Products & Software I use.

And other things I dig.

I've been asked a few times what software and tools I use to organise my personal and work life. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff. I'll try post on how I use some of these.

Productivity

  • Things 3

    My life lives in Things 3.
    I've lost count of how many different ToDo apps I've tried (Todoist, TickTick, ClickUp, Asana, Wunderlist...) but I always kept coming back to Things.
    I kept thinking I needed more features like calendar, attachments, API. But over time I came to find those things just added noise and created bad habits.
    Respect to the Cultured Code crew for not caving in to all our demands and ending up bloated.

  • Raycast

    Crazy fast and crazy customisable. I've got a number of custom commands and scripts to make my day to day work that little bit quicker. It all adds up.

  • Spark (Mail)

    Another thing I've tried everything on is email, even with a long stint using Superhuman (quick review: it's great, but get yourself into an inbox zero habit and master keyboard shortcuts and you're 90% of the way there).
    I actually like the Gmail site and iOS apps, but the thing that pulled me over the line with Spark was the integration with Things 3 to easily push emails (as links) into my ToDo list.
    It makes hitting Inbox Zero every morning (often in bed) crazy easy.

  • Logseq

    For freeform notes, brainstorming, research that I'd like to also find the connections between, I use Logseq.
    I have all my reading highlights from Kindle, Pocket etc synced into Logseq via Readwise.
    Previously I used RoamResearch... but Logseq does all that and more, for free.

  • Notion

    When I want to create content in a more structured way, or in more of a connected database type way, I turn to Notion.

Learning

  • Kindle

    I'm a sucker for physical books, and like a lot of people I buy way more books than I could ever consume.
    But the practicality of having a dedicated device with zero distractions that fits your entire library and more, just can't be beat.

  • Pocket

    I've been a subscriber of Pocket for a long while now, I've got a habit of throwing articles in there rather than just reading them immediately. Which at first I felt was bad, but I've come to find as a natural filter.

  • Reeder

    RSS aint dead.

  • PocketCasts

    Everyone needs a good podcast app, PocketCasts always just spoke to me. I dig the layout and feature set.
    Plus I was lucky enough to have purchased before they went to a subscription model.

Development tools

  • VS Code

    I still need to do some engineering now and then for legacy code on Elevio. When that's needed, VS Code is my goto. Previously it was Sublime for its speed.

  • TablePlus

    Used to use SequelPro, but needed something for Postgres DBs. TablePlus to the rescue.

Workstation

  • 14” MacBook Pro, M1 Max, 64GB RAM (2021)

    Before this maching I was using a MacBook Air purely for its portability. But when work offered to provide a 14" Macbook Pro when they came available I jumped at it.
    This thing is a beast, and it's just as portable. I love it.

  • Samsung S65U - 34 inch Curved Monitor

    I'd always been a dual screen person, but this is so much more practical in my mind. I can comfortably two apps side by side, and without any bezel between them. The way it hugs your eyes is pretty pleasing.

  • Keychron K3v2 Mechanical Keyboard

    It took me forever to get into the machanical keyboard world, 2022 actually. No idea why it took me so long, I dig the more tactile feel and the (light) clicky clack.