I tried doing design the boring way and it worked with a gentle constraint

Part of me wanted the fancy version with all the tools. The better version was boring: one notebook, one reminder, and a willingness to be clumsy with the first draft for a while.

My current rule is simple: if it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, I am much more likely to keep doing it.

I started this because my busy month felt a little stuck, and transit seemed like a manageable place to experiment. The funny part is that the smallest change was the one I kept.