Tools

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management/ productivity method that breaks the work you need to do into timed intervals.

It's been for me the best way to properly organise time boxing and get some real productivity in my days. I use this timer on my phone, but you can use any.

If you want to create a new habit, you have to make it easy to integrate by decreasing the activation energy for the habits you want to implement.

The 20 seconds rule advises ensuring you clear the access to the tools to do what you planned to do in advance while adding levels of difficulty to access what makes you feel guilty afterwards.

Morning pages helped me in several occasions to clear up my mind in the morning, and I would advise is to everyone to try it, not only creative minds.

A bit like journaling (that I also advise investigating), the act of writing down items rather than letting them wander in your head unleashed, can be extremely relieving and help clarify ideas.

To-Do lists

I have several lists for several purposes: • The daily to-do list, which has a maximum of 5 items in it • The backlog, with all the stuff that comes to mind it has to be done • The buying list, so I buy everything at once • The long term goals, that will then create a sub-list of • short term goals, to define weekly and daily activities.

"Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations. "

I've been using it for a while now and cannot do anything but advise it. You can rate books, set up challenges for yourself and also follow other readers.

IMDb is an online database of information related to films and other content.

I use it to browse information and ratings, remember what movies I watched, rate them, and eventually find suggestions based on my taste. It's possible to share one's watchlist via a unique link.

Pocket is a great app that allows you to easily save links in a convenient way (to read them later, for example).

It automatically realises if what you save is a text or some media, you can then scroll through your list, recommend items and so on. App + chrome extension is the way to go.

Anki is a method to memorise any information, through deck cards that you can create. Once you get familiar with it (it takes a few minutes) it reveals to be a fantastic tool.

Useful to check out also the available decks, the desktop version and the synch function to always have a backup!

Session Buddy is a Chrome extension that makes life much easier if you're used to working with a lot of tabs, maybe on different projects.

I used it for years, and it never failed me 😊

Dark Reader is a chrome extension that allows seeing all websites in dark mode.

I like to have my default background black with white text, to both get less tired reading and save energy, and this extension definitely helps :)

Grammarly is a web application that allows to correct your grammar in a pretty advanced way, compared to any other spellchecker.

I have used it for years and if you are writing professional text in english the Pro version is definitely worth its price.

I have been using Duolingo for years as an app on my phone to learn languages, and I keep doing it.

I believe that is a good idea to be learning a new language at any given point, and this is a good way to do it, either via the mobile app or the website.

Bitwarden is another good choice in terms of cloud-based password managers.

You will find his functionalities and interface professional, and the pro version has interesting advanced features.

Bitwarden is the best password manager if you don't want to use the cloud, and you require advanced features.

You can browse his dozens of plugins, everything very functional once you familiarise with it.

Password alert is a simple tool from Google that nudges you if you are using the same password that you have on Google, for other websites.

Very simple but effective, a must have on Chrome browser.

haveibeenpwned.com is a website that offers the service of monitoring your email addresses for known leakages.

Basically what you need to do is just to insert your address in the website, and it will inform you wether your email address has been leaked in known breaches.

IP Whois & Flags Chrome & Websites Rating is a Chrome extension with many features.

It's a good way to verify websites reputation and get Whois information with a single click.