Quick Tip to Boost Your Productivity
February 17th, 2008If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. You can also sign up for my extremely popular FREE newsletter by clicking HERE. Thanks for visiting!
I’m on major drive to improve my productivity at the moment, as I’m determined to get more work done while spending less time at my PC.
I’m trying a few new things to speed up my performance, but one thing has boosted my productivity like no other, and I really wanted to share…
If you’re reading this and happen to have a desktop AND a laptop, then this tip is for you!
I’ve recently taken deliveryof a new PC, and have set this up in my home office with the laptop beside it. The advantage of this is I can work on the new PC, but I can also have some applications running on the laptop as well.
This doesn’t sound like a big improvement, but trust me when I say that I’m literally amazed how much more work this allows me to get done.
You can see some pictures below…
Yesterday I discovered a cool tool that makes this setup even more juicy. It’s call Synergy and it allows you to control two computers with just one keyboard and mouse.
So when you have it running, you can move the mouse off one screen, and it automatically pops up on the other!
The keyboard also changes with the mouse too, so if you navigate to your laptop with your mouse, you will also find that the keyboard works over there as well
If you do happen to have a laptop and a PC then give this a try today. You’ll be amazed at how much more work you get done in the same period of time!
Popularity: 30% [?]
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ...
By Carol Smith on Feb 17, 2008 | Reply
Great setup. Beats the heck out of having several windows open at a time and jumping back and forth between them. Don’t know if I can get another monitor worked into my “desk next to my recliner” but I may just have to try.
By Mark McWilliams on Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
You’ll be able to POWER through all your work now!
I really wouldn’t mind a new PC myself, this thing that I’m on has thrown more errors than you’d suspect…and I’m surprised that it still works!
Looking forward to your next product using the beast.
Thanks
Mark
By Hugh Fraser on Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Loving the setup Lee, Brialliant.
Hugh Fraser
By Internet Business Blogger on Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
As a computer tech I have in the past worked on three or four computers at the same time. It is funny how your mind will look at the screen of another computer and automatically switch gears to what you are doing on that computer.
I sometimes think that this is one of the great advantages of using dual monitors, your mind looks at each monitor as a separate set of tasks.
By Brendan on Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Synergy looks brilliant. I use one monitor shared between my laptop and desktop PC and it seems, from the Synergy FAQs, this setup is not yet supported. It may be time to re-organise my workspace to take full advantage of the 2nd monitor. Thanks for the tip.
By James Dyson on Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Nice setup Lee. I keep meaning to post some pics of my setup to my blog but it’s good to see someone else making use of the dual system/screen idea.
I’ve got one main system which I use everyday and this has two monitors hooked up to it. When I recently bought a mac mini and took one of the monitors to use on that temporarily I was amazed how much my productivity slowed! It really is so handy having a couple of screens so you can build a website and test at the same time, or have more space for those annoying toolbars in Photoshop.
Needless to say I soon shelled out for another monitor for the mac to get me back to my usual two-screen setup.
Keep up the good work
By Peggy Baron on Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
Hey Lee,
Where’s all the other “stuff”?
You know - scraps of paper with inspirational ideas you’ve jotted down, a coffee cup (or two), pens, WF posts so good they had to be printed out, etc?
Peggy
By John Szram on Feb 19, 2008 | Reply
Great idea! Thanks for the tip!
I use my laptop and desktop together all the time but Synergy had passed under my radar. Thanks for the recommendation, I’m off to check it out!
John Szram
By Reward Rebel on Feb 21, 2008 | Reply
Yep, I use my PC and laptop at the same time, and am looking into Synergy, it sounds a great idea. Like James Dyson mentions above, two monitors are really handy when updating websites, and using two processors does enable us to be so much more productive. A round of applause for us, I think;-D
By Lee McIntyre on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
Glad everyone liked the tip!
Synergy was a bit tricky to setup, but it has been very much worth the effort.
The only problem is that looking at my 22″ monitor, and then switching my gaze to my 15″ laptop has caused my eyes to get a bit strained so I might have to rethink things.
Has anyone else experienced anything similar?
Thanks
Lee McIntyre
By Mark McWilliams on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
Why not plan on getting another 22″ monitor Lee?
There are so many other marketers that do this, well you kinda are at the moment, but I hope you get my drift…
Whenever I get a new computer and throw this stupid thing in the skip, I hope to have duel monitors.
Thanks
Mark
By Net Marketing Toolbox on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
Hey Lee
That desk is just TOO tidy! Good to see the pile of papers on the floor in the bottom pic though
Wish I had Synergy for my situation as I’m forever typing on the wrong keyboard when I go to use the ‘other’ PC - I mainly use a Mac iBook laptop and occasionally a (very low powered) Vista desktop.
So frustrating… but funny at the same time!
Cheers
Stephen Spry
P.S. A huge tip for everyone who spends forever on a computer… get your eyes checked regularly by an optometrist and get specs adjusted to suit as necessary!
By stacey king on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
By Lee McIntyre on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
Hi Stacey - I have Vista on both computers and it works just fine.
HOWEVER it was an absolute beefcake to setup!It was REALLY tricky and took me a good few hours.
Hi Stephen - Damn you saw the mess in the corner!
I did my trademarked clean up job before the photo…e.g I just swept everything onto the floor with one big sweep of the arm!
Lee McIntyre
By unknown on Feb 29, 2008 | Reply
Or you can just use Dual(or triple) monitors.
By Chris on Mar 17, 2008 | Reply
A great idea Lee, will be good to try it sometime.
Chris
By Geoff Robertson on Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
Hi Lee,
I am glad I found this post. I have started using Synergy and have found it to be very a very productive tool.
Geoff