You probably don’t realise how much time you spend at work – and that to, doing things that just consume time and don’t actually deliver any results. In many cases, the time you spend on keypresses and mouse clicks are actually less efficient than the time that you spend going getting a cup of tea or coffee.
So let’s take a look at some of the gadgets and products that can help you work smarter, faster and better.
A Gaming Mouse
Woah, you may be immediately asking – why are we talking about a gaming mouse – I thought this was an office productivity post. Ok – hear me out first.
You see all those buttons on the side of your mouse? Well, each of those 12 buttons can be customised to a specific hotkey, which allows you to immediately send type in a complicated command or even run a program instantly. For example, I have one button set to open up an empty excel file. Another button allows me to take a screenshot with a custom selection area. Another button opens up the browser to my mail. You can do so much with those 12 options, which when you really put them to use and get the hang of, can seriously reduce the time you spend on triggering actions that you do very open.
A Secondary Monitor
Nothing drags down your time when you have a couple of different windows and you get another email that pops up and then now you’ve got 3 windows and then you’re buried with a few dozen windows and the only way out is to close them out and start fresh. Restart?
Ok, our diagnosis on this is, just get an extra monitor. You can find good quality ones that easily pay themselves in usage.
Bonus feature: if you’re doing a lot of vertical scrolling, you can also turn your screen to 90 degrees so you get a long view of a document. Stop scrolling up and down and glance at what you need. Ah, so much time saved.
Tile Tracker
How many times have you spent minutes if not hours searching for your keys – either at office, or at home, only for them to suddenly turn up in the coffee room or in a convenient hiding spot between your screen and desk? Well, let’s bring that wasted time down to Zero using a mini bluetooth tracker. The best in the business is from Tile, which attaches to your keys or slips into you bag. You can also get super slim wallet size tiles (thickness of 3 credit cards). I’ve stopped searching for my keys at home as I know it will always be there. In case you misplace your keys, wallet, or whatever you tagged your tile to, you can quickly find it by having the tile beep loudly from a distance of 10m. If the tile is further than that, it will tell you with exact GPS locations where it last saw it. And, the best part is, even if you aren’t near by, if someone else also having Tile installed on their phone walks past, the location of your device will get sent to your anonymously so you can quick go and retrieve it. No more time wasted trying to find something.
Bonus Feature: If you’re not able to find your phone, you can quickly click on the tile middle button which will then trigger your phone to sound a loud alert – allowing you to quickly find it again. Never waste precious time trying to find your phone again when you need to rush out of the office.
A Windows Hello Compatible Webcam
You probably get up from your desk and then sit down multiple times during the day – and every single time you sit down, you’re probably typing in your password. Well, stop doing that. Depending on your options to configure your login at work, see if you can get a Windows Hello compatible webcam. Windows Hello is a window based system that allows biometric authentication, including the super convenient facial recognition. So as soon as you get to your desk and sit down, it logs you in and boom you’re back to work. And bonus: you can set it to give updates when someone you aren’t expecting tries to sit down at your desk (depends on the model you purchase).
If you’re not keen for a webcam, you can get a usb finger print scanner that does the same function.
USB Fingerprint Reader
You can connect the USB fingerprint reader to your laptop (if it doesn’t have one), or on top of your desktop usb hub.
USB Extension Cable
If you’re always poking around for where that usb slot is (usually round the back) or even when you want to charge your phone and are stuck with a pitiful 1 m cable, get yourself a high quality USB 3.0 extension cable. This cable is also great for connecting by the side of your bed – trust me on this – after experiencing a long cable, you’ll never go back to a 1m cable.
Conclusion
With all of the above gadgets and putting them to use, save yourself hours per day and impress those around you on how fast and efficiently you work. The best part is a more relaxed and smoother work (and home) experience which will reduce your stress level as well.
Well, that’s all we have for you today. Comment on what you use to help save time and let us know what you thought of our tips above.