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1. #NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES MAC BACKGROUND PLUS#
2. #NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES MAC BACKGROUND PROFESSIONAL#

An obvious but often overlooked function of Alfred is the ability to start apps quickly by invoking your keyboard shortcut and typing the app's name. I use it for snippets, to retrieve passwords, and a million other things.

If you don't use Alfred, consider this a shameless plug. Pretty pics and videos can wait for after hours. But it also reminds me, when I'm in front of my computer and presented with a blank slate: I'm here to create, not to consume. For starters, it's not visually distracting. While you're at it, try out a plain/colored background instead of a desktop wallpaper. If you need to drag and drop files, say, into an email or from a web page to save, you can always use a Finder window instead. Not having icons on your desktop means applications don't have to compete with other things for screen real estate.

Not having icons on your desktop means you'll need to make proper use of your home folder and sort files actively. Not having icons on your desktop means less visual clutter overall. That's why I recommend forgoing folders and icons on your desktop altogether. Desktop environments are an imperfect solution to an age-old multitasking problem (more on this later). If your pinky starts to get tired hitting command so much, you can actually swap the caps lock and command keys on your Mac's keyboard under System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier Keys.Ĭonsider not using your desktop-ever. You can even create your own shortcuts, or take it to the next level with a tool like Keyboard Maestro. There are keyboard shortcuts for Zoom, Gmail, and probably every other app you use. This adds up!Īs a Customer Champion at Zapier, I use Zendesk shortcuts all day to keep my fingers on the home row so I can focus on our customers, not my computer. Mice and trackpads aren't terribly efficient input devices if only for the fact that the repeated maneuver of relocating your hand from your keyboard to your mouse and back causes a small but measurable time-loss. In System Preferences > Touch ID, be sure to set up a different fingerprint for each user for fast switching. You can, for instance, only sign into Slack with your work user and only sign into Messages with your personal user to keep things compartmentalized. Create separate usersĬonsider creating separate user accounts for personal and work computing. It's great to see Apple giving care to our attention spans. I mention this native feature first because it's had a profound positive impact on my concentration.

I also have additional Focuses (Foci?) set up for practicing music, sleeping, and exercising.įor those of us with an iPhone, Focuses set on your Mac will be mirrored automatically on mobile, keeping your phone notifications in check. I set up a work Focus that only allows emergency contacts and Zapier colleagues to contact me during my working hours. MacOS Mojave introduced Focus, a way to filter your notifications.

#NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES MAC BACKGROUND PLUS#

Here, I'll suggest a few apps to fill gaps in macOS's native functionality, plus a few unconventional minimalist tweaks to supercharge your workflow. As knowledge workers, we don't need as much visual feedback, which means we can reduce distracting interface elements and on-screen clutter. Similarly, computers often present us with superfluous visuals. Watching myself play takes away from what actually matters: my ability to evaluate the sound I'm creating on my instrument.

#NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES MAC BACKGROUND PROFESSIONAL#

8 tips, tricks, and tools to simplify your Mac experienceĪs a professional musician, I learned not to practice while looking in the mirror too often because it takes up too much "brain juice"-our brains spend a lot of energy processing visual information. But bear with me-you might thank me later.