2017 Update: I've created a "living document" version of these hacks so you can share your pro-tips, too. Head on over here to see the latest!
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Three years ago, I wrote a blog post on being hyper-efficient on a computer -- or to put it another way, being so good on a computer that you play it like a virtuoso on a musical instrument. So much has changed in my daily workflow that I realized it was time for me to update that post.
The first order of business is that you can't improve what you can't measure. So if you're serious about being able to use a computer with the speed and zeal of Dash outrunning a flying saucer, first you need to find out how fast (or slow) you are today. Go over and take my GeekSpeed challenge. See if you can break the 1 minute mark.
If you can't, then here are some of the things to focus on to make the 8+ hours per day you spend in front of your computer much, much more productive:
Honorable Mentions: Here are som other tools I love: PDF Pen, a way better pdf manipulation tool, Highrise and Basecamp by 37 Signals, Pivotal Tracker for life project management, 1Password for password management, WhatSize for freeing space up on a computer, JoinMe for screen sharing & support, and Carbon Copy Cloner to make exact clones of your hard drive, which are bootable. Even if you back up using TimeMachine or similar, I'd still highly recommend cloning your drive once a month as a failsafe (and then use something like CrashPlan for cloud-based backups).
Whew! Hope that helps. What do you use to enable you to play your computer like an instrument? I'd love to know in the comments below.
Most everyone uses a computer. But a few of us, well, we play a computer like an instrument.
If you're on a computer for 10+ hours per day, this blog is for you.
By "instrument" I mean we know the in's & out's of the device. We know how to eek out maximum performance from it. We're the people who others just look at in wonder when our keys fly across the keyboard.
If you've ever found it excruciatingly painful watching others use a computer because of how slow the person is, then you know what I'm talking about.
These are just my tips, but really, I'm writing this because I want to know about your tips. I want to know what saves you time and makes you more productive. So please post comments below.
Readers
First of all, I'm finally over 1000 readers on Feedburner. That's in addition to the 500-700 readers that just check the site every day.
The "missing area" is when I stopped using Feedburner for around a year. I didn't really have a complete grasp on how RSS worked back then. The second tiny gap was when I made some changes to the site (linking words in my bio and putting summaries on the front page). I forgot to put the Feedburner stuff back on for a few days, but notice how after that the slope increased? Pretty cool.