Ask HN: What is the best way to spend $1000 to improve your productivity?

If you’re currently hunched over a laptop, high quality monitor and keyboard make a big difference.

If you’re sitting on something crappy, a used high-end chair.

If you’re sitting on something nice, a convertible sit-stand desk.

acid.

Personally can't live without a high quality monitor. I use a single 42' Dell. It gives me the most productivity for the buck having a single space for every window, terminal and editor.

Supplements have been really fun. For example, 2:1 L-Theanine to Caffeine, especially after a nap, is like productivity medicine for me.

I bought a shelf stereo system and keep it turned on at low volume while I work, and it's nice to randomly hear an old song I like, or a new song I like. Local FM is handy during emergencies here too, and it even seems like about 1/4 of the ads are PSAs or local announcements from NPOs, government agencies with helpful info, etc.

I also bought a scanner radio and enjoy listening to local radio traffic on breaks.

I bought some desk mats that I like, and I prefer looking at them rather than my desktop, which is an old banquet table from 2000 (newer tempered glass desk is too cold in the winter).

Regarding stationery, I picked up some horizontal shelving for pens and pencils, and bought a bunch of fountain pens, watercolor pencils, highlighters, and so on...a lot of fun for doodling on those long calls.

Finally I bought an /r/cheapkeys keyboard, then another...anyway, long story short I learned some basic chord progressions for jamming purposes, and now I have a keyboard collection. It's been a lot of fun. (I learned the keyboard solo from "All of My Love" by Led Zeppelin and I swear it was one of the highlights of 2020, amidst all the darkness)

Anyway I'm a bit weird in that I find that enjoyable interests and values-based living is where productivity goes to recuperate and regroup before reaching higher highs. Good luck to you.

Does anyone have good experience using a wacom tablet to replace paper/whiteboard? I tried using an ipad but it's not quite the same. It's too small and there's no way to directly integrate with desktop (I'm on linux).

I've been eyeing a curved monitor, but not sure if it's worth it relative to a 27" Dell monitor. I'm not a gamer fwiw.

Invest it into bitcoins? High Risk/Reward

For writing, a portable mechanical typewriter. None of a computer's infinite distractions. Cordless. As direct as pen and paper. Cost toward the stack of spiral notebooks end of the scale.

It filled a hole I didn't even know was there. I can completely wrap my head around it. The only downside is how crappy computer keyboards feel after thwacking on it for a few minutes.

Yerba mate tea is stronger than study drugs for me and provides nearly instant high intensity focus. Its not terribly fun or enjoyable, but by far the easiest/cheapest cheat code for productivity. I really only drink it when I need to power through a few hours of something I don't want to do. Tea is $12 for 2lbs, and the cup/straw is about $15.

Similarly, exercise is great for productivity and spending money so that you enjoy it is worth it. Gym membership, bike, weights, etc gives you months or years of productivity boosts.

I would say spend it on Bitcoin, but if you are noob, i’d suggest you read about Bitcoin, you can invest $775 on getting a daily super filtered spreadsheet of what the conversation is about in forums and microblogging sites.

You can sift through these posts and find lots of insights and opportunities to prepare you to invest in Bitcoin.

To make your life easier, i’ve created this spreadsheet and you can have it if you want.

Here are some ideas (and US prices):

1) Nespresso coffee machine. Can get a good one for < $200

2) Autonomous standing desk. Base model $399

3) Trackpad. Nice addition to the mouse. E.g. $129 from Apple.

4) Second monitor. I personally find this convenient. A decent one will cost you under $300.

5) Tablet. Useful for when you are too tired to sit or stand. Good for reading docs or whitepapers, for example. $329 for a base model iPad.

6) Faster internet. A few bucks added to your monthly bill.

I would spend it all on one monitor

Take a holiday! Rent a remote cabin in the woods, or fly (drive?) to a sunny destination. After last year you need to recharge your batteries!

Give this money to your friend, ask them only to give you back if you complete certain task before deadline.

Here's some free/low cost suggestions...

1. Listen to all of 10 hours of rain and thunder on Youtube whilst working every day. I get into a state of flow much easier listening to that than practically anything else.

2. Text important people in your life to say you're offline until lunch and then turn your phone off and put it in a drawer.

3. Get a water jug so you don't have to keep getting up to fill your glass of water.

4. Create an alternative profile in Chrome or Firefox without your usual social profiles and add a site blocker blocking social media to it.

5. Print 4 rows of 10 boxes on a piece of paper and tick a box for every hour you successfully do work without distractions and put a cross for every hour that you are distracted. If you hit 40 hours without distractions give yourself a prize.

Standing desk + monitors.

Or whatever you need to make home office setup better as offices are not opening anytime soon.

Far from the whole $1000 but I bought a monitor arm and a second screen. I really like the monitor arm, as it allows me to use more space on my desk.

I also bought a Bluetooth headset but I'm considering buying a real, big microphone to ease meetings.

I would first suggest improving your monitor situation.

I often find myself in a situation where there is a single application that I want to focus on (be it the terminal, a document, etc.) with some reference material (browser, other document, etc.) that I need. The ability to have even these two windows visible, together, without needing to alt-tab between them has been a big win.

if you already have a modern/decent computer,

  - get as much RAM, as fast as your BIOS allow.
  - swap your drive for a nvme.
  - get a better/bigger 4k ( or even 5k ) monitor.
  - get a nice "cloud storage" data backup plan ( i like wasabi ).
  - have some reserved money to buy a new machine "on the spot" when you main machine dies on you.

#1 item to improve productivity is a quality mattress

I would spend it to have a perfect home office. 1. Probably for desk, an adjustable-height standing desk would be great so I can alternate my position throughout the day. 2. Customized chair that will suit any home color scheme. Everything from the headrest to the seat height and angle can be adjusted. 3. Accessories such as second monitor, cabinets, and a desk lamp.

Not necessarily a Productivity improvement, but invest into Ergonomics:

1) I like the Logitech MX Vertical ~100 USD

2) some mechanical or ergonomic keyboard

3) monitor

And your other colleagues/ customers will thank you: decent camera and even more important, a good microphone for the meetings were you cannot walk around a lot.

Maybe take an adventure or experience that leaves you with utter awe

If you have access to a community with thinkers you respect: put up a challenge where you thoroughly detail the music/ books/ideas that changed your life or strongly empower your perception of it. If somebody recommends another worthy one they win the prize. But the important detail with this plan is that this would only work if the community already gets joy out of doing the recommendation by itself for free. The money is more just an excuse to start a “contest”

This one is free, but if you're on a mac try using amethyst wm[1], firefox with tridactyl[2] and keep work in the cli with something like tmux.

I've been experimenting with it for a week and I'm amazed how much not reaching for the mouse keeps me in the flow. If you're on linux obviously something like i3wm would work the same

[1] https://ianyh.com/amethyst/ [2] https://github.com/tridactyl/tridactyl