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Ask HN: What are your best life hacks/best tools in life/time savers?

81 points by drKarl ↗ HN
I would like to know wich things you consider to give you and advantage in any area of life.

Some things I would add to the list:

1) Program launcher (launchy/quiksilver/gnome-do/katapult/etc) instead of icons

2) Vim as an editor (mastering its usage)

3) Gesture search in android

Not currently using but I want to try:

- Polyphasic sleep (perhaps everyman)

- Colemak keyboard layout

139 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 199 ms ] thread
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. ;)
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

drKarl
I agree that sleep is very important, but like I said before, I'd like to try polyphasic sleep. That would be an impressive hack, giving me more time and maximizing REM phases.

Reduce multitasking - that is, focus in a single task at a time, agreed!!

Eat less, exercise more - agreed! That is in fact one of my pending points.

Don't commute more than 20mins each way - I would add... unless you can do something useful while you are commuting!!

Thank you!!

Alleyfield
I highly doubt the effectiveness of polyphasic sleep. I myself found myself physically fatigued when I tried something like that.

So, based on my own (little) experience, my muscles need the long rest that a good night's sleep gives.

And doing "something useful" while commuting... Well ain't there a sure sign for disaster?

Hmm. Now don't get me wrong, but your post seems to be coming from a guy who's heading enthusiastically straight into a total mental burndown...

MichaelSalib
I think the original commenter was envisioning a bus/train/van-pool/subway/ferry commute rather than a car/bicycle/walking commute. My last job involved a long subway trip and I found that a Kindle really helped. The trains were too crowded to make reading on, let alone working on a laptop feasible.
Alleyfield
I understood that he meant being in a bus/train/van-pool/subway/ferry. The point that I was trying to make was that trying to do "something useful" while commuting is, at least to me, pretty annoying - there's so much distraction going on around you that your chances of actually having attention to the task you're doing are slim.

And time without attention is time wasted.

Ultimately you might find yourself using 24/7 of your time in practicing things - and realizing that you've understood nothing.

And then you're ready to welcome the burnout

drKarl
Yes I meant a bus/train/van-pool/subway/ferry, and yes I was thinking in listening to an audiobook/podcast, reading a book, perhaps doing some brainstorming with a Moleskine (well, it depends on the crowdiness of where your are), and if you have a table perhaps working on your laptop...
jasonlotito
"And doing "something useful" while commuting... Well ain't there a sure sign for disaster?"

Podcasts and Audiobooks. You can learn new things, keep on on recent events, or, even better, just enjoy the time with a good book. You can do this while driving even, without problems.

The only downside is you tend to not mind the traffic during the commute.

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

I walk to work. Free 1.5 hr of exercise every day and I don't have to spend money on transportation.

nhooey
You can get to work some quicker way and run instead. Running is much more valuable than walking.
DrSprout
Well, you have to factor in changing out of your running clothes and showering if you're in a "professional" environment.

Also I have bad knees that make even the mile I walked to the job I just quit a little difficult. I doubt they will ever heal enough that running is a good idea.

drKarl
You can try bicycling, it's faster and you won't sweat unless you have to go uphill. Also, if your office has showers (a rare but nice feature) you can go running/bicycling and have a shower.
DrPhish
I had bad knees for years, but found that running exclusively up-hill on uneven ground for about 2 years completely cured them. This might not be practical or work for you, but I found a steady improvement after I started walking gently down hills and only running up. I also made a conscious effort to minimize the impact of each footfall. After 2 years, I found I could even run downhill again without pain or injury.
eru
Do you run striking with your heels or a more sane part of your feet?
lhorie
I could jog on my way home, but since I sweat a lot, running to work is probably not a good idea. I've thought about biking, but it'd be a hassle because of the narrow staircases in my building. The subway is just slightly faster than walking (when it's on time anyways)

In any case, I do ~6 hrs of martial arts per week, and I find that walking is a nice low-impact type of activity to complement it.

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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.
sree_nair
I think Means "eat less, more frequently" when he say eat like a bird.
powrtoch
Research suggests that 6-7 hours of sleep correlates most strongly with longer life.

Not that your way doesn't sound great (it truly does), just a matter of priorities :)

srik
I came across this finding often while doing some research on sleep deprivation - Sleeping for more than 8 hours daily can be harmful.

Quoting an article from Time - "Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, as they report, live the longest. [...] Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr."

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1812420,00.ht...

c0riander
This study may show that more sleep may reduce longevity, but it doesn't say anything about daily well-being, alertness, and general state of mind. If I had to choose between more sleep and feeling better and being more productive everyday (what 9-10 hours/night does for me) and living longer but feeling crappy all the time (6-7 hours/night), it's no contest.
tome
I can definitely recommend the Dvorak layout. If you think Colemak will be even better then go for it!
drKarl
Thank you! Well I'm sure the Dvorak layout is much better than the QWERTY layout, but from what I've read, Colemak makes it easier to use default shortcuts such as Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Z...

I need to be on holiday to learn the new layout though.

tome
If you're willing to put in the time to learn a whole new keyboard layout then you should be willing to put in the time to change any default shortcuts that you don't like!

But personally I haven't found them a problem at all, even in Emacs.

AndyKelley
Cut/copy/paste is annoying for about a week, then you're fine. Here's my learning curve: http://www.superjoesoftware.com/temp/dvorak.png

I think now (2 years or so later) it's between 90-120 depending on how many typos I make.

You aren't really going to be super fast with dvorak but I do notice that my hands don't feel so tweaked.

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.
byrneseyeview
When I switched back (from Dvorak to Qwerty), I was faster than ever.

When you relearn the old layout, you can avoid your bad habits.

phrotoma
Personally I find it damn near impossible to use QWERTY after going to DVORAK, even after several years. As for someone else using my machine, well my friends refer to my work machine as having "the klingon keyboard". Handy for keeping people the hell outta your workspace though ...
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.

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.
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.)

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.

phrotoma
As I understand it using this trick means the TSA cannot open your luggage without your presence, so keep an ear open for your name on the PA.
evilduck
Sounds like another incentive to do this. No more random snooping/lost items.
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.

joshu
Have you actually done this?
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.
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StacyC
Meditation has been life-changing for me, and combines nicely with a good diet and regular exercise to keep me feeling terrific. Negativity and stress are almost non-existent for me, and at 48 years old I have never felt better in my life.
gyardley
I say 'no' to a lot of requests. Works great.
desponsible
Critical thinking is advantageous in many situations.
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.
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

illumin8
#6 - There is growing evidence that putting large electromagnetic fields near vital organs is not good for your long-term health.
jtbigwoo
Yeah, those who are conservative with their health should get a timer that switches the heat off soon after bed time. If the timer is automatic, it's a good incentive to get into bed on time. :)
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)

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.
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.

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.
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. :)
silentbicycle
tmux has tiling window manager layouts (the same ones dwm and XMonad use) built into it.

Having two narrower columns visible at the same time in the text console (with easy copy/pasting) has been really helpful for me on several occasions.

liangzan
Multi monitors and tiling window managers
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.

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.
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.

dlib
Life's too short to get worked up over dollars and cents.

In general I try to live as if I've set an hourly wage for my time. Arguing over a few dollars change I consider more expensive than paying a little extra. If there's a task someone else/some company has a competitive advantage in compared with doing it myself, it's cheaper for me to not do it. So, offload git hosting to github, rails hosting to Heroku and spare yourself the headaches.

Applying sunk costs also is a great stress reliever for me, time spent on a project is time you won't ever get back. Don't fuzz about it.

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.
StacyC
Excellent point. An added benefit is that most people will respect you for standing up for what you want, and will tend not to bother you with trivia.
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

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.