14 tools to help you make the most of your mornings

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.

Here are some of the support tools I relied on this morning to get work done.

9:00 a.m. Sunsama | Map out my day

Sunsama prompts me to prioritize projects and tasks and allocate time for them on my calendar. Sometimes I prefer doing this ritual on paper before I open my laptop to avoid getting distracted by email.

9:10 a.m. Bloks | Prep for meetings

Bloks provides a short background brief about the people I’m meeting with. It draws on LinkedIn to summarize their primary interests and links to my prior meeting notes. I also use Bloks to transcribe and summarize meetings.

9:20 a.m. Lazy | Create quick notes

Lazy lets me create notes quickly out of anything I’m working on. I tap a quick keyboard shortcut to save any email, article, video, or anything else into a note, with a link back to its source.

9:30 a.m. Raycast | Launch apps, add reminders, and more.

Raycast is a multipurpose app I use to do any of 100 little things quickly. I invoke it with a shortcut to add reminders or calendar items, start a timer, calculate something, or grab text from my clipboard—without leaving the work I’m doing.

9:40 a.m. Camo | Fix my camera setup for meetings

Camo improves the quality of my camera video for online meetings. It allows me to adjust the camera zoom, background and color balance for a more professional look. It can also replace a Webcam with a phone or other camera.

9:45-10:30 a.m. | Around, Zoom, and Google Meet

Around is the app I prefer for private online meetings. More often I’m in Zoom or Google Meet, because those are popular platforms at my workplace.

10:30 a.m. Wakeout | Take a stretch break

Wakeout helps me take quick exercise breaks. I don’t belong to a gym, nor do I have space in my apt or office for workout gear. So I like that Wakeout requires no equipment. It shows simple gifs I can imitate to get a quick burst of cardio.

10:40 a.m. Superhuman | Wrestle with email

Superhuman is the email app I rely on to read, reply, and compose messages. Email overwhelms me some days w/ hundreds of daily messages I want to act on. So I appreciate the keyboard shortcuts & snippets that help w/ efficiency.

11:00 a.m. Alfred | Copy text from my clipboard

Alfred is a helper app I use to grab text or images I’ve cut or copied—even weeks ago. It lets me paste that material into an email, a Google Doc, or anywhere else. I use this 10 times a day. I also use Text Blaze, which works across platforms.

11:10 a.m. Calm | Take a Pause

Calm and Headspace are my go-to apps for brief mindfulness breaks. I listen with my old Sony WH-1000XM3 noise-cancelling headphones to block out work sounds and to step out of the rush of New York City.

11:20 a.m. Reminders | Keep track of tasks

Apple’s Reminders app helps me organize my to-dos. Having tried many fancier task apps, I’ve returned to the simplest. I use it to capture anything I need to act on, often with my voice. I also use it to save lists of ideas, books, and groceries.

11:30 a.m. Day One. Journal to reflect

Day One is a simple app for journaling on my phone or laptop. It’s a dedicated space where I can reflect on the work I’m doing, the people I’m talking with, my raw ideas, and my feelings. I don’t always do it daily, but I’m aiming to.

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.

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