Tech Productivity Issue #264 (The 5-Minute To-Do List)

Issue #264 (The 5-Minute To-Do List) 03/04/24

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A Hacker News reader asks, How do you manage your finances? The thread wasn't a top-voted one but there are some varying responses that you might benefit from if you find finance management a challenge.

A lot of the advice, of course, is very US-biased, but there are some general suggestions here that you might want to take into consideration and even some app ideas for doing your finance management.

I'm one of the fortunate ones to have married someone who's an expert in finances (she's literally a finance manager). I wouldn't say I'm awful at it myself, but not having to do my own bookkeeping, bills management, etc., is a huge plus. I do help in those areas, but my wife knows those things much better than I do and has helped me be more effective and efficient in tracking finances.

Is this an area of weakness for you? Maybe that thread will help.

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

Tools & Apps

Backbone — A team workspace with security and privacy at its core, featuring virtual team meetings, real-time document collaboration, file and folder sharing, credential management, and more.

NotionVC — A small set of Notion templates built by venture capital practitioners to help you run any aspect of your venture capital practice, from startup deal flow management to LP fundraising.

NotesHub — A cross-platform (Mac/Win/Android), vendor-agnostic, Markdown-based note-taking app that also offers a web version.

Techpresso — Receive a daily summary of the most important AI and Tech news, carefully selected from 60+ media outlets. Join 30,000+ professionals from OpenAI, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Hugging Face, JP Morgan, and more. sponsor

Nuits — Beautifully animated and curated soundscapes (nature, water, white noise, etc.) for your iOS device that help you sleep, focus, and relax.

Screenia — A multi-platform tool (Mac, iOS, Android) for capturing, editing, and sharing screenshots, with cloud storage, password protection, and more.

DeskHop — An open-source tool that lets you easily switch between desktop computers, sharing a single keyboard and mouse – even if they are two different operating systems.

Articles & Resources

Time is Greater Than Money — This is mainly another dig against too many meetings that take away people's time and interrupt work (i.e. context switching is bad).

My Fake Morning Commute — If you miss the quiet, motivating time of your commute before you switched to WFH, this is an interesting idea that might have more benefits than we realize.

Free Your Newsletters From the Inbox — The inbox is full of distractions and too many subscriptions lead to inbox chaos. Time to liberate your inbox and move to Meco, a newsletter aggregator built for reading. sponsor

Are You Protecting Your Time? — Relevant quote: "When we say, 'I’m too busy' or 'I don’t have time', what we are really saying is I do not prioritize what you are asking me to do."

Can You Trust Your Memory? This Neuroscientist Isn’t So Sure — A 6-minute video interview with André Fenton but there's also an article accompanying the video that goes into the history of studies into how the brain forms memories.

The 5-Minute To-Do List — This is a neat idea that encourages you to keep a separate to-do list for things that can be done in 5 minutes or less, which works as a transition between larger projects.

The Feedback Fallacy — From 2019 behind a paywall (archived version), but the idea here suggests that criticism and feedback (common in performance reviews) might do more harm than good.

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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