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Single Shot Improvements

The holy grails of productivity are things you can do once, and get permanent benefits forever because of it.

This typically involves setting up automations, purchasing items or services,

Finances​

  • Set up automatic bill payments
  • Set up automatic monthly/weekly investment deposits
  • Set up recurring purchases for consumables and toiletries
  • Create a source of passive income

Health​

  • Set up automatic grocery delivery

Sleep​

  • Buy a weighted blanket (note after a few months - weighted blankets are kind of annoying since they're so heavy ... Might not be for everyone)
  • Remove light sources from bedroom
  • Set up automatic smart lights. Turn on in the morning for a natural wake up.

Online​

  • Delete irrelevant apps from your phone
  • Unsubscribe from irrelevant emails
  • Unsubscribe from irrelevant youtube channels, subreddits, etc.
  • Delete social media apps/accounts that don't provide you value
  • Set up automatic computer backups
  • Get an adblocker (uBlock origin is the best)
  • Get sponsorblock to automatically skip sponsored sections of videos.
  • Use the the program "Task Scheduler" built into windows (or get a linux/mac equivalent). It lets you schedule events to occur automatically, either on a schedule, or in response to another event on your computer such as logging on, or if the computer is idle for more than XX minutes. There are probably more user friendly 3rd party applications if it seems a bit scary. Anyway, here are some ideas:
    • Automatically enable a screen dimmer program at 9 PM
    • Automatically put the computer to sleep at 11:30 PM

Free Virtual Assistants​

Make your computer do things for you

Tabby - Closes unused browser tabs automatically

  • Designed to keep a about 5 tabs open at one time.

DropIt - Powerful, free, open source file management & automation software.

  • Automatically unzip files when downloaded, and then delete zip file automatically.
  • Automatically move and sort files as soon as they are downloaded
  • Delete files that haven't been opened for X days
  • Scan folders for old files to delete.

Everything: Search every file on your entire computer instantaneously. Don't even try using default Windows search, it is very slow compared to Everything.

TreeFileSize - Shows you the largest files on your device, and which folders contain the most data. Easily lets you locate and delete large and unnecessary files.

Home​

  • Smart Lighting If you follow a routine, you can set lights to turn on and off at particular times of the day, so you don't ever have to hit a light switch again. Most also let you choose different colors or brightness values.
    • In the morning, my bedroom light turns on at 6 AM to 1% brightness, which simulates a sunrise, and helps me naturally wake up
    • Once I've woken up, at 7:30 AM, my light turns bright blue which is supposed to be good for setting your circadian. It is no substitute for getting outside though.
    • At 10 PM, my lights turn off, and my hallway light turns red at 1% brightness so I can see where I'm going at night without ruining my sleep
  • Smart Plugs Make your stupid devices smart. Turn them on and off from a distance.
    • Turn your kettle on at a certain time in the morning
    • Turn lamps on and off
    • Christmas lights
    • Turn 3D printers on and off remotely
    • Restart your wifi router remotely
    • You can probably think of a bunch more use cases