach to interacting with the digital world and provide a definition I haven’t seen articulated before (at least holistically). It’s deeply personal to me because it’s connected to my love of technology and communication, and at the same time relates to my personality type, how I process information, and how I get things done.

When “digital functional optimization” (as I’m calling) it is properly employed, I feel like all cylinders are firing. It’s deeply satisfying and usually helps me create a product I’m happy with. A proper environment - that is, both physical and digital - can lead to flow state. For now, let’s focus on the latter.

I hope you find this methodology about using software valuable. 😌

Digital Functional Optimization: A Definition#

Digital Functional Optimization is a comprehensive approach to managing one’s digital environment, focusing on maximizing utility, efficiency, and creativity while minimizing cognitive load and distractions. It’s a philosophy which emphasizes thoughtful selection, customization, and progressive mastery of software and digital tools to achieve both personal and professional goals.

Over the years, I’ve explored countless digital platforms and tools, always seeking the next killer use case. This exploration led me to develop a unique approach I call “Digital Functional Optimization.” Unlike Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism, which focuses on carefully selecting a minimal set of digital tools based on core values, Digital Functional Optimization embraces a wider range of digital tools while emphasizing intentional use, continuous refinement, and maximizing utility. Both approaches share a focus on intentionality, but differ in their stance on the breadth of technology adoption.

Digital Functional Optimization also encourages us to create, not just consume. It’s concerned with leveraging technology to free our minds for deep work and meaningful engagement with the world around us. Here’s how it differs from other approaches:

1. It embraces progressive complexity, allowing us to grow with our tools.
2. It prioritizes creative output over consumption.
3. It applies to both work and fun projects.
4. It recognizes the value of cognitive offloading to digital tools.
5. It establishes healthy digital boundaries without complete abstinence.

Streamlining our digital lives allows us to free up mental space to engage more fully with our physical environment. When we cut the fluff and create content that resonates, it contributes meaningfully to the world around us.

As we navigate an increasingly digital world, it’s crucial to develop intentional strategies for engaging with technology. Digital Functional Optimization offers a framework for doing just that.

Key Principles#

1. Intentional Selection: Carefully choose digital tools that align with personal goals and values, prioritizing those that offer the most significant benefits for achieving the ideal outputs. Be a constant learner and always be ready to try something new if it’s better.
2. Progressive Complexity: Start with the simplest implementation and gradually increase complexity as proficiency grows. Avoid over-engineering a system - complexity for complexity’s sake gets in the way of optimal functionality.
3. Remove Interface Barriers: Streamline and personalize user interfaces to focus on core functionalities for a particular use case to improve focus and reduce distractions.
4. Practical Automation: Leverage smart shortcuts and macros to simplify complex tasks and optimize day-to-day workflows.
5. Cognitive Offloading: Utilize digital tools to manage information and tasks, freeing up mental resources for deep work, creativity, and interpersonal engagement. Staying organized helps with this, too.
6. Mindful Engagement: Establish clear boundaries for technology use, prioritizing important real-world experiences and relationships over digital interactions.
7. A Unified & Secure Identity: Maintain a consistent online presence across platforms to build trust and use a reliable process for securely managing accounts to reduce security risks and save time.
8. Creation-Consumption Mindfulness: Optimize the digital environment to facilitate both efficient content creation and avoid mindless consumption.

Intentional Selection#

It’s important to consider your goals when selecting your platforms or software of choice. Be mindful of the features, settings, compatibility, and limitations of each. If its a paid tool, is it a monthly fee or one-time payment? If it’s free, is there a catch?

Generally speaking, you aren’t held back by choice. There are an abundance of options (almost too many) to solve whatever need you may have. Sometimes the best choice for you isn’t the loudest, most popular option. This may require some careful research or personal referrals. Websites like Product Hunt or Reddit can be great places to niche down and see what tools are being used for your particular use case.

For example, I use a very particular set of tools for this website. I use Astro-based theme Fuwari, which is currently actively updated and maintained. To write blog posts like this one I use Obsidian, push to a GitHub repository with SourceTree, deploy with Netlify and make code changes with the Visual Studio Code text editor (by the way, if you want to create your own free website hosted on GitHub, I have a guide for you).

If you’re considering switching platforms, tools, applications, etc., run a cost-benefit analysis of changing and weigh the pros and cons.

Progressive Complexity#

Have you ever tried to start using a new application or piece of software but instead got completely overwhelmed and gave up? This may happen if you try to use every feature from the get-go or build too complex of systems right from the start. An example might be a ToDo list app - instead of just jotting down a few to-dos, you feel you have to leverage every part of the application to make effective use of the tool.

In reality, over-engineering a tool can be crippling and kill its effectiveness altogether. If you’re spending more time managing the system instead of spending time actually achieving the outcomes you want, it’s actively working against you.

That said, you can work your way up to a more complex system that works in your favor. A great example includes the split keyboard I started using. There were many steps to take before I was familiar enough to be just as productive as I was with my previous keyboard, and I had to take each of them one at a time. First getting used to the new positioning of my hands, then trying a thumb cluster, then using my right thumb for backspacing, etc. Each got its time to slowly implement and repeat until it became second nature.

If you’d like to use a complex system - start simply, and work your way towards your ultimate desired use case.

Remove Interface Barriers#

An interface setup for “most people” is rarely an interface that’s perfect for you individually. To the degree applications are able to be customized, why not adjust them to be a perfect fit for you? The options there and can make a huge difference in your efficiency.

I find one barrier to using tools effectively are extra UI elements I am certain I will never use. If it’s a UI element you don’t understand yet, no need to touch it, but if previous screen real estate is being taken by something you know you won’t use, there’s no need for it to be there.

A great example of this is setting up new Windows installs. Microsoft throws in all kinds of junk no one needs (especially these days with Windows more as a “service” than just an operating system) and now I have a whole ritual I need to go through of just removing or minimizing the distractions and unhelpful features they try to shove down your throat.

Look at all of this bloatware that comes with Windows now.

Of course this can be additive as well, like installing browser extensions that improve your experience, or plugins to make the software you use more powerful. However an underutilized and underrated option is to just simplify your user interface. It can do wonders to increase the enjoyment of using a given application or getting more done with it.

Using software means we can sometimes even tweak an experience that wasn’t meant to be customized. Browser extensions like uBlock Origin or Dark Reader modify the websites we use and can help us create the experience we want. There are even site-specific extensions, like Return YouTube Dislike, Unwanted Twitch, and X.com UI Customizer. Violentmonkey, Greasemonkey, and other similar browser extensions go a step further give you even more power to control your experience online. WinAeroTweaker lets you customize Windows and remove some of its more annoying quirks. There are many more to list.

Don’t be afraid to click unsubscribe on that newsletter for which you don’t remember signing up. Use Twitter / X.com’s mute button for any account that distracts you from what you find valuable about the platform. Curate your feeds to be what helps you the most and cut the noise. Removing distractions and fluff or improving the UX of a platform or service can often make a big difference in increasing the quality of the time you spend using it.

Practical Automation#

Something as simple as a keyboard shortcut can drastically accelerate your productivity. For instance, with Alt+Tab, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Alt+Tab, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+V, and Enter you can quickly switch to a text editor application, select all of the text in a text area, copy it, switch to your web browser, open a new tab, paste it, and enter the query all without moving your mouse, and it would be done in about 5 seconds if you were practiced. To repeat these steps by manually clicking to open a program, clicking and highlighting text, selecting Edit > Copy, etc. would take much longer, and this adds up if you do tasks like this often.

If you’re looking to create some custom keyboard shortcuts, most operating systems and some software applications allow you to set your own. Or you can use something like AutoHotKey to create your own shortcuts and macros, and some keyboards have that functionality built-in as well.

One simple macro I use on my keyboard is a key to simply type in my email address for me. I need to enter it often enough which makes it much easier to sign up for services or save credentials in my password manager. It has the added benefit of not taking up my clipboard so I can easily add my email and copy a new, unique password without any conflicts.

A more complex example of automation is something like a Stream Deck. I use one and I love it. I use it for things like turning on my lighting setup with a button press or opening a PowerToys utility, or just providing a quick visual as an emoji picker if I need it. I also use it to automate many of the things I need to do during my live streams.

Cognitive Offloading#

Accept that your brain isn’t as good at remembering things as a system is. Whether it’s a physical notepad and pencil, or a software application, offloading information storage will give your brain room to focus on thinking, learning, and creativity instead.

Using digital calendars like Google Calendar for time-blocking, scheduling future events, and setting reminders solves many of these problems. Note-taking applications like OneNote or Obsidian can become databases of your brain.

Staying organized from the beginning helps you spend less time trying to find what you need and more time using what you need. If you can create an intuitive folder structure and pin the most important items in your file manager, the more you can not worry about where things are every time you need to retrieve a document. Don’t pick the expedient route (put everything important in the Downloads folder or on your desktop), pick the route that provides the most long-term benefit and time-saving (an organized folder structure).

Conserving brainpower in these ways gives you more energy for deep work activities or creative endeavors that move the needle. Overstimulation, though, can also deplete valuable cognitive energy, which I discuss in the my next point.

Mindful Engagement#

In Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, he argues our brain has a finite amount of energy and filling every waking minute with some kind of digital consumption is bad for us. It depletes our attention and our brainpower and actually diminishes our efficacy during periods of work time where we try to get meaningful work done (what he calls deep work).

Mindlessly browsing a social media feed on your phone while waiting in line may be depleting more energy from your brain than you might think. Newport advocates for taking the time to just be there in the moment, look around, and be content with just doing nothing sometimes. I personally make a commitment to my friends and family that I will not use my phone during meal times at the table, whether we’re in a home or a restaurant.

It’s important not to demonize tech, I think, but we should have our priorities in order. Existing in the present and spending time with people in person should generally take priority - using your portable device in people’s company can be taken as a signal that they’re less important to you. At the same time, friendships made over digital mediums shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand, either. Meaningful, lasting friendships can still be made online.

A Unified & Secure Identity#

According to NordPass, the average American has between 100-200 passwords/accounts to manage. There’s no question at this point that you need a password manager, and relying on your own memorized passwords for every single account is either foolhardy or a security concern.

BitWarden is currently my manager of choice, but KeyPass is another great option. I recommend creating passwords of 20 characters or more using a combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Using a password manager is another helpful organization hack to minimize your cognitive load and saves you from wasting time with constant password resets.

A unified online identity just makes things easier to manage. You might start with picking a unique, original username. I posted this a while ago of some of the top considerations when selecting one:

Username sweet spot:

- Under 12 characters
- Always consistent
- Confidently unique
- Easy to pronounce
- Straightforward to spell
- Memorable
- No underscores or periods
- No numbers (exceptions)

Self-critique:

- 13 characters
- Not straightforward to spell
- Not memorable

— David V. Kimball (@davidvkimball) June 14, 2023

A username, or handle, is different from a display name. A display name isn’t unique, and anyone can use it.

If you have a consistent identity online, not only does it make much easier to manage on your side, but it’s also easier for the world to connect with you in a platform-agnostic way. It may be difficult to predict which online service might die next or which future platforms might emerge, but if you have a consistent identity with which to connect each one, migrating from one to the other becomes more seamless.

Creation-Consumption Mindfulness#

I was born too early to be considered a digital native, but from the age of 3 I knew I loved to make stuff even before I used a computer. I drew practically every day during my childhood, with just a simple sketch book of blank, white paper and a standard Ticonderoga #2 pencil.

Watching a movie or reading a book was fun enough as a kid, but I truly felt engaged when I was creating something. Whether it was drawing a map of an island from a fictional universe or building a new LEGO set, I adored the process of creating. Video games were a particularly inspiring medium for me, where my imagination ran wild and I’d sketch hundreds of made-up video game concepts and ideas in my sketchbook.

In today’s world of content overload, it’s increasingly more tempting to spend more time consuming. As we discussed earlier, there is a sneaky cognitive cost to consumption, even if it seems like a mindless activity. Modern platforms are tailor-made to encourage non-stop consumption, despite there also being more tools than ever and fewer barriers than ever to create.

This isn’t to say consuming content is inherently bad, but I do think on average we don’t spend as much time creating as we could. When you construct a digital environment that lends itself to getting more done, you end up producing more than you would have otherwise. So a byproduct of Digital Functional Optimization is creating more cool things more often. And that’s awesome.

Final Thoughts#

As I review what I’ve written here, I think a lot of what makes digital functional optimization so effective is creating an environment you enjoy. Anyone with ADHD or OCD tendencies should be the first to know how important a low-stimulus habitat is to help with concentration and focus. It can be very frustrating if you can’t control the volume level of outside noise or other distractions.

Thankfully with technology we can do amazing things to perfect our environments. Insofar as you’re using software to get something done, you might as well make it the best version of what it can be for what you need. What of our physical environment, though? Maybe that’s for a future post.