
Ask HN: What are your best life hacks/best tools in life/time savers? - drKarl
I would like to know wich things you consider to give you and advantage in any area of life.<p>Some things I would add to the list:<p>1) Program launcher (launchy/quiksilver/gnome-do/katapult/etc) instead of icons<p>2) Vim as an editor (mastering its usage)<p>3) Gesture search in android<p>Not currently using but I want to try:<p>- Polyphasic sleep (perhaps everyman)<p>- Colemak keyboard layout
======
wheaties
Buy a starter pistol, you know the kind that they use at tracks. This is still
considered a valid weapon for airport screeners so this "tip" applies only to
non-carry on luggage. Put the pistol into your luggage and declare it before
depositing it with the airline. It won't be lost, tampered with or diverted,
ever.

The reason is simple. They have to treat luggage with firearms different from
normal luggage. It goes into its own area and is placed in special locked
compartments. There's a high level of security involved to protect passengers
which ultimately aids you.

~~~
hugh3
How does that work out in terms of the amount of time you have to spend vs the
probability of having your luggage lost?

Also, don't you think it's a bit unethical? Applying the "what if everyone did
this?" rule it seems to come across pretty badly.

~~~
MichaelSalib
I know people who do serious mods for classic arcade games. Serious mods as
in: build custom PCBs for the three FPGAs needed to make an Atari 2600
generate VGA output. Those systems look like bombs: they're old machines
bristling with wires and test equipment. Transporting them to arcade game
conventions is a massive pain. You can't check them because you can't trust
the airline/TSA not to destroy them. And you can't carry them on board because
there is literally no way to convince TSA inspectors that you're not carrying
a bomb. This seems like a very good solution. I mean, for some of these
people, the choice may come down to the starter pistol idea or just not flying
to conventions. Seems like a real win to me.

I'm not really seeing how it is unethical. The TSA decided on the security
procedures. It might be slightly inefficient, but given the massive
inefficiency of the entire airport security policy, I can't imagine
complaining about this. There is no reason that people with delicate
electronics should be forbidden from flying on airplanes. No reason at all.

------
reduxredacted
Life Hack:

Buy a box (10 or so) of small LED flashlights. Place one discretely behind
anything you routinely have to peer behind. I have one behind my fridge, my
television and inside my computer rack.

Work Hack:

When hosting a meeting, never schedule more than 30 minutes. This requires
keeping things on point and moving ahead. Start on-time, state the point,
tease that the meeting should only take 20 minutes. Avoid rehashing for late-
comers, explain that you'll get with them after the call/meeting.
Participation goes up when people have incentive and when you have a
reputation for starting on time, people will arrive on time. The ones that
don't probably don't need to be there.

If you're at a larger company, greet everyone you pass in the hallway
regardless of title, position, or rank. Get to know their names and use it in
the greeting (there was a famous book somewhere . . .). "Good Morning, Joe" is
enough.

Completely disconnect for more than two days every once in a while, especially
if you're in a rut somewhere (dead-end project, writer's block). I'd take
short cruises and spend the majority of the time watching the water (this was
back when cruises didn't have internet access or cell service, and even now
the cost is prohibitive enough that you can tell work "You can reach me for
$9.00 a minute"). The first day or so is discomforting, but after the third
you stop thinking about what you missed on Hacker News.

You didn't say Vacation Hacks, but I have a few:

\- Schedule trips during the common first/last week of school. Parents usually
can't take trips at this time, so resorts/cruises are usually under-booked and
less expensive.

\- If you like cruises, watch NYC launches that happen over one of the big
Jewish holidays, especially themed or promo cruises. Cruises are usually
booked several months in advance. Cancellations are common, the cruise company
gets paid partially and wants to fill the room. I got a $500 and $400 balcony
on a 7-day in East Caribbean on a great ship this way. Both were themed
cruises, so this may make a difference (much earlier booking, perhaps).

~~~
jayruy
> watch NYC launches

Is there a site to keep up with this? I'm in NYC.

Similarly for air travel: what do you use to find good deals? Sounds like
you've done research.

------
briancooley
My best hack, hands down is: just don't go to meetings.

It's weird at first. Seems like you'll get in trouble, and people do get
pissed. But they have a weird way of getting you just the information you need
and little more.

I don't skip every meeting, just the ones that routinely offer me little value
and waste a lot of time. I just stopped going and nothing changed except I
have a lot more time to get things done.

BTW, I switched to Colemak a couple of months ago. If you're doing it to type
faster, you might be disappointed for a while. If you are doing it for
ergonomics, you'll be delighted. I switched because I started noticing fatigue
in my fingers.

------
SandB0x
If you want to force yourself to tidy your apartment, invite a girl over for
dinner.

~~~
mawhidby
If that doesn't work, you can invite your parents over. I always clean my
apartment for my parents, because they won't be shy in telling me immediately
if it's dirty, and then they'll nag me about it the rest of the night - and I
definitely don't want that.

------
jgrahamc
Ditch your TV. I did this by accident (<http://blog.jgc.org/2010/02/year-
without-tv.html>) and it's been an enormous change in my life.

~~~
jokermatt999
Just be careful you don't turn into this guy:

[http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-
mention...](http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mentioning-
he-doesnt-own-a-tel,429/)

Really though, I think it's a good idea. There's some good content on there,
but it's a tempting easy distraction. I'd also add "limit your time messing
around on the internet".

------
philh
I rarely cook a meal for just myself. Either I cook for my housemates, or one
of them cooks for me. It saves a lot of time, because cooking scales
sublinearly. It's also cheaper and tastier (I put more effort in if I'm
cooking for others).

~~~
algorias
Also, if you live alone (or have a diet incompatible with your housemates),
try cooking for several days at once. Cooking and meal planning are skills
you're guaranteed to be using for life, so put in the time to become at least
moderately competent at them.

------
joubert
1) 9 - 10 hours sleep

2) reduce multitasking

3) eat like a bird

4) exercise

5) don't commute more than 20mins each way

~~~
b3b0p
1\. I understand sleep is important, but how in the world do you guys get 9-10
hours of sleep?

Between a full time job (8-10 hrs, salary so when a client needs help, off I
go!) and trying to hack the latest and greatest of my ideas in my spare time,
family, friends, chores, and relaxing for a moment at the end... I don't have
9 hours left before I have to be at work the next morning.

3\. Am I missing something, can someone enlighten me about this eat like a
bird? If anything I need to gain weight.

5\. I live a block from the office :)

~~~
oscardelben
He didn't say he/she has a work. Anyway, you can decide to work on your
projects on certain days and go out with friends in others (weekend perhaps).
There's no way you can do everything in the same day and still sleeping 10
hours.

------
yummyfajitas
Ledger - command line double entry accounting. A great way to keep track of
your money.

Martial arts - beating people with a stick is good for the soul.

Aldiko - ebook reador for Android. It makes reading very easy; rather than
carrying a book everywhere you go, just take out your phone.

------
chops
GNU Screen is the big new thing for me. While old hat for many programmers, I
just recently started realizing the power of it, especially detaching and
reattaching, or reattaching to a broken SSH connection.

~~~
drKarl
I agree, GNU Screen is great... but try tmux, I do prefer this one because of
the ease of splitting horizontally and vertically without the need of a patch.
If you want to stick with Screen... try Byobu

~~~
apgwoz
Is splitting terminals really that helpful? I tend to use 80 character wide,
tall terminals so that I can have emacs sitting next to it (in similar
dimensions). I guess if I used console emacs, having one terminal with it
split would be fine, but when I'm using a tiling window manager, I don't
necessarily see the benefit..

~~~
drKarl
Well, I sometimes have to work in a server without X Windows, but with
framebuffer enabled and tmux it's a pleasure to work on it.

~~~
apgwoz
I guess it's been a long time since I've worked on a system without X. :)

------
msurel
Python. I'm sure people will fill in the scripting language of your choice,
but knowing at least one is a real time saver. I have lost count of the hours
and hours and hours of drudgery I have saved because of being able to fire up
a script in short order.Life is good when you can make a 2 hour task take
several minutes :-) Especially if that task is something you have to do on a
consistent basis

For life in general, exercise has been good. I'm in crappy shape now, but
getting back on the wagon. Being in some semblance of shape does wonders for
your health and well being. And strength training in particular makes you less
of a victim in many life circumstances, like having your snack stuck in the
vending machine or moving furniture. The downside, obviously, is that you get
asked by people to tip vending machines and move couches...

------
mikeleeorg
1) A smartphone. I use it to record notes and random ideas as they strike me,
read & answer emails, find directions, and all that other good stuff. The note
taking is a huge advantage though.

2) An online calendar. For better or worse, I've freed up my brain space in
favor of an online calendar to track my meetings, appointments, events, etc. I
don't have to keep those in mind anymore. Personally, I love this, but it does
make me overly dependent on the online calendar.

3) Goldtouch keyword. I love this thing. I was trying to stay away from brand
names in my list, but I didn't know how else to describe it. It folds down
from the middle allows you to touch-type in a very ergonomic position, at
least for me.

4) Duct tape. It truly can repair anything physical. Just fixed my fan with
it.

5) A towel. You always need to have a towel ;)

~~~
drKarl
Hahaha nice reference to "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" in #5. Douglas
Adam would be proud ;)

I agree with you on the smartphone, I use an android flavoured device myself.

The online calendar is a win as well, and it integrates great with the
smartphone.

I would add Evernote (or similar)!! For online note-taking.

Didn't know about Goldtouch keyboard before, I'll have a look.

Duct tape!! McGyver lives in our heart ;)

Thank you

~~~
camiller
As long as your bringing up MacGyver, Victorinox "Tinker" Swiss Army knife.
Duct tape to put things together, knife to take 'em apart. The Tinker is small
enough for every day pocket-ability but versatile enough to do about anything
you need.

~~~
mikeleeorg
Although I don't have a Swiss Army knife myself, a buddy swears by it. He even
breaks it out when we're just grabbing a bite to eat. Other restaurant patrons
always cast sideways glances at him, but hey, at least he's able to open his
bottle of beer. ;)

------
francoisdevlin
When going out to eat in a group pay a bit more than you owe. A few extra
dollars to have the meal end in peace is always worth it.

~~~
yosho
This can also get expensive really fast

~~~
Robin_Message
Asymptotically, it's only O(N) for a meal priced N. In practice, since you
only need to put in a few extra currency units, it's O(1). So it really can't
get expensive fast.

~~~
powrtoch
Big O.

Sometimes it is nice to just bask in the way disagreements are carried out on
HN as opposed to e.g. Yahoo news.

------
gamache
Whack a screwdriver blade against a strong magnet a few dozen times, all in
the same direction. Presto, your $1 screwdriver is now a $2 magnetized
screwdriver.

------
lleger
There's a lot of great tips here, some I use every day. However, there's one
conspicuously missing: whiteboards.

To me, whiteboarding is the best brainstorming tool possible. It's useful for
just about everything, too. My whole wall is covered in them and they're
almost always full. Get a whiteboard and you won't regret it.

~~~
michaels0620
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. One thing that has worked really well is to
take 3' x 2' whiteboard, rip off the frame and place it flat on your desk. It
is fantastic for when you are talking to someone at your desk and quick
diagram would help. At first people thought it was weird but people have
gotten used to it and gets doodled on all the time.

It's also good for reminders and phone messages.

~~~
mschaecher
Great idea! Behance also sells some whiteboard paint that you can use to turn
most any surface into a whiteboard. Thinking of picking up a batch for my
room.

------
eswat
1\. Sharpie marker attached to my keyring, can’t keep count of how many times
this came in handy (Marker, Ready-to-Edit)

2\. Espresso + Emacs: former for fast HTML/CSS prototyping, latter for fast
prototyping of everything else

3\. Wacom tablet when I don’t use the keyboard a lot. Faster and more accurate
for me compared to a mouse.

4\. KeyRemap4Macbook: rebinding the keys I don’t use often to something more
useful (caps lock to control, right command to escape, etc.)

------
bluemetal
1) a collection of autohotkey scripts (key remapping, fast toggling for
show/hide hidden files, toggle selected text from upper/lowercase and a heap
more)

2) sms reminders on google calendar (free!)

3) learning as many kb shortcuts to your software as you can

4) automatic filters and a well thought out label system in gmail

5) sumatra pdf viewer, or any really quick pdf program

6) electric blanket on a timer, makes going to bed when I should seem so much
more appealing

7) sysinternals process explorer instead of the usual taksmanager

8) a large good quality whiteboard hung somewhere you cannot ignore it (I have
3 main sections: Do, Dates & Buy)

9) write well thought out shopping lists before you leave for the store

~~~
reduxredacted
On #8 - Another option is to paint a full wall in your office with Dry Erase
Paint (I used this, it works well:
<http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=128>)

~~~
whimsy
Or a whiteyboard for a super-cheap, mobile solution.

------
patrickg
Sorry, only computer/work related:

1) I am so used to a mac that makes me save lots of time compared to other
systems I am not used to. That doesn't mean a mac is better or whatever, I
just want to point out that using the same system for a long time is probably
the best time saver there is.

2) notational velocity is the note taking application (for my mac) that I have
been looking for years. I have to write something down every now and then and
I can reach NV just with a key press, and get back to work. NVs ui is so
intuitive and blazingly fast, that I fell in love with it instantly.

3) spotlight (as a program starter and a desktop search enginge) and time
machine are IMO the most time saving things built into the OS (and the user
interface, of course).

~~~
kalid
+1 for notational velocity -- it's my scratch area for infrequently used
commands, random links, half-written blog posts, todo items... it's just
simple enough to get the job done, and blazingly fast.

------
Tekhne
Turn your outside, rear view mirrors out on your car to completely expose your
blind spot. When done right, you should have a continuous field of vision by
scanning your eyes from your inside, middle rear view mirror to the outside
mirror, and then by turning your head very slightly while still scanning your
eyes to catch the cars directly to your sides. It's disorienting at first
because you can't see the sides of your car, but that's rarely useful anyway,
and when it is, you can just move your head until you can see what you need to
(e.g. when parallel parking). You'll get used to the setup pretty fast. I
can't count the number of times this hack has saved my butt on the highway.

~~~
stretchwithme
agreed. I think the right way to do this is move all the way to the driver's
window and adjust that mirror so that it just barely sees the side of the car
on one side. Then move to the center of the car and do the same for the
passenger side mirror. You'd be the normal distance from the dashboard in both
cases.

I think State Farm sent me that tip once. It makes it very easy to set mirrors
up when you're in a strange car. And you verify by making sure that objects
leaving one mirror enter the next one.

------
gyardley
I say 'no' to a lot of requests. Works great.

------
SanjayU
Use a good social bookmarking service. I use Diigo, there are a few key things
it does for me: \- Keeps a copy of a page (if it goes off the web, i've still
got it) \- Lets you tag and keyword search all the content of my bookmarks
(Useful when you have a few thousand built up over years) \- Lets you
highlight/annotate text on a page

I actually don't really use the "social" aspects of social bookmarking at all.

~~~
mschaecher
\+ for Diigo. I want most stuff private, it does it. You can create private
groups, which I use as folders, say if doing research on an idea I throw all
the related bookmarks in a private group. Then I can also share the
collection, by just letting someone in the group. They have very robust
browser extensions as well.

------
Russelldb
1\. Reading on the toilet 2\. Getting rid of the TV 3\. Exercise 4\. Sleep 5\.
Org mode

~~~
Tekhne
Reading on the toilet is actually bad for your lower intestines. It can lead
to health problems. You want to minimize (within reason) the time spent
sitting over a hole like that.

~~~
AndyKelley
[citation needed]

~~~
tobiassteele
For god's sakes please!

~~~
AndyKelley
I'm confused - are you saying my request for a citation was not well founded?

~~~
tobiassteele
I'm saying I wholeheartedly want to see that citation for my own edification.

------
harrybr
When asked to do things you do not want to do, say no.

Obviously you have to pick your battles, but this simple act is guaranteed to
give you more time to do the stuff you do want to do.

~~~
abyssknight
I've noticed that I don't do this often enough. I don't know if it is because
I've become conditioned to say yes to tasks and assignments at work, and that
has bled over into my personal life, or just because I hate friction. Either
way, I agree with this tip. If you don't want to do it, say no. Otherwise
you're going to spend a long time making excuses.

------
richardw
Cheap program launcher for Windows users, but I've had something similar on
Linux at one point:

1) Create directory "shortcuts".

2) Map path to that directory.

3) Drag shortcuts into there, for e.g. documents, folders, programs. The
further-from-your-desktop the better, because that saves the most time. Rename
them to 'ideas', 'timesheet', web', 'projects' etc - note that the shortcut
name can be quite different to the file name.

4) Change IE setting for autocompletion in the URL bar to true. Probably
Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/Use inline Autocomplete. This affects your
start menu.

5) [Windows key]-R and the shortcut name. Your shortcut should execute. If you
have done #4 above then in future you should only have to type one or two
letters of the shortcut in future. 'ti' for timesheets, for example.

~~~
drKarl
Launchy is as cheap as free (as in free beer), and it indexes all the
filetypes you want, and with a hotkey like alt+space or win+space it learns by
usage, so you end up just typing one or two letters... plus there are plug-ins

------
marcamillion
If you have a hole, or a series of holes, to fill in a wall or anything wooden
(a smallish hole that a screw needs to fit into), and you need to plug it to
put a new screw in (say for example the hinges on a door need to be changed
and you want to put the door in the same place) - a simple hack is to get a
wooden pencil, shave it down and hammer it into the hole.

Where it stops, or starts to crack under the pressure from the hammer, break
it off. Rinse and repeat for all holes.

Then simply use some glue in the hole (around the pencil) to make it fit
snuggly. Allow to dry and re-screw.

At least you don't have to buy wooden chips/strips or anything fancy to plug
holes. Good old fashioned wooden pencils (No. 2, e.g.).

------
aaroneous
Amazon has lots more than books, so signup for Amazon prime. It's ~$80/yr but
you can split it with up to 4 different accounts (so find some friends and
it's $20/yr). Instead of all those trips to the store you can now use a few
mins of your free time to order any items you need (batteries, shampoo,
garbage bags - whatever) and they'll arrive within two days. Overnight orders
are only $3.

Grocery delivery. Not a big fan of Safeway stores but their delivery is
awesome. I get overwhelmed in grocery stores, buy things I don't really need,
forget to buy others. Grocery shopping at home makes it very easy to compare
your items and review your basket before finalizing your purchase. Works
really well if you work at home and can schedule their 4hr delivery windows
(cheaper).

Legal pads. Great for taking notes, sketching ideas, exploring ideas - lots of
startupy tasks. They're high contrast and longer than traditional notepads. I
know moleskins are generally the startupper standard, but give the legal pad a
try one day.

Phonetag (<http://www.phonetag.com/>) I hated voicemail. Phonetag now handles
all my voicemail, emailing me the transcription and MP3 of the audio. Now I
can organize, sort and search my voicemail just as I do with the other items
in my inbox.

------
lionhearted
I can't recommend this software organizer heavily enough -

<http://mylifeorganized.net/>

It's minimalist and gets out of the way, but has lots of powerful features if
you need them. But it stays out of your way if it doesn't. I had about 130
little tiny things to do a month ago on various lists, inboxes, etc, etc. Put
them all into MLO, got it down to ~40 now. Very useful, worth trying out.

~~~
drKarl
Looks good! I'll try it out! I've tried many GTD software and organizers but
none fully satisfies me (I liked Tracks).

I see there is an Android version, that is good!! But there is no Linux
version... I use both Linux and Windows. Anyway, looks good!

~~~
fhirzall
I've been using Remember the Milk for GTD:
[http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2008/05/guest-post-
advanced-...](http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2008/05/guest-post-advanced-gtd-
with-remember-the-milk/)

------
seltzered
Also, start keeping a separate google calender (subcalendar) for small daily
routines you want to do (i.e. workout, check todo lists, etc). Set it up to
SMS / push to your device, But don't sync the calendar on your mobile.

This way your calendar app on your phone only shows the important events in
your month view, and you still get notified when to do daily things like
"check todo list"

------
seltzered
humanized enso. I usually drop this in every "best tools" thread.

for windows users: I recently learned to like installing the console app and
set the startup path in it to cygwin. I'm sure most of you HNers do this
already, but I've spent a loong time looking for a decent console setup on
windows x64, where andlinux/colinux isn't supported yet.

~~~
drKarl
Sure, while using windows I always setup Console2 + Cygwin killer combo. This
way I don't need putty/Secure CRT/whatever and I can create tunnels so that I
can connect to remote databases using TOAD.

~~~
jleard
I use a variant of this when running Windows: Ubuntu in VirtualBox is always
running.

------
andrewl
Wall timers for my air conditioners. I have window units in my bedroom and
living room. I'm on the top floor of my building, right under a black tar
roof. In the summer my place would sometimes get so hot that I'd have to leave
both air conditioners on all day just so the place was livable when I got
home. Not cool, just livable. My asthma reacts badly to heat, and I'm addicted
to breathing.

Then I bought a couple of timers. They're like the ones people use to turn
lamps off and on, only these are heavy duty, and can handle the load of an air
conditioner. Now the AC turns on in the middle of the afternoon, and things
are fine by the time I get home. The living room unit turns off at midnight,
so I won't accidentally run it all night if I drift off in my bedroom. The
bedroom unit shuts off at 8:30 AM, so I don't accidentally leave it running
all day. Not high-tech, but useful.

------
bearwithclaws
1) iMac 27"

2) Yoga + Meditation (everyday)

3) MixCloud (for fresh + awesome source of music playlist)

~~~
juliend2
++ for Yoga. You might also try Tai Chi.

~~~
chopsueyar
I have found the physical demands of Tai Chi to be less extreme than Yoga. I
have been in too many car accidents.

------
techiferous
Got rid of my car and moved to a city with good public transit. Lots of time
and money saved.

------
jokermatt999
Vimperator for Firefox. Granted, this is mostly a time saver for time
wasting...

~~~
Tekhne
I second that. I'm a vim lover anyway, but vimperator has been awesome for me.
I had RSI problems and this really helped me to reduce my usage of the mouse.
Like vim, there's a learning curve, but there are very useful corners to
explore.

~~~
lowkey
Tried VIMperator and loved it but had to kill it since it was incompatible
with Gmail keyboard shortcuts.

~~~
jokermatt999
Hit ctrl-z to pass through keystrokes. It works with Google Reader, but I'm
not 100% that it works with Gmail. I know the issue has been discussed before,
and I _think_ it was fixed, but I'm not certain.

~~~
Tekhne
You're right. In fact, I have my vimperator setup so that it automatically
does this for Google Reader and GMail, and only for the relevant tab (i.e. if
I hit "v" to view a Reader article, the pass-through turns off on the new
tab). I did it with this statement in my .vimperatorrc (Linux):

autocmd LocationChange .* js modes.passAllKeys =
/(google\\.com\/reader|mail\\.google\\.com)/.test(buffer.URL)

------
marram
Remember The Milk (<http://www.rememberthemilk.com>) is a life saver. It's a
task list that runs on your phone and browser. I can't recommend it enough.

------
dreeves
Commitment devices. Bethany Soule and I just committed to staying on all of
these "Yellow Brick Roads": <http://kibotzer.com/fitfam> . We did so by each
auctioning off a security worth $2000 in the event we fall off any of those
roads before August 1. Our friend David Yang won for $65 apiece.

------
strick
Think about ways you can spend a few dollars to save yourself time. By driving
to my subway stop and paying to park instead of walking, I save myself over 5
mins each way every day. That comes to over 3 hrs a month I get back--about 40
hrs a year. I get exercise elsewhere and it is a pretty ugly walk anyway, so I
don't miss it at all.

~~~
stretchwithme
how much do you pay to park? and how long does it take to park?

I calculate my hourly rate after taxes to put a value on time saved when
making such calculations.

Also, if saving 2% at Walmart means much waiting in line and dealing with a
lot of junk that ends up having to be returned, shop at Target instead.
Spending a little money to avoid suffering is often a better deal than
spending a lot having a good time. It all matters.

------
liangzan
Multi monitors and tiling window managers

------
tome
I can definitely recommend the Dvorak layout. If you think Colemak will be
even better then go for it!

~~~
roundsquare
Something I've always wondered...

If you learn a new keyboard layout, does that make it hard to use a regular
layout? And what about if someone else uses your computer?

~~~
pmjordan
I wouldn't say _hard_ , but it can take me a few minutes to get back to full
touch typing. Before switching to Dvorak Type 2 (plus <Alt Gr> \+ homerow
mapped to <[({})]> for programming) I did already have to switch between
QWERTZ (German) and QWERTY (UK, sometimes US) on occasion, which may have
prepared me for it. Though the differences between QWERTZ and QWERTY are
pretty minimal compared to Dvorak.

------
rasmus4200
Don't drive. Ride a bike. Lot's of rest. Make a todo list start of each day.
Ignore everything else.

~~~
mschaecher
I make my days to-do list just before bed at night. Since starting this I have
had much more success utilizing to-do lists.

------
idoh
I used to ride Muni out of downtown SF every evening. The train would get
really crowded and I'd have no place to sit. The hack was to ride Muni against
rush hour traffic for a stop or two, cross the platform and jump on the next
train which always had room to sit.

------
Chirag
1\. Program Launcher: Rocketdock

2\. Notepadd++ - For all editing purposes.

3\. A diary to track and list everything work related, this works as a todo
list, doodles, project discussions, lists.

4\. Evernote for dumping notes from across the web and emails.

5\. Combination of Firefox and Google Chrome

~~~
scottw
I'll second Evernote. It's the best place for dumping anything: links, notes,
photos, etc.

------
chasingsparks
My desktop uses a wireless network with an external USB radio. Having the
ability to physically disconnect it a few hours a day works better at
countering distractions than exercising self-restraint by not opening a
browser.

------
vessenes
This is all pretty technocratic. I would recommend Peter Drucker's "The
Effective Executive" for some useful thoughts on organizing your day and being
more effective at work.

------
masterponomo
If your living space is limited, ditch your dining table and get a folding
ping-pong table with wheels. Do this before you find your life partner.

~~~
shrikant
Wow, I'm glad somebody thinks alike. My living room has no furniture
whatsoever except for the ping-pong table and a refrigerator.

And this was a joint decision post finding my life partner!

 _Advantages_ :

1\. Loads (and loads!) of fun, along with all the accompanying benefits of
learning/improving at a sport

2\. The lack of furniture ensures random hangers-on who visit don't stay for
too long, and only good friends who can appreciate our lifestyle stick around
for eats and drinks and such.

 _Disadvantages_ :

1\. Hard to get work done at home

2\. Nothing else that I can think of!

 _edit: formatting_

------
desponsible
Critical thinking is advantageous in many situations.

------
ioquatix
An hourly incremental backup.

~~~
seltzered
Any good suggestions on software to do this on windows? I have an unused NAS
that I want to start utilizing with my laptop for this purpose.

------
ertug
BASH

------
earl
Generically: Learn your tools. Whether it's bash (can I recommend this?
[http://www.catonmat.net/download/bash-history-cheat-
sheet.pd...](http://www.catonmat.net/download/bash-history-cheat-sheet.pdf) )
with the ability to do very fancy stuff with the command line, vim, emacs,
Eclipse, or the MS tools, _learn_ them. Backwards and forwards. You aren't
done until you have hundreds of keyboard shortcuts memorized and in daily use.
Learn how to use grep, find, less, xargs, and awk. The returns on learning
these tools well are amazing.

Also, do less. In order to be good at something, no matter what that is --
programming, math, entrepreneurship -- you need to focus and spend a lot of
time on it. In order to do that, you need to find that time, and the easiest
way to find time is to prioritize what you are doing and do less. If something
isn't important to you, then don't do it. For me that's TV -- I don't own one.
South Park, all 14 episodes a year, are available online both legally and
illegally.

