Ask HN: What is the best way to spend $1000 to improve your productivity? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the best way to spend $1000 to improve your productivity?

37 pointsbcx42 comments

Most of us have been working at home for a year, I am curious what you all have invested in to improve your productivity on a budget.

For example I bought Airpod pros ($199), which made it more convenient to do more meetings walking around outside, which has helped me get more exercise and has helped my focus. I also bought a stack of spiral notebooks for $11.99 so I could easily sketch out ideas. If my budget was $1000 that would leave me ~$775, how should I invest the remaining balance to enhancing my own productivity?

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Supplements have been really fun. For example, 2:1 L-Theanine to Caffeine, especially after a nap, is like productivity medicine for me.

I bought a shelf stereo system and keep it turned on at low volume while I work, and it's nice to randomly hear an old song I like, or a new song I like. Local FM is handy during emergencies here too, and it even seems like about 1/4 of the ads are PSAs or local announcements from NPOs, government agencies with helpful info, etc.

I also bought a scanner radio and enjoy listening to local radio traffic on breaks.

I bought some desk mats that I like, and I prefer looking at them rather than my desktop, which is an old banquet table from 2000 (newer tempered glass desk is too cold in the winter).

Regarding stationery, I picked up some horizontal shelving for pens and pencils, and bought a bunch of fountain pens, watercolor pencils, highlighters, and so on...a lot of fun for doodling on those long calls.

Finally I bought an /r/cheapkeys keyboard, then another...anyway, long story short I learned some basic chord progressions for jamming purposes, and now I have a keyboard collection. It's been a lot of fun. (I learned the keyboard solo from "All of My Love" by Led Zeppelin and I swear it was one of the highlights of 2020, amidst all the darkness)

Anyway I'm a bit weird in that I find that enjoyable interests and values-based living is where productivity goes to recuperate and regroup before reaching higher highs. Good luck to you.

I agree, I'll take a small spoon of pre-workout late morning to keep myself awake.

Sounds funny but it works like a charm.

What's a pre workout? Which one do you use?

> Supplements have been really fun. For example, 2:1 L-Theanine to Caffeine, especially after a nap, is like productivity medicine for me.

Add some N-acetyl-L-tyrosine for even more focus: https://www.vitacost.com/jarrow-formulas-n-acetyl-tyrosine

Here are some ideas (and US prices):

1) Nespresso coffee machine. Can get a good one for < $200

2) Autonomous standing desk. Base model $399

3) Trackpad. Nice addition to the mouse. E.g. $129 from Apple.

4) Second monitor. I personally find this convenient. A decent one will cost you under $300.

5) Tablet. Useful for when you are too tired to sit or stand. Good for reading docs or whitepapers, for example. $329 for a base model iPad.

6) Faster internet. A few bucks added to your monthly bill.

> Faster internet. A few bucks added to your monthly bill.

A few bucks? Yeah, right.

On civilised countries without cartels such as the US, yes.

Canadian duopoly reporting in...

I really like my coffee maker, which is De'Longhi EC685M. Easy to handle, no wasteful cups, great coffee. In the US it seems a tad more expensive (300 USD) But a great machine.

Here's some free/low cost suggestions...

1. Listen to all of 10 hours of rain and thunder on Youtube whilst working every day. I get into a state of flow much easier listening to that than practically anything else.

2. Text important people in your life to say you're offline until lunch and then turn your phone off and put it in a drawer.

3. Get a water jug so you don't have to keep getting up to fill your glass of water.

4. Create an alternative profile in Chrome or Firefox without your usual social profiles and add a site blocker blocking social media to it.

5. Print 4 rows of 10 boxes on a piece of paper and tick a box for every hour you successfully do work without distractions and put a cross for every hour that you are distracted. If you hit 40 hours without distractions give yourself a prize.

For point 4, I'd go further and use a separate user account/computer. Nothing private on work account, not even email or a single news site. That has helped me draw the line easier: to procrastinate or answer any private message I have to either use my phone or boot up another computer.

On the water jug I disagree though, I think it's good idea to get up from the chair every now and then even if only to fill the water glass.

I'd personally skip point 3. Refilling my glass is a perfect way to remember to take regular breaks to get away from my desk for a few minutes.

If you’re currently hunched over a laptop, high quality monitor and keyboard make a big difference.

If you’re sitting on something crappy, a used high-end chair.

If you’re sitting on something nice, a convertible sit-stand desk.

I was struggling because of terrible eyesight, and the ergonomics. I used to have an IPS monitor that used to fatigue my eyes a ton.

I also have a cheapo Cherry MX Blues (TVS gold) and a Logitech G402 mouse. Ergonomics and eye sore was killing me.

I sold off that monitor, got a decent 24in 1080p LG monitor with a TN Panel with VESA compatibility, Height extensions and boom all the eye fatigues have basically gone along with the shoulder pain.

Yerba mate tea is stronger than study drugs for me and provides nearly instant high intensity focus. Its not terribly fun or enjoyable, but by far the easiest/cheapest cheat code for productivity. I really only drink it when I need to power through a few hours of something I don't want to do. Tea is $12 for 2lbs, and the cup/straw is about $15.

Similarly, exercise is great for productivity and spending money so that you enjoy it is worth it. Gym membership, bike, weights, etc gives you months or years of productivity boosts.

Does anyone have good experience using a wacom tablet to replace paper/whiteboard? I tried using an ipad but it's not quite the same. It's too small and there's no way to directly integrate with desktop (I'm on linux).

The big thing with Wacom tablets is that it takes a long time to get used to them. Your writing appears on the screen, so you have to get used to the feeling of writing blind.

Maybe a rocket book?

longtime wacom user here. ipad pro is far better.

The remarkable 2 tablet is a good (though expensive) device for writing. It feels quite a bit like paper and the different writing instruments you can select make for a lot of choice even in doodling/sketching stuff. You can also use it to take notes on a PDF you are reading etc.

Give this money to your friend, ask them only to give you back if you complete certain task before deadline.

I would first suggest improving your monitor situation.

I often find myself in a situation where there is a single application that I want to focus on (be it the terminal, a document, etc.) with some reference material (browser, other document, etc.) that I need. The ability to have even these two windows visible, together, without needing to alt-tab between them has been a big win.

Take a holiday! Rent a remote cabin in the woods, or fly (drive?) to a sunny destination. After last year you need to recharge your batteries!

I would spend it to have a perfect home office. 1. Probably for desk, an adjustable-height standing desk would be great so I can alternate my position throughout the day. 2. Customized chair that will suit any home color scheme. Everything from the headrest to the seat height and angle can be adjusted. 3. Accessories such as second monitor, cabinets, and a desk lamp.

Not necessarily a Productivity improvement, but invest into Ergonomics:

1) I like the Logitech MX Vertical ~100 USD

2) some mechanical or ergonomic keyboard

3) monitor

And your other colleagues/ customers will thank you: decent camera and even more important, a good microphone for the meetings were you cannot walk around a lot.

This one is free, but if you're on a mac try using amethyst wm[1], firefox with tridactyl[2] and keep work in the cli with something like tmux.

I've been experimenting with it for a week and I'm amazed how much not reaching for the mouse keeps me in the flow. If you're on linux obviously something like i3wm would work the same

[1] https://ianyh.com/amethyst/ [2] https://github.com/tridactyl/tridactyl

You can absolutely spend $1000 on Tridactyl if you want [1] :)

The main reason Tridactyl is still developed is because some people pay for it. Without them, I wouldn't be able to afford to.

[1]: https://github.com/sponsors/bovine3dom

Good point! Thanks for all the effort! Btw do you have some notification when someone mentions the project?

You're welcome! Tridactyl has lots of contributors so I shouldn't take all the credit : )

I do use a notification service: https://f5bot.com/

It's _really_ useful for hearing about bugs or issues that I would otherwise miss.

#1 item to improve productivity is a quality mattress

Maybe take an adventure or experience that leaves you with utter awe

If you have access to a community with thinkers you respect: put up a challenge where you thoroughly detail the music/ books/ideas that changed your life or strongly empower your perception of it. If somebody recommends another worthy one they win the prize. But the important detail with this plan is that this would only work if the community already gets joy out of doing the recommendation by itself for free. The money is more just an excuse to start a “contest”

Personally can't live without a high quality monitor. I use a single 42' Dell. It gives me the most productivity for the buck having a single space for every window, terminal and editor.

if you already have a modern/decent computer,

  - get as much RAM, as fast as your BIOS allow.
  - swap your drive for a nvme.
  - get a better/bigger 4k ( or even 5k ) monitor.
  - get a nice "cloud storage" data backup plan ( i like wasabi ).
  - have some reserved money to buy a new machine "on the spot" when you main machine dies on you.

For writing, a portable mechanical typewriter. None of a computer's infinite distractions. Cordless. As direct as pen and paper. Cost toward the stack of spiral notebooks end of the scale.

It filled a hole I didn't even know was there. I can completely wrap my head around it. The only downside is how crappy computer keyboards feel after thwacking on it for a few minutes.

Standing desk + monitors.

Or whatever you need to make home office setup better as offices are not opening anytime soon.

I would spend it all on one monitor

Far from the whole $1000 but I bought a monitor arm and a second screen. I really like the monitor arm, as it allows me to use more space on my desk.

I also bought a Bluetooth headset but I'm considering buying a real, big microphone to ease meetings.

I've been eyeing a curved monitor, but not sure if it's worth it relative to a 27" Dell monitor. I'm not a gamer fwiw.

I had 2 Apple 27" Thunderbolt displays that I've had since 2013.

Over the holidays I replace it wit a Samsung CRG9 49" 32:9 curved display.

A single big curved display is much better than 2 flat monitors. Without the break in the middle is much easier to position windows in the middle of your field of view. I have my main window in the middle and my reference windows on the sides.

I think curved is worth it on the bigger ultrawides. It feels a lot more natural.

I also like how nice an ultrawide is compared to 2 separate monitors.

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