What if you’re working only on 20% of your true capabilities?

What if there was a tool out there that could automate your most boring tasks? How about one that can tell you exactly where your precious time is going? Or one that makes coding funnier?

Let’s dig into these tools and see which ones can make the most impact in your coding life this year.

Timely

Analyzing your time is the secret power of 2021. It means discovering how much you’re productive and where all your precious time is going.
With a tool like Timely, an AI will work behind the scenes to track your work on your computer. Discover how much of your time is going on each website, desktop app, or looking at kittens on Youtube.

An example of Timely tracking your time

My results were shocking. Thanks to a tool like this, I realized how much time I waste every day and how I could earn a lot more as a writer if I put in the effort instead of getting distracted by dumb stuff.

CodeStream

You don’t need to open a pull request or jump on a quick call if you want to share your code. With CodeStream, you can supercharge your development speed by putting a collaboration tool right in your IDE.
This tool supports pull requests, issue management, and even code discussions directly in your code environment. Finally, you will avoid that dull context switch we all hate as developers.

Github Copilot

Apparently, you will never code alone anymore, as AI supports is the future. With this alpha-phase project, you get an AI support straight into your IDE, giving you suggestions for lines or even entire functions.
Over that, Copilot also converts your comments into working code, automates repetitive tasks for you, and suggests you tests for your code.
The single, most mind-blowing change to how we code I’ve ever seen in my life.

Tuple

Using Slack or Zoom is not terrible for pair programming, but if you own a mac, you can get way better. With Tuple, you level up your pandemic pair-programming game by getting features like remote control, low-latency connection, and a block of all noisy notifications.

F.lux

Your bright computer screen may look fabulous during the day, but not so much at night, especially for your sleep cycle. F.lux prevents your computer from ruining your sleep schedule and your eyes by adjusting the screen brightness during the day, lighter in the morning, darker and warmer at night.

Just set up the tool, and F.lux will do the rest!

F.lux brightness regulation

Cold Turkey

Cold Turkey is a pure discipline built straight up in your computer. For a specified amount of time you choose, it blocks games, applications, and even internet access, making it impossible for you not to focus.

Maybe not the best thing at first, but your future self will thank you.

Notion

The beauty of this note-taking app stands in its power. You can mold each one of your notes into whatever you wish: Kanban boards, graphs, inline calendars, tables. Notion is hard to master, but once you master the tool, you officially turn into a powerful level 10 creator.

I created a full custom template for devs in just 5 minutes using Notion.

Habitica

Gamify your activities and turn your life into a role-playing game. With Habitica, you level up your avatar and earn armors, skins, and objects every time you complete a task in your life.

You can even fight in-game bosses with other Habitica users!

An example of how your life can turn into an RPG with Habitica.

Conclusion

The best part about discovering new tools is to let them impact our lives positively. Hopefully, this article has helped you discover something you didn’t know, and it will change the way you work in a more productive way from now on.

— Piero