Look and learn your way to better productivity
Don’t get discouraged when I tell you this; if you are using your mac to make a living then you are repeating the same tasks over and over again. Sounds like you are stuck in a rut right? Don’t think of it that way. Think of it as an opportunity to streamline a very short list of processes, operations and procedures.
Let’s take me for example. I am a web designer and web content contributer extraordinaire… well maybe I made up that last point, but you get the idea. I am constantly designing for and filling up the web. When I am using my mac for work, what processes do I actually involve myself in on a daily basis? I could get geeked out and start watching my console.app to really get behind what I actually do in a day, but I am not getting that deep about the meaning of my life. I just mean what apps do I use most, what apps do I work with and for what reasons and is there a way to change the way I do things for the better?
In most cases there is. I use RapidWeaver, TextMate, CSSEdit, Photoshop and Captain FTP nearly every minute of every workday. For the most part I have mastered each of the narrow facets that I might use for each of these apps but that doesn’t necessarily mean I am using each one effectively or to it’s fullest potential. The latter is not necessarily ever going to be a time saver since many apps are built with far more features than most will ever need and sometimes those features pail in comparison to an app that specializes in that area. However, the former, using an app effectively, is a crucial ingredient to increasing your productivity.
To be more effective using your apps in production you need to learn more about them. I don’t mean sitting down and reading the manual from start to finish (though this wouldn’t hurt), but rather keeping your eyes open and looking for solutions to new problems as they confront you. Resources such as the help manual and readme files can be great for this, but in some smaller apps, documentation is feeble at best. You need to take a proactive approach and join (or at least read) the related forums, read the developer blogs, read the tips and tricks (often part of the aforementioned forums or blogs) and communicate with other avid users of those apps and learn how others have overcome issues or addressed their own productivity concerns. When it gets most interesting is when you find tricks that the app developer never intended and through awareness of such approaches, soon becomes such a widespread technique that the developers end up building it into their app, or at least bringing it more to the forefront.
When you can’t find faster ways of doing repetitive tasks with your apps, look for helpers or apps that make these tasks simpler for you. Apps like Quicksilver and Launchbar are two such apps that make finding, launching and thinking so much faster once you get them under your productivity skin. For me, Quicksilver is an indispensable tool. From spelling to app launching to script running to note taking to blog posting to finding everything… Quicksilver does everything I think about doing. In conjunction with Exposé, a tuned mouse setup and Witch, my screen is a blur with action to the uninitiated over-the-shoulder observer.
Another way of getting things done quickly is to make use of Automator. With folder actions and finder actions you can get things done with a contextual menu selection or a drag-and-drop. For me, this is image uploading. I save myself the time and effort of opening an FTP client, selecting an address, selecting a folder and uploading an image. Instead, I right click on an image, go to actions, select my appropriate upload action (upload to nutMac.com for instance), and I am done. There are many pre-made actions to be found at the Apple download area. With apps like Automator and Quicksilver, you circumvent the need to actually open the apps in question and instead make use of the services they hook into.
The bottom line is, never stop looking for ways to improve your workflow. Never stop learning new things about what you do and what you use. Never stop questioning the reasons for the ways you do things in your day-to-day processes Stay ever aware of how you get things done and you always stay on top of your productivity.