I spent some of my downtime in Ramadan trying to make some tweaks into my workflow. My goal is to reduce time spent on repetitive daily tasks I do on my mac.
Initially I never thought of it as a workspace-revamp project; I was optimizing one thing at a time. By the end of the month, friction towards mundane tasks was heavily reduced, leading to a more productive workspace for me; a place where I can get things done quickly.
In this post I’m going to talk about some of the changes I did. These are macOS-oriented, some can be a bit technical. I’m using macOS Monterey at the time of writing this.
Better macOS screen time
One thing every mac user agrees on is that its stock “Screen Time” sucks; practically non-usable.
In 2020 I started using Timing, and then I stopped using it some time in 2021. Then I got back to it just this month. Timing is not just tracking time for active apps, it’s tracking every chrome tab, filename or script along with their window titles. It also tracks time spent in your meetings, time you spend replying to an email, etc.
Then it aggregates total time spent by project (you can set custom projects & their respective apps/websites/files).
To deliver a sense of this, it can track how much time you spent texting someone, facetiming someone, writing a note, coding a script or reading an article.
So with a very basic setup you can see how much time you really spend everyday on different areas.
Better window management
I’ve been experimenting with a window setup that I don’t need to change frequently, just to minimize the time & cognitive load spent on swiping between apps.
For example, Desktop 1 for work chrome sessions, Desktop 2 for atom code editor + terminal in full screen, Desktop 3 is split between WhatsApp, slack & email, Desktop 4 for my personal chrome tabs (newsletters, twitter, etc) + notes app, Desktop 5 is Spotify in fullscreen, etc…
This setup worked so well for a few weeks, I even found it more handy with 2 screens. For one I was having a code editor + terminal on my 21" monitor & a chrome window on my computer screen to research on.
Few weeks in, I found myself using 9 windows because some days I just need all of my files & apps open, but at the same time I couldn’t tolerate the digital clutter; so many text, numbers & open tabs.
Minimizing & snapping windows wasn’t helping because when I am in Flow state I find it easier to just open a new window/tab rather than searching for ones I minimized. It was getting frustrating that I need all my windows open AND don’t want to clutter my screen with 9+ desktops.
The magic pill was a new bigger screen + a window management app, so I did just that. I got a 32" screen to fit more into one view, and now using an app called Rectangle that organizes multiple windows -on the same desktop- with keyboard shortcuts. (although there might be better alternatives – also some people on the internet have gone crazy with the concept)
The result is 3 Desktops, with window placements that never change. Snapping & swiping between windows is now much much more comfortable.
Better shortcuts
This section can be somehow app-specific but the idea behind it is really app-agnostic.
Here are two things I started with:
- Figure if repetitive actions I do are having keyboard shortcuts
- Look if these shortcuts are changeable – because this is app specific, some apps let you do it, others not
Some examples:
- Global example: Quick screenshots in macOS
- App-specific example: Quick notes (notes apps I use daily are Noteplan & Drafts)
Better coding sessions
My approach to measuring friction in coding is really “number of mouse travels per minute” (in a non-nerd way) – so what I’m aiming at is simply do more than 80% of repetitive actions using only the keyboard.
These are usually things like: toggle collapse code, move between different scripts, toggle project tree view, search entire project, open scripts in parallel, etc.
With each of these I customized dedicated shortcuts & then I took some time to practice them just so I can do them subconsciously.
Three tweaks I found handy are:
- Chrome bookmarks + tab groups
- Code editor & terminal split views (here these are Atom & iTerm 2)
- Shell scripts to ease/automate tasks (separate deep dive for another post)
Better note-taking
One of the mistakes I was doing was not having a dedicated space that is open at all times. A central note that includes some of the high-level stuff I’m mostly thinking about. I used to write notes independently, each having its own context.
Until recently, I tried having just one big note open, take random notes, look into connections from time to time, and then branch out notes that became somehow mature to be a full read on their own (evergreen notes vs fleeting notes).
Bottom-line: worked wonders.
So now I only have 2 notes open at any time: on my mind & ongoing.
The “on my mind” note is where I’m having notes from things I read, or think about, or connect.
The “ongoing” one is where I keep all of my todos, categorized by area. So for example, work, chores, side projects, things to tweet about, things to read, etc.
An extensive look into this structure is in progress & I will share once I’m finished with it.
Better online meetings
A thing that used to frustrate me during meetings is “not enough capture” during the meeting itself. If I want to write down meeting notes, I’d do it after the meeting which requires heavy lifting on my brain, trying to cover all topics discussed, notes shared, todo items, etc.
So one thing I figured can help me is: always have a fullscreen split view during meetings. The split view would have a zoom meeting window + a meeting note. This very small shift resulted in minimizing friction between typing during meetings & keeping up with what’s being said.
Few weeks in, I have a directory of relevant information & “now-done” tasks. This is really just a window-management hack.
Better bookmarking
The app I use for bookmarks is Raindrop. I’ve been using it for 2 years & I have over 1k saved resources. A structure of saved bookmarks is important at this grow rate, but also bookmarking a resource has to be done in under 5 seconds in order not to interrupt my work or reading experience.
Raindrop offers a handy feature where it creates an RSS out of any folder of bookmarks. Let’s say you’re having a “read later” folder where you bookmark everything you want to read but don’t have the time to at the moment. Now you can easily check your rss reader for these saved reads at a later time.
What I recently did is review my current bookmark folders and restructure them.
Protip 1: Categorize bookmarks -or choose tags- based on life areas (work, side project, learning topic, etc) or by actions (read later, watch later, books to read, research, etc)
Protip 2: Use tags! Your future version will find it easier to find things.
Better emailing
For long I was using the original Gmail (web + phone) to check my emails. I also deactivate every notification that is mail-related so I was used to checking mail 10+ times a day just not to miss any important or work stuff. Then last month I found out about Airmail (well there’s superhuman but the difference in cost is non-justifiable).
Airmail offers smart folders, so for example it has a smart folder called “Important” that automatically detects important emails in your inbox. In my personal experience, categorization accuracy is something like 98%, to the extent that I now use that as my daily email view.
Now 2 things that I use everyday in Airmail, and that makes it a game-changer for me:
- You can enable notifications (or notification sounds) for only important emails
- You can drag & drop emails into a “todo” folder inside Airmail
So now I just use 2 tabs: important (gives a notification sound) & todo (for work stuff) – this is super SLICK.
So on a normal workday, I’d check Airmail first thing in the morning, drag any todo debt I have received in mail, keep “todo” as my email view for the rest of the day, and may be only update it when I have received a notification sound for another important-todo email.
Airmail has several other perks like exporting emails, share across apps, unified personal & work email view, iOS app & other smart features, but just the above 2 are worth the pricing for me (it’s also pretty cheap, at around 50 egp/month).
Better RSS experience
If you’re like me you’d think RSS is one of the best pieces of software ever existed. I use RSS reader Feedbin to check resources I follow & read daily.
Four things I like about Feedbin as an RSS reader:
- Sometimes the original resource doesn’t have to be rss-friendly to be able to add it inside Feedbin. For example youtube channels & twitter lists. You can directly add these just by pasting their links.
- You can forward emails from any sender to Feedbin. This is done once from inside gmail & you forget about it forever. So I do this with newsletters & senders I often don’t want to miss their posts.
- Extreme powerful search functionality – best thing about Feedbin is that when I’m interested in a topic I’d rather search a directory of my favorite writers/creators on the internet before reading to some stranger via google search. More often than not, I’d find interesting stuff that fulfills my curiosity on the subject. So it’s like a searchable growing library with interesting stuff. Feedbin supports logical search which is more complex & technical but always spot-on.
- Customizable share sheet – you can optionally include any of the social services available but you can also create your custom sharing option & provide its URL.
Now things I have inside my feedbin: favorite blogs, newsletters, twitter accounts, subreddits, podcasts, youtube channels & read laters.
What’s new: I reviewed my list. For any RSS reader you use, you need to review your resources every once in a while. For example I found some senders changed their emails, some senders don’t post anymore, some you’re not interested in them anymore, some twitter lists needs updating, etc. This review process is what keeps your feed fresh & interesting.
Better journaling
This is an area where I can confidently say I tried every major journaling solution in the market, paid or non-paid. I found out Day One is unmatched; been using it on-and-off since 2018.
Things that make Day One the best:
- Menu bar item that lets you journal without heading to the app
- Reminders & “On this day” notifications on iOS app
- Geo-location data & word counter always there in journal footer
- Rich-text formatting
What’s new: For long I wanted to force Noteplan to be the place where I do all my writing. Last few months proved journaling is an exception, because Day One treats journal inputs in a special way that makes reviewing your old journals, locations & photos so interesting – the whole point of using a journal app. So I’m now back to using Day One regularly. Even when I don’t feel like it, I can just log a few sentences about the day.
[Bonus] An analog workspace revamp
Before:
After:
This article really made me feel like I’m thesweetsetup.com, but whatever.
Catch you in the next one.