Tag Archives: life hack

Distraction-Free Writing With WriteMonkey Comments

I love writing. It sustains me. But no matter how satisfying writing is, Internet access practically guarantees distraction. Oh sure, I could choose not to connect. But Google and Wikipedia are just too useful for grabbing those quick bits of information. But then “I’ll just check my email,” “I’ll just retweet this,” or “I wonder if Nedroid updated yet.” One thing leads to another, and oh wow look, I’ve lost four hours and I seem to have opened thirty Wikipedia tabs on Marvel super heroes. Great.

If only there were a minimalistic text editor for Windows that could keep me focused, but retained the features that are actually important to my productivity.

I’d like to introduce you to WriteMonkey. It’s a scaled-down text editor that runs in full screen mode so you can concentrate on your writing. It’s like a little home office for your operating system.

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Published:
November 28, 2009 – 12:37 am
Author:
By J. Mattocks

2 Hrs * 10 Yrs = Mastery Comments

Several months ago I read some words online saying that, with two hours of practice every day for ten years, we can master virtually any skill. Sure, it’s really just a contemporary rewording of the old-as-dirt axiom “practice makes perfect.” But its definite numbers (two hours, ten years) make it seem more concrete, and thus more attainable. Since then, I’ve been trying to decide what I would devote that much of my life to. Fiction writing? Freerunning?

If you’ve been around me at all since I read this, I’ve probably asked you this question: What would you choose to master with two hours every day for ten years? Here’s a bigger question I keep asking myself: why am I not doing this yet? Maybe I just want to be semi-competent at too many things to focus so much time on any one of them. In the words of the great Robert A. Heinlein, “Specialization is for insects.”

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Published:
November 12, 2008 – 1:53 am
Author:
By J. Mattocks

Lifehacker Tribute: The Software List Comments

Lifehacker is one of the best blogs out there. Go. Subscribe. I think that’s all the introduction they need.

The thing about Lifehacker is that they basically make me download a lot of software. By now, I’ve accumulated many Lifehacker-advised applications that I could never give up. In honor of Lifehacker, here are five applications that you need as well. Most of these have been featured on Lifehacker.

Launchy

Every real nerd knows that keyboards can usually be faster than mice. But in the realm of program launching on a Windows OS, the keyboard has been usurped. I mean, who’s really going to use “Run” instead of the programs menu? But no longer. Taking a cue from the Mac OS, Launchy brings the task of quickly launching applications back to the keyboard where it belongs.

I don’t know how I ever lived without it.

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Published:
February 3, 2007 – 6:44 pm
Author:
By J. Mattocks