Tech Productivity Issue #268 (The Top Productivity Hacks)

Issue #268 (The Top Productivity Hacks) 04/01/24

Invest Before This Company Becomes a Household Name
What if you had the opportunity to invest in the biggest electronics products before they launched into big box retail, would you?

Ring changed doorbells and Nest changed thermostats. Early investors in these companies earned massive returns, but the opportunity to invest was limited to a select, wealthy few. Not anymore.

RYSE has just launched in 100+ Best Buy stores, and you're in luck — you can still invest at only $1.50/share before their name becomes known nationwide.

They have patented the only mass market shade automation device, and their exclusive deal with Best Buy resembles that which led Ring and Nest to their billion-dollar buyouts.

Learn How You Can Become a Shareholder →

This isn't a new one, but you might want to check out Ali Abdaal's video, The Best Productivity Hacks of All Time. I came across it recently so I thought it would be worth a mention here.

He discusses the most popular productivity techniques and ranks them according to a tier list system. He's using the following tiers (his letter codes shown in parentheses):

Lifechanging (S)
Essential (A)
Useful and Nice to Know (B)
Nice to Have (C)
Works For Others, Not For Me (D)
Junk (E & F)

The Best Productivity Hacks of All Time (YouTube/Ali Abdaal)

The video is only about 15 minutes long, but he briefly discusses 15 different techniques. The point of the video is not to explain them, but to rank them. There are at least five techniques that he mentions that I haven't heard of. Maybe you'll have a similar experience.

I should also point out that the YouTube chapters that he includes in the description is a little out of whack. He seemed to forget about the sponsor he included around the midway point, and that puts everything out of whack.

Some of the headings are a little generic-sounding (e.g. "goals"), whereas others are more specific (e.g. "Eisenhower Matrix"). There's certainly a lot for you to search for online if you're not familiar with some of these.

And here's a spoiler: The ones that ended up in the "S" tier were: Systems, Daily Highlight, Consuming Content at 2X/3X Speed, and Enjoying The Journey. None of the techniques ended up in the "E & F" (junk) tiers.

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

Tools & Apps

VideoGist — Enter a YouTube URL and this tool will provide an AI-generated summary of the video, which includes chapter divisions, though the chapters are not necessarily associated with any YouTube TOCs that generate chapters.

NotePlan — Mac, iOS, and web app that helps you stay focused and plan better by linking your tasks, notes, and calendar.

LocalSend — An open-source file sharing tool that lets you share documents and other files to nearby devices, cross-platform, and doesn't require an internet connection or third-party server.

Meco — Free your newsletters from the inbox. Move your newsletters to a space built for reading and declutter your inbox in seconds. sponsor

Sync2Sheets — A Google Workspace app to keep your Notion databases automatically in sync with Google Sheets. You can use Sheets formulas to send data to Notion, sync a sheet to a table, and more.

Floorp — A privacy-friendly, open-source browser, built on Firefox, that specializes in allowing you to customize the UI's layout, themes, etc.

Ente — An open-source Google Photos alternative (with mobile app) that features end-to-end encryption, durable storage, simple sharing, and optional data storage plans if you prefer not to self host.

Articles & Resources

The Surprising Connection Between After-Hours Work and Decreased Productivity — Based on data from Slack’s Workforce Index, a survey of more than 10,000 desk workers around the globe.

Breaking Down Tasks — If breaking down a project into tasks doesn't come naturally to you, this example-based article from someone good at this sort of thing might help you.

Ask Maria: Why Aren’t Our Productivity Metrics Helping? — A sort of "Dear Abby" with Maria Ntalla, a senior engineering manager at Shopify, this one covering team productivity.

The Morning Paper for Tech — Want a byte-sized version of Hacker News that takes just a few minutes to read? Try TLDR's free daily newsletter. It covers the most interesting tech, startup, and programming stories in just 5 minutes. No sports and no politics. sponsor

37 Pieces of Career Advice I Wish I’d Known Earlier — These kinds of lists always seem to have something for everyone, and this is no different. I especially like the bit of advice the author quotes from Jerry Seinfeld.

Sometimes You Do Need To Hustle — "Apple’s first operating system and Microsoft Windows weren’t created by people working nine to five hours and resting on the weekends."

How Micro Breaks Help You Find Time for Rest in Your Busy Schedule — A different but possibly helpful take on taking breaks, with some study data to back up the suggestions, which can help overall health and well-being in the workplace.

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

Not subscribed? Visit techproductivity.co to join today.