Comments
Meta: That seems too general of a question to me
[Question]
What are good sofware tools? What about general productivity/wellbeing tips?
1 min readJun 15, 2020
9
Get a good desk setup.
Screen at eye height.
Good sleep
Focusmate - 50 minute video work session with random people where you say what you'll do and what you did.
AppBlock - if you're hooked on distracting mobile apps that affect your productivity, then you could block it conditionally using AppBlock. It helps you block apps for a specificied time period, location (e.g. workplace), usage limit (e.g. 30 min/day), or launch count (e.g. 20x/day). Additionally, it has Strict Mode wherein you cannot turn off blocking unless a condition is fulfilled (e.g. after 1 day).
Hemingway - encourages you to write more clearly
Complice - Helps to set daily intentions and creates daily, weekly and monthly feedback loops.
Feel free to use my referal link if you like this option. Though I think malcolm is an EA so maybe don't? Hard to tell the counterfactual
Start work at the same time each day.
I'm curious, can anyone suggest why this question hasn't got a lot of upvotes on the forum? It seems like a really useful evergreen question to have.
I am curious too. I think it's a constructive question, especially since you provided helpful resources for the rest of us in your own answers.
I wonder if it might be related to a perception that any forum contribution should be long and articulate. I know I sometimes feel that is the expectation. Not confident that others share the same concern.
Personally, I really appreciate the brevity of both the question and the comments. A nice change of pace.
I would like to add Todoist, Evernote, Google Workspace, Calday.app, Calendly or Calendly alternatives like Setmore, Acuity, 10to8 which seems to work based on the progress against my goals and tasks.
Shift - awesome tool for managing multiple accounts and apps from one place. Plus, it has universal search for all the connected accounts (500+ apps).
Although it's a free app, the premium version allows you to add more accounts.
If interested in trying the premium version, I have some shift promo code which can help.
Habitica – this mobile app helps you manage your Habits, Dailies, To-dos, and Rewards while playing an RPG. Basically, you tick off tasks you've done and then you gain character Exp and Gold, while failed tasks and negative habits you've committed decrease character Hp and Gold. Gold is used to purchase item and equipment. Quest and party system are also available.
I suggest you split this into two comments, that way they can be up/downvoted seperately.
I've not used either though so I might check them out.
I live by the advice that best tools are the ones that are available, so for that reason I love to use Google products with few modifications so the same tools/data are accessible on multiple platforms.
I only regularly use a few other things that are either specific to my job or are needed to fill gaps in Google's product line for core use cases I have, like Pocket and Feedly, and even those I'm constantly checking to see if I could get away with not using them.
Thus my task list, documents, calendar, etc. are all in Google.
I guess I worry about google having all my data - I'd like to build a sustainable ecosystem which I'm paying for with money rather than an ability to predict my future actions.
I agree that low friction is really valuable.
What tools do you find to be useful when working? What habits have you found to be most beneficial?
Note: this is largely similar to a document I have here https://nathanpmyoung.com/workflow-tools
Happy to chat pros and cons.