Site icon Eitan Blumin's blog

T-SQL Tuesday #123 – Life hacks to make your day easier

This month’s T-SQL Tuesday #123, hosted by Jess Pomfret, is asking us to write about our favorite “life hacks” that make our lives easier. This topic has actually been pretty hot on my list for the past year or so, so I’m happy to share my experience.

About a year ago, on January, 2019, I started working in a new position in Madeira Data Solutions. Not just any position, but as a Team Leader… The first management-level position that I’ve ever got in my life! (wow! look at you, moving up in the world!)

I don’t need to tell you that moving from an “Individual Contributor” position to any sort of management position is no easy task. Most of all, you’re expected to be able to do more in less of the time! Not to mention that, while being in a management position, I was still expected to also contribute as an individual consultant! Imagine having to juggle several customers, while also leading a team of other consultants and being responsible for their productivity and quality of work!

Oh geez, the stress!

This was a serious challenge indeed. I knew that my top-most priority would be to turbo-boost my own productivity skills in order to be able to handle everything else.

Well, after some research and advice from my CEO, I knew what I had to look for… I had to look for ways to reduce as much load on my brain and clear time from my schedule as possible. In other words, I had to outsource my mind. And, what this means for me is that I had to adopt as many productivity-enhancing tools and apps as I could and let them do as much heavy-lifting as possible.

So, what follows is a list of various apps and software that I started using, which helped me tremendously to boost my productivity and make my life easier. Hopefully, you’ll find them useful as well:

Generally, whenever I need to remember something, I write it down (whether in the ToDo app, the calendar, or in the password manager). Therefore, using mobile phone apps is important for this purpose, so that I won’t have to wait until I have direct computer access in order to write something down. I do my best to “offload” as much information out of my mind ASAP, so that I can get more room in my brain for the actually important stuff.

This might also include using apps such as Zapier, Microsoft Flow and others, that automate business workflows and integrations between different services and modules, or something like setting up Macros in your favorite desktop, mobile or web app. I do everything I can to create “shortcuts” for myself, and thus remove any potential time wasters from my life.

This way, I utilize a bunch of “digital assistants” of sorts, that do all the menial daily tasks for me.

You might have other ideas for how to utilize such “digital assistants”, and you may be using other equivalents of the tools that I mentioned (there are many competing brands of each). You’re definitely encouraged to share your experiences in the comments below.

Exit mobile version