My favorite software programs, gadgets, and other recommendations.
I'm pretty nerdy by nature, neurodivergent, and have been into mindful productivity for years. I probably spent way too much time researching different tools and products to develop software, run my business, stay productive, or distract myself from procrastinating. So, I've compiled a list of all my favorite things, I'll keep adding and removing tools I use. Some of the links are afiliate links, which means if you end up buying a paid version, I might get a kickback at no extra cost to you.
Productivity
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Obsidian
Personal Knowledge Management
Probably the single most important tool for me. Open-source PKM software, available on all platforms. Think Notion, but more flexible, and totally free.
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AudioPen
Voicenotes on steroid
AudioPen takes your raw thoughts in the form of voice notes, transcribes, rewrites and summarises them in any way you want. This completely changed my workflow. Follow the tutorial below to link it to Obsidian.
Tutorial -
Voicenotes.com
Voicenotes on steroid
Very similar to AudioPen, with a focus on capturing ideas in the moment, and an AI Chat to ask your notes anything. Can also link to Obsidian/Notion by following the tutorial above.
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Make.com
No-code automation
I use Make.com for all kinds of no-code automation, you build "flows" visually by connecting different apps. For example I use it to sync survey responses from tally.so to my CRM in folk.app. It has a free plan, and a paid plan for more advanced use cases.
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Morgen
The calendar that does it all
My hub to get things done. I keep saying 'if it's not in my calendar, it won't get done'. Morgen integrates with all calendar platforms, offers scheduling links, can load tasks from other apps, including Obsidian(!), and can auto-schedule tasks for you, based on timeblocks. Love it, been a paid user for years.
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Sunsama
Calendar meets productivity coach
I now use Morgen, but I love the idea of Sunsama. It frames your workday with a morning and evening routine to help prioritise tasks. Very opinionated tool. Reduces overwhelm and gets you to work.
Marketing
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Folk.app
CRM
The only CRM I found that actually focused on people and relationships. Super flexible, works for business as well as for your network or personal contacts, even projects. Think kanban boards for everything. With a sprinkle of AI and Chrome plugins to connect to Gmail and LinkedIn.
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Kit.com
Email and Marketing platform
I probably tried too many email platforms. Kit is the sweet spot, generous free plan, fantastic extras. Includes digital product sales and a new 'app store' to integrate and automate with other tools.
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Tally.so
Survey tool
I use Tally.so for all my surveys, it's super easy to use and has a free plan.
AI things
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Claude.ai
Text-based LLM
Still probably the most useful, most human sounding and thinking LLM I've tried. They suffered a bit from their own popularity, the usage limits are a little low these days.
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Copilot for Obsidian
Smart conversations with your notes
The most polished and 'ready to use' AI plugin for Obsidian. What was that note I made about ...? Copilot will help you find it, and more. Works with local LLMs, too.
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AudioPen
Voicenotes on steroid
AudioPen takes your raw thoughts in the form of voice notes, transcribes and summarises them, in any way you want. This completely changed my workflow.
Tutorial -
Voicenotes.com
Voicenotes on steroid
Very similar to AudioPen, with a focus on capturing ideas in the moment, and an AI Chat to ask your notes anything. Can also link to Obsidian/Notion by following the tutorial above.
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Synthesia
AI-generated video avatars
Kinda creepy, and kinda awesome. Take a 2min video of yourself and generate your own personalised AI-avatar that speaks like you. Synthesia was one of very few platforms tested that gets privacy and has a good video quality. Used for a client project.
Developer Tools
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Arc
Browser
The Arc Browser is Chrome the way it should have been built. Vertical tabs, auto-closing to reduce clutter, organised in spaces. And yes, it's got a sprinkle of AI, if you want.
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Tailwind CSS
CSS Framework
A utility-first CSS framework packed with classes like flex, pt-4, text-center and rotate-90 that can be composed to build any design, directly in your markup.
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next.js
React-based web framework
Next.js has been one of my go-to tools for years now. File-based routing, and a grat ecosystem. Fairly intense breking changes between major versions, so it takes a little work to update old projects.
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Astrojs
Static Site Generator
Astro is built for static-first websites, very simple to get started with and it uses islands to only send the JS to the browser that's absolutely needed. Nice.
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VS Code
Code Editor
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a source-code editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, Linux, and macOS