Ellipsis

A colleague sent me the following list of his favorite Mac productivity enhancers (to which I’ve added *s if I’m already on board):

QuickSilver * http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

AppZapper http://appzapper.com/

Hazel http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php

CoconutWifi http://www.coconut-flavour.caom/coconutwifi/index.html

Cyberduck http://cyberduck.ch/

Free Ruler http://www.pascal.com/software/freeruler/

SpamSieve http://c-command.com/spamsieve/

iTerm * http://iterm.sourceforge.net/

Jumpcut http://jumpcut.sourceforge.net/

To this I would add:

TimeOut http://www.dejal.com

Actiontastic http://www.kaboomerang.com

A few years ago I crafted a little script for X11 that would lock me out of my system once an hour so I could stretch and refocus. Now that I’m working from home I’m in dire need of tools that help me to focus and relax and recenter.

So this week I did some searching on lifehacker, and sooned turned up TimeOut. TimeOut runs in the background, and can be set to provide mini-breaks and regular breaks at specified intervals. The way I have it set now, about ever yten minutes my screen fades to grey over about five seconds, then shows an eight second progress bar, then fades back into my work. Every hour I get a five mnute break.

What this does for me: every ten minutes I refocus my eyes and breathe deeply AND I ask myself: am I really doing something worthwhile, or have I gone off track (often, yes). The hour breaks keep me from taking unscheduled breaks, while making sure I get the break time I need.

All told, a great kick to my productivity and happiness.