During Sal Soghoian’s appearance on Mac Power Users, he talks about his philosophy on “and, not or”:

A lot of people mistakenly embrace the concept of or when it’s not necessary. There really needs to be and. And and doesn’t necessarily cost more… it just offers more.

Every minute of this show is worth listening to because Sal exudes genius every time he speaks, but his “and, not or” philosophy is a seriously great piece of wisdom, and I hope that now that Sal is outside of Apple he has more opportunity to speak and write about it.

In my experience—observing both myself and others—the “or” mindset usually leads to paralysis or unneeded time spent rebuilding an entire workflow to fit perfectly in a new framework.

The most agile, modular solution is usually some of this and that. “Or” breeds an “all or nothing” approach that usually just ends in nothing. “And” moves things forward

What’s the best computer for productivity? A MacBook and an iPad Pro.

Where should I store notes? DEVONthink and Apple Notes.

Where should I write? Drafts and Ulysses and Sublime Text.

What’s the best way to outline? Plain text and iThoughts and OmniOutliner.

What camera should I use? A DSLR and my iPhone.

What’s the best way to sketch a visual design concept? Real paper and an Apple Pencil / iPad.

Where do tasks belong? OmniFocus and Reminders and TaskPaper.

What PDF app should I use for mark up? PDF Expert and LiquidText and Notability.

In each case, the “and” mindset lets my mind get out of the way of itself. “And” imposes less friction between ideas and actions.