App and book recommendations for people who want to be happier and more productive

Abstract

If somebody asks you the same question more than ten times, that’s probably a sign it’s time to write a blog post about it. So after being asked by far more than ten people about what books and resources I recommend, both for EAs more broadly and for people interested in charity entrepreneurship more specifically, here it is! After spending roughly the last 15 years optimizing nearly constantly, these are the systems and products I recommend.

If you know better versions of what I recommend, please share it in the comments! While I recommend the apps I use, I’m sure there’s ones out there that do the same thing but in a better way and I just haven’t had the time or energy to pay the switching costs yet.

APPS AND EXTENSIONS

• Game-changers. Everybody should be using these. * Video Speed Controller. This allows you to hot key change the speed of videos anywhere on Chrome. It also doesn’t limit you to 2x, which so many apps do for some reason. You’ll never (involuntarily) watch things on 1x again.
  • Clipboard history with CopyQ (Mac) or here for Windows. Absolute game changer. It remembers everything you’ve copy-pasted and you can click it from a list or use shortcut keys to paste them again in the future. Saves you so much time and hassle. It’s hard to describe how much this changes how you use your computer.
  • Switch between your two most recent tabs. Use the shortcut Alt + Q to switch between your two most recently used tabs. It’s like alt-tab but for tabs instead of windows. I can’t imagine navigating a computer without this. It feels crippling. I know that there are better ones that allow you cycle through multiple tabs, not just your most recent. If you know of one, recommend it in the comments! I just haven’t had the spare time to optimize this more.
  • Google docs quick create. Shortcut key or single click to automatically create a new google document or spreadsheet