Some people focus too much on the tools.
I’ve just returned to the office, after a wonderful week away with my family. Whilst we were away, we spent a lot of time exploring the Yorkshire Moors and noticed something again and again. Even though we were often driving at altitude, so high up that we were looking down on the clouds, there were lots of cyclists climbing these enormous inclines; using inexpensive looking bikes and wearing just regular clothing, rather than all that lycra stuff you usually see cyclists wearing.
One of these guys spoke with us, when we stopped to take some photos in the mountains. He is 66 years old and cycles into the mountains most days. He was hardly out of breath and explained that this is how he and many of his friends choose to travel whenever the weather allows it. He was wearing a pair of baggy shorts, sandals and a regular looking shirt and riding a tatty looking old bike.
Conversely, I know people who are 20 years younger than that man, who spend thousands on their bikes and hundreds more dressing like they are in the Tour de France, yet the 66 year old on his clunker of a bike would leave them in the dust. Why? Because although those people have the best tools available, they eat crap, cycle irregularly and are out of shape.
You can go out today and spend a fortune on a great looking website, wonderful designs and kick-ass IT systems, but these are just the tools.
Yes, we need the right tools to do a job correctly, BUT it’s what we do with the tools, which will determine our results.