Quick productivity hacks/tips

Over the last weeks or so, I’ve implemented a few productivity hacks in my daily workflow. While I don’t actually /know/ if any of them improved my productivity, they sure made me feel more productive. In my book, that’s enough.

Disable your Mail.app unread count badge

I originally spotted this tip over on Signals vs Noise. It is such a small change, but it has seriously minimized the amount of time I waste on checking email.

Not having that attention-grabbing, little red badge with a number means I can make a deliberate decision to process my inbox when I want to – not when some sender want me to.

SizeUp

SizeUp is a nifty little application that allows you to quickly position windows using the keyboard. Now, I know you probably don’t spend all that much time moving your windows around on your screen, and neither did I.

Still, when I did move or resize a window I was spending that extra seconds getting the position/size just right. It had to align with the other windows, or stack up against the screen edge or whatever. OCD much?

Using SizeUp, those choices are made for me. All I need to decide is left or right monitor, half or quarter screen, and press the keys accordingly. No more fiddling around with the mouse.

Hazel

Hazel is a nifty little tool that monitors folders and reacts to changes in them – somewhat like the rules/filters you are familiar with from your email client.

It can likely help you with anything you do to file(s) on a regular basis and when it does, it pretty much feels like magic.

For example, you can configure it to keep your trash folder to a limited size so you don’t have to worry about wasting too much precious HD space on it. Or how about having it delete your old, unused downloads?