MacOS Productivity Secrets (No Apps Needed)

How can you boost your productivity when working in MacOS? Most people think it's about using the right productivity apps and tools. And as usual, most people are wrong.

The way most people use MacOS can only be described as painfully slow. No productivity software in the world will save you from your cluttered desk, wasted space, poor window management and sluggish workflow.
The best ways to work faster on your Mac are hidden plain sight and most productivity tips, articles and videos miss the point entirely. When you follow the advice in this video, other people will look like they're working in slow motion, compared to you. And all the efficiency gains are hidden in plain sight, as you will see.

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00:00 Painfully Slow
00:40 Dock Declutter
00:46 Dock Settings
01:13 Dock Exception
01:24 Use Spotlight
01:48 Faster App Switching
02:07 Less 3 Finger Swiping
02:18 No Multi Desktop
02:38 Expand Windows
02:47 Cmd + Q is Your Friend
03:14 Desktop Declutter
03:20 Folder Structure
03:48 Finder Options
04:13 Notifications
04:43 Input Devices
05:03 Touch Type
05:10 Keyboard Shortcuts
05:23 Mouse Settings
05:54 Window Tiling
06:03 Dual Screens
06:34 Smart Multitasking
07:14 Faster Browsing
07:31 Use Backups
08:03 Use a Password Manager
08:50 The Efficiency Trap

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Licenses:
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[nth]

2:24 I disagree, I have a predefined set of virtual desktops (usually no more than three) and put the apps in respective desktop based on priority. Desktop 1: most used apps (work related); desktop 2: additional apps with slightly less priority, or just an offloading space; desktop 3: personal non-work related apps, lowest priority, e.g. spotify, soundcloud, personal chrome instance.
Then switch between the desktops with ctrl + <number>, so I can go directly to desktop 3 from 1 as opposed to using ctrl + arrow keys. Using ctrl + <number> is animated faster than using arrow keys. Biggest gripe I have with Mac OS from a productivity aspect is the window management philosophy -- Try working with several browser windows with many tabs (+15), some spead out across virtual desktops, some minimized and try finding which browser tab is where - This problem Mac OS does not solve unfortunately.

[JorunnHernes]

Oh this is great! You had me at "You need more command+Q, not more productivity apps." Love it!

[mattgiaro]

BOOM! Finally a SIMPLE Mac Productivity Tutorial. It's not about the tools, it's about how you use them
Matt Giaro

PS: Loved the video – clean and simple. Keep up the great work Shane (and it's team!)

[Nad-A]

Thanks Shane,
Great advice!
Not asking me to download the greatest productivity app in the world - Perfect

[ProjectorMovement]

great video!! how would you recommend to learn to touchtype?

[BestFaceForward]

wowza, guess I've been using my mac wrong for 8 years! I definitely use the full screen option a lot, especially because it makes it extremely easy to dual screen 2 windows by just dragging them (with the 3 fingers up on trackpad).

I'm going to try not using multiple desktops, command +tab/space/Q, and see if it makes me more efficient. Also hid the dock. Interesting tips!

[richardli]

I love this video. The last tip is the most important!

[SimpleHormones]

Shane - Loved this one! Lots of great tips I plan to implement on my Mac this week. Really looking forward to sharpening my Focus and taking more Action in the next 9 weeks.

[secretsofproductmanagement]

Great tips Shane! I still have too many tabs, but I'm aligned on everything else. Two more tips I've found valuable. 1) Use a keyboard Accelerator. I use Typinator but would choose Text Expander if I were doing it again. It fixes most of my typos and I've told it many shortcuts I use on a daily basis to get things done that little bit faster - like typing today's date for me. 2) Turn off most notifications on your phone as well.

[DenisQuentinSimon]

This video is excellent and combines at least 5 years of learning across the web to use a mac better !

[acknelspence]

I find your video to be extremely insightful. You have helped me significantly. I have implemented all the suggestions that you have provided in this video and i have no regrets.

[driver]

1:50. There is a huge BUT to this. Yes. I use finder to open basically everything but I have worked in the IT industry as a consultant for over 25 years at this point and regular desk jockeys don’t know what the apps they use are even called. So they have to have their most used apps as icons in the Dock/Taskbar regardless of OS.

Us power users can work this way for sure. But not the majority of computer users… sometimes what’s obvious to us isn’t at all obvious for all users. Supporting users for a quarter of a century have taught me this…

[mattsoll]

Thank you, Magnet was what I was looking for!

[dr.mikeybee]

Nice! Alfred also lets you use command command to start it.

[nmbr]

I'm tired of being productive, self optimizing, becoming more efficient ... did this for years - I felt good, but striving for perfection made me sick ... I don't care anymore and sometimes just enjoy doing silly things and doing them slowly.

But whatever: These are some simple and helpful tips - and thereby imho very valuable (I happened to just watch a video about how to be more productive before ... this was recommending to use tmux and vim ... I think I prefer to start with your advices 😅).

High quality video and very good content!

My "productivity secret" to learn keyboard shortcuts: I don't sit and learn them. It's boring and that way you learn a ton of shortcuts you'll never need. When I start using a new app, I use the menu - but I never click the item with the mouse, but use the shortcut shown in that moment. It feels a bit stupid, as the function I need is just a click away in this moment ... but this way I learn the shortcuts - and I learn exactly those I use most often very quickly.

[scottd]

Very good tips. You nailed it and glad to see I am doing all of it (learned from several other YouTubers and books)

[mepc.d]

This is what I was looking for. Thanks for the tutorial

[joanbell]

Thanks Shane, excellent tips and perfect for me right now.

[tvojt]

Thanks Shane, great tips. Do you know how to switch windows (with a keyboard shortcut) within the app when the app in in full mode view and I have more windows of the app opened? If it is not in full mode view, then it is Command + ¨, but it does not work if in full mode view. Thanks a lot!

[kerimtim]

The most annoying thing that freak me out in mac are Delays!
There is actually no way you can disable them, why do I ever want to have an animation that takes 0.5 second to minimize or maximize an app