Tech Productivity Issue #248 (Divide Your Life Into Semesters)

Issue #248 (Divide Your Life Into Semesters) 11/13/23

SPONSOR

Are You Asking Your Customers to Use Zapier? — It's not enough (you know that deep down). But what are the real tradeoffs? This guide will walk you through the risks of relying on Zapier for your integrations, and when you need to build natively instead.

Read the Guide

Last week I returned from a short 5-day vacation in Las Vegas. I don't gamble, but the trip still cost about the same as many two-week trips I've taken elsewhere! A lot of that has to do with the fact that I live in Canada and the USD exchange rate is pretty bad right now for Canadians.

Nonetheless, it was a nice vacation and, of course, about four days after returning, both my wife and I have the flu. Because when you travel in 2023, that's the law! 😆

I won't bore you with more details but due to feeling less than optimal this week, I'm just leaving you with the usual set of 12 links below, with nothing special here in the intro other than a link to one of my favourite songs by Sheryl Crow, Leaving Las Vegas. I'll try to be back with something more interesting next week.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!

Tools & Apps

Finalist — iOS app, a slick and simple way to keep track of your daily to do lists that works just like Notes, with the smarts of a calendar.

Re:GPT — An all-in-one Chrome Extension that adds ChatGPT Integration for Gmail and Outlook that lets you tailor message content, control response length, and more.

Are You Asking Your Customers to Use Zapier? — It's not enough (you know that deep down). But what are the real tradeoffs? This guide will walk you through the risks of relying on Zapier for your integrations, and when you need to build natively instead. sponsor

Toyon — An AI-based project tracking plugin for Slack that provides a task coordinating AI copilot so you can stop micromanaging.

SimilarSiteSearch — An alternative search engine that lets you explore the best alternatives for your favorite websites, to quickly discover sites that offer similar content, features, and services.

Ayraa — An AI-powered personal searchable knowledge base that includes a browser extension and Slack plugin to capture your work in Gmail, Notion, Qwora, and more.

MindGenie — An AI-powered task management and scheduling solution to transform the way you interact with your tasks and daily routines.

Articles & Resources

Career Ladders — One engineering team's system used to show what expectations are at different levels of a role, to help define how workers can be promoted in their department.

Reconstructing Our Attention in the Era of Infinite Digital Rabbit Holes — An important look at how we are losing the battle for our attention and how the author has attempted to overcome the problem.

The Hidden Toll of Microstress — How small moments of stress that seem manageable on their own, and don't trigger the normal stress response in the brain, can be dealt with effectively.

Bytes: Your Favourite JavaScript Newsletter — I subscribe to a lot of newsletters, but this is definitely one I look forward to. Entertaining with lots of cool and useful coding tidbits and tools. sponsor

Note-taking Lessons From America’s Greatest Biographer — If you've never heard of Robert Caro, this is a bit of an introduction to his works and how he was able to be so prolific and effective in his writings.

What the Science Actually Says About Unconscious Decision Making — "Here we explore the evidence for blinking, thinking, and sleeping on it and ask: Is there a 'best' way to decide?"

Why You Should Divide Your Life Into Semesters, Even When You’re Not In School — An interesting idea that uses the academic calendar to help you with goal-setting, time management, and motivation.

Suggestions?

Have a suggestion for a productivity-related tool, article, or other resource? Send me a direct message via X (@LouisLazaris) and I’ll consider including it in a future issue.

Stay productive!

Louis
techproductivity.co
@LouisLazaris

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