inspired by a sticker used in commercial kitchens, it started as a way of thinking about what I kept in my pockets, but soon became a way to view life.
An Introduction to the Use First Mindset
Use First is a way of thinking about your stuff in a way that’s designed to reclaim your attention and focus on the things that matter most by putting them within easy reach.
The Use First system divides things up into three levels.
- Use First (Critical) | The things you always want close to hand
- Use Second (Context) | Things that are important, but only in a specific context, such as a work day
- Use Third | Anything else, that isn’t actually important
It can apply to anything like EDC (the things you carry in your pockets), the apps you keep on your phone or the stuff you take to work.
Where Use First Started
I believe in the Steven Johnson theory (Where Good Ideas Come From) that there are no light-bulb moments. In contrast, small, seemingly unconnected ideas, begin to build up. Some of the more interesting ideas are ‘sticky’ so they hang around. The less interesting ideas tend to fall away. After a while, the sticky ideas start to form a pattern and it’s in those patterns that bigger, more interesting ideas form.
Among all of the ideas that were piling up, two were particularly sticky.
The first belonged in the EDC or everyday carry category. EDC is all about what you should carry with you in order to be better prepared for what the world throws at you. A pocket knife, torch, wallet and keys seem to be pretty universal. But after that it could be anything like a full first-aid kit, a titanium ratchet screwdriver or a laptop & power pack.
I flip-flop, evolve and change my mind all the time. Over the years, (about 30 so far) I’ve carried all of those things and none of them. I’ve been ultra-prepared with a full toolkit, first-aid, laptop, a change of clothes and emergency snacks. Then I went ultra-light, with a single pocket-sized multi-tool. I couldn’t settle on what was the right amount of kit to carry.
At the same time, smartphone technology has been slowly and steadily invading my life. I started with a pager in 1998 and now almost every piece of communication and documentation I need is done through my phone.
Like many people, this led to doom-scrolling; where I’d fall into a ‘phone hole’ when I went to take a quick look at something and ended up spending way more time than I planned. Or open my phone to look for something important, get distracted by something and forget about the original task.
For a while I bought into the idea that social media was the problem. The idea that I was addicted to an algorithm that fed me exactly what I wanted to see. And there’s no doubt that there’s some truth in that, but I’ve also found a lot of worthwhile education and entertainment on social media platforms. I don’t want to get rid of this content, I just don’t want to have to navigate around it when I’m trying to do more important things.
I tried leaving my phone behind to give myself time to think, but that meant important people (like my daughter) couldn’t reach me. The thought that she might phone for help while I was having a ‘digital detox’ was more distracting than the phone itself.
Plus, I wasn’t trying to ‘detox’, I was just trying to get things done. And having a phone makes getting things done much easier. I can make lists, message people, pay for things, use it as a ticket wallet and find out where I’m going. None of those aspects of my phone were getting in the way.
And so I realised that there were some aspects of my phone that I always wanted close to hand. And others that I wanted to be able to put to one side until I consciously chose to pick them up.
The First Big Step
The big change was moving to two phones. I still use my Pixel 8. It’s the everything phone. Anyone can contact me and it has every app or connection I could need. But
I’ve added a second phone, a Unihertz Jelly Star which is a much smaller smart phone. Only a few people have the number for this phone. It only has _critical_ apps on it.
This is the phone I use first. Any messages on there are from the most important people in my life. One of the only apps (and shortcuts) is Google Tasks. So any notifications are for things that I need to do at that moment.
Deciding what went into the different levels
This part is very personal and I don’t have a specific model for people to follow. I think that’s because I already knew what I WANTED to be doing, I just wasn’t doing it because I was getting distracted by other things. So, I didn’t need a lot of rules to decide what ‘made the cut’.
That said, I’ve given this question a lot of thought. I like frameworks and rules because they often help wrangle complex and disorganised thoughts into something more manageable. In the end the simplest thing I could think of was consequences.
Level One
If the consequences of NOT doing something was that it always hurt me or my loved ones, then that goes into Level 1: Use First. So I always want to pick up the phone to my daughter, and I always want to be on hand to support my partner. Likewise I always want to be able to pay for the things I’m buying, so Google Wallet makes the cut. I always want to be able to get home if I need to, so Uber and Trainline make the cut too.
Level Two
But there are some things that only have those type of consequences under certain conditions. I need to be able to take work calls and answer emails, but only when I’m working. When I’m off work, those consequences no longer apply.
I want to have documents and bank details to hand when I’m doing life-admin. Not having them makes it impossible for me to keep track of my finances. But I don’t need to have them within easy reach all the time. I only need them when I’m doing life admin.
So that became Level 2: Use Second. They are important things to have within easy reach but only certain things in certain contexts. If I’m at work, then my work tools are within easy reach. If I’m at home, doing life-admin, then those apps are at hand.
It was this level that made the Use First mindset clear to me. Although it’s worth saying that it wasn’t called Use First at this point; that came later. But at this point I started to see that the whole idea was about keeping the things you needed/wanted within easy reach, so that you didn’t have to search or navigate before you started moving. When the things you need are within reach, you can start doing what you want to do almost instantly.
Level Three
The third level is everything else. It’s the stuff that you don’t need to get things done. There are no consequences if you ignore it. The best example is social media but there’s plenty of other things that are nice to have, but also wouldn’t be missed. But, these are unique to the individual.
The Difference it’s Made
The Use First aspect of the Jelly Star has made a huge difference to my productivity. I don’t mean that in the ‘hustle’ sense, but more in the practical sense.
I remember to pick up ingredients for dinner, I remember to get in touch with my friends, I remember to take my vitamins. I see those tasks and there’s nowhere else to go, unless I switch off this phone and pick up another one, so it feels easier just to do the task.
It’s not perfect. I’m definitely attracted to the ‘sugary hit’ of the all-you-can-eat buffet that’s available on the Pixel phone. But it’s easier to put it down and put it to one side.
Putting Kit Bags into Context
It’s also important to mention the EDC or equipment aspect. I’ve taken the same principles and applied them to the physical things I keep close by.
My work bag has everything I need for work. Laptop, notebook, headphones, coffee cup. The trick is to make sure that they are ALWAYS in there when I need to work. If I have to go and find these things or navigate others, then I’ll end up getting lost.
This was part of the EDC journey I mentioned earlier. I had tried carrying a bag that had everything I needed. Everything for work, for day-trips, for grocery runs, bike rides and dog walks. I’m embarrassed to say I carried that bag around for far longer than was necessary.
The alternative was to only bring what I needed. So every time I left the house, I packed and unpacked the things I thought I’d need. Each time it meant tracking down misplaced items, deciding where to store unwanted things and deciding if I’d really need that thing or not.
I’m less embarrassed to say this was how I managed things for a very long time. But, I often carried too much and often didn’t have the things I needed because they were in a different bag or pocket.
So, this is where the context part of Use Second becomes more important. I have a work bag. In that bag is a laptop, notebook, headphones and coffee cup. I also have a day-trip bag; this has a tablet, headphone and coffee cup. I also have a dog-bag; this has headphones, waste-bags and a ball.
Yes, I double-up on a few things like coffee cups and headphones (I stopped buying very expensive ones). What it means is that no matter how much I’m rushing, or how full my head is with other ideas, I can be 99.9% sure that I have what I need to get the job done. No sorting, no decisions, no navigation; just grab & go.
There’s an air-gap; a physical space between these activities that means things don’t get lost in between them. But it also means that there is a more robust mental gap between these activities.
It’s easier to switch from one mindset to another, because I’m never filtering out work while I’m on a day-trip or trying to ignore personal emails when I should be working.
Where the Name Came From
While I was thinking about this concept, it had many different names. It was Three Circles or the critical something or other. None of them seemed to convey how seriously I wanted to treat the barrier between the three levels.
Then, by chance, I came across these stickers people use in commercial kitchens. They’re these neon orange circles, with big black lettering that reads USE FIRST in all caps. They even have Use Primero and Utilisez Premier in smaller writing underneath, so there’s absolutely no mistaking what you’re supposed to do.
Anyone that’s watched The Bear or even worked in a professional kitchen knows how hectic and intense they can be. Trying to concentrate in that environment must be an almost impossible task, so these stickers are designed to cut through all of that with this one clear message, “use this first, do not pick up anything else”.
I fell in love with them right away. They were all about my new mindset; don’t get distracted, just do this thing now.
So I bought some and stuck them on the things I didn’t want to ever forget like my phone, pocket-knife and torch. Then I found a beautiful Penco wallet which happened to have a tab with the same neon orange, and then a neat little Ringke strap for my Jelly Star in the same orange.
Now, when I’m leaving the house, there’s no searching. In the smallest of glances I can see if I’m about to leave something behind.
Getting Started with the Use First Mindset
For others that want to pick up the Use First mindset, there’s a few places to start.
- Consequences and contexts.
If I’d approached this as a deliberate project, rather than an organic journey, I’d have set out what the consequences were and what contexts they applied to. Some things are going to keep coming up in every context, so they’re your Use First things.
- Phones.
It’s a real luxury to be able to have two phones. I’m lucky enough that I can do that. It’s about an extra £15 a month to get a second unlimited data contract and a one-off £200 for an Android phone that isn’t going to work so slowly you hate using it. I think it’s worth the money, but I’m not about to tell anyone else what they should and shouldn’t do with their money.
- Kit Bags.
This is a game-changer. Start by thinking of your different activities, then start making up your kits. I did it on paper before I started buying any ‘doubles’.
How it’s going
The funny side-effect is that my partner said I was starting to make her feel guilty because I was doing so much around the house. Every day I had a list of things that I’d ticked off; I’d picked up this, dropped off that, fixed something else. I know she’s not being serious, but it’s a great sign that I was getting more done than before.
The other satisfying stat is screen time. I’ve gone from around 5 hours a day to around 50 mins. I think so much of those 5 hours was me opening my phone to see what I needed to do then getting pulled in. Now, my screen time is much shorter because I see my task, close my phone and do what I need to do. There are definitely days where I get pulled back into old habits, but I’ve seen what the alternative is and that inspires me to keep going.