What are some things(or ways) that you use to save time or get things done efficiently? Especially things that would be useful for many and are currently less popular.

It astonishes me how many people in a professional setting don’t even know alt + tab
- Alt + tab is the best
You don't notice the speed in hot keys as you build your familiarity with them, but after years of learning them, it's now painful to watch a good portion of coworkers use computers, as it feels like watching in slow motion.
The mouse dragging, the hunting for menu items, dragging the mouse back to where you were, over and over. It can really add up.
In the same vein, learning to create even basic macros and putting them on hotkeys, either in Office or something like AutoHotkey. There are likely things you go through the same motions to do daily, weekly, etc. Record the steps as a macro.
My old job had basic data formatting from generated reports and then saving the cleaned files to a specific name format and uploading them. Tedious and boring work. I created macros, and all the work was done in less time than it would take to type the filenames. Turned hours of work into seconds.
Indeed.
On windows, there's the three finger Maximise and Minimise along with the alt + tab equivalent swipe, which I think is not really popular among many. Laptop users could save some time with that.
Any rare/useful shortcuts that you like/would teach others?
- Amazing how many folk don't automatically press ctrl/s as a matter of habit in Office
- I hate it when I accidentally use the three finger thing when I'm two fingering around on a blueprint. I tried to use it and it works fine to minimize everything but it doesn't seem to bring things back up in order so it messes with my alt tab. Useless to me.

I wrote software scripts that help me at my job and save time. I had taken the course CS50 which is free from Harvard/edx, and that was enough for my purposes. But I've also seen people recommend the book "automate the boring stuff"

I had a retail job years back where part of my work was processing incoming freight and putting it in the inventory system. I set up a spreadsheet that helped me format the entries for the actual system. My boss kinda hated it, like "you're adding extra steps it's a waste". Never did convince them it was saving me time and wrist health, had to use it in secret
Another boss I had actively tried to get me to stop using a spreadsheet to track my time and instead update their time tracking system on every task. I could either spend a couple seconds slapping in a spreadsheet entry and have it auto fill in the time spent since the last entry and bulk copy in the day to the time tracking system as part of me leaving for the day, or I could spend a minute fucking with the time tracking system every few minutes of work
At my current job my boss caught wind of me setting up a way to abstract our build system for dedicated types of builds. Instead of trying to get me to stop I was asked to present it to the team and help other people build little tools like it for their own uses. Feels a lot better
- What is your current profession?
Not one, not two, but three relevant XKCDs!
Cool. Thank you for the links.

Know what you want to buy before going into a store, stick to your guns. Unless you want to dilly dally, it saves time.

Organize your stuff, makes finding things much faster. Adam Savage had a good tip: Befor you put something away, pretend you’re looking for it and put it where your first thought was. Next time you look for it, it’s in a natural spot for you.

I've often fantasized about a clothing store where you give them your measurements beforehand, and just walk in and yell, "ONE PAIR OF PANTS, TWO SHIRTS!!" and they run and get it for you and get you out of there in under 10 seconds like a formula 1 pit stop

Roomba.

Learn what the software or device you’re using can do. There’s often so much productivity packed in, you don’t even know what you’re missing.

For example code editors like VSCode or Sublime Text have easy ways to select and work on multiple lines/words at the same time that can make work SO much more productive and fast, it’s like magic. I see other people doing things line by line and it takes ages.

Microwaves have all kinds of presets that people rarely use. Read the manual and try them out.

I use VSCodium and other then bulk comment / uncomment and renaming I'm not sure what you're talking about.
I'd love some examples to help improve.
- It’s hard to explain in words. I quickly searched for a video about it and this one shows the basics pretty good: https://youtu.be/w3JCjsIOMdM?si=-dS-m940AGHFgCG-
  Sublime Text is a bit more powerful in that regard (and also more performant with very large files) which is why I still keep it installed even though I switched to VSCode long time ago. I guess Vim can do even more but I can’t get myself to learn it well.
- If you select some text then use CTRL+D, the editor will search the next match in the file and add it to your selection, and whenever you type something both of the selected segments of text will be edited in the same way - you can extend the selections with SHIFT+LEFT and SHIFT+RIGHT.
  It's hard to explain in an intuitive way, but you'll get it if you try it.
  Another simpler example is CTRL+SHIFT+UP and CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN: your current selection splits to the next line in either direction.
  Something similar happens with CTRL+SHIFT+MOUSE_LEFT.
There's also stuff like autohotkey

When you do a task with multiple steps several times, do each step for everything at once, before moving to the next step. As opposed to doing all steps for each item and repeating.

Example: slicing apples requires splitting, coring, and slicing. It is faster to split all apples, core all apples, and finally slice all apples than it is to split, core, and slice each apple before moving to the next. You basically want to manufacture your slices in an assembly line.

I use a similar process for laundry. Throw likes into piles. Turn each pile right side out. Stack. Fold. I've heard people complain about laundry. I've seen the same people pull shirts out of the dryer one at a time and fold them.

Customizing your keyboard. The biggest one is mapping capslock to control. How often do you use the former vs the latter? Try pressing ctrl+t vs capslock+t. Now think about how many new tabs you make in a day.

I also map right alt to escape, left ctrl to alt, and left alt to a third layer I use for global vimmy keys (e.g. hjkl)

What do you use to do this?
- Depends on the OS. On windows, Powertoys. On linux, evremap and xkb. I also used to use xmodmap. But these days I have a Keychron with Qmk, so I can flash my config to firmware and it works everywhere
bE SURE TO TURN IT OFF FIRST

Got that spinning type of mop and mopping has become a bit easier.

Bissell makes a machine (There's probably competitors by now) that's kind of like a carpet cleaning machine and vacuum in one for sweeping and mopping in one go.

It's pretty nice, I just need to pick up big things off the floor and it handles the rest, without any need to sweep beforehand, I love it

Spinning mop is a game-changer! It's also great for washing walls. And you can get replacement mop heads, which is great for separating the super icky from the mild cleaning jobs.

I want to order one now, you mean these ones?
- yes!! in my area we have O Cedar. life changing. you can get extra mop heads so much cheaper on eBay btw
- Mine is also O'Cedar like what the other person said, but it looks the same.

Get a night family and make them do all your work. Just make sure to:

Rinse your dishes. Seriously, it's easy and makes them so much easier to wash later.

it was scrape. they were not even asking for a rinse.

Toothbrushing when taking a showwr, and using two bars of soap yo wash myself akimbo style.

Bluetooth themometer for food so i can jusy stick it in and wait till its right and done, no more constantly checking.

Robot vaccum has saved me a lot of time vaccuming.

Airfryer has significanrly cut down my time cooking too.

your akimbo soap method reminds me of that one daniel radcliffe movie in which he gets two guns nailed to his hands.
- Guns Akimbo!!! I love that movie.
Toothbrushing when taking a showwr
That's a lot of wasted freshwater

Do some dishes while waiting for the microwave or toaster in the morning

Hey there, here are some things I do:

I started using Obsidian notes a while back and have two weekly notes for a weekly plan/schedule, and a menu & grocery list. Each week I spend a little time (maybe an hour total) on Sundays making a dinner menu and getting the groceries listed, and then planning my week. Every morning I look at and edit the weekly schedule note, and it really has helped me be more aware of my daily priorities, which seems to make things more efficient.

I'm also always trying to find ways to become more efficient, and I think there is really something to be said for taking the time at the beginning of whatever the goal or project is (i.e. grocery shopping, planning the week, working on a project, cooking, etc.). When I cook, I've begun getting all the necessary ingredients and cookware out ahead and setting them in order, then it all goes so much more smoothly. When I get my groceries, I take a minute in the car and sort the items by their location along the path I take through the store. (This is far easier on a notes app than with pen & paper! and I've also become a skilled WinCo shopper over the course of time).

I usually have some small boxes (diaper boxes are best), around the house and I'll save one for a trash box in the car. I put it behind the center console of the car with a plastic bag in it so I always have a place for putting the trash. Creating a place for things makes all the difference in the world.

The last thing that I'm trying to do more is practicing a quick 1-4 minute tidy in whatever room I'm in depending on the task. I'll throw something away, notice something is on the floor and put it away, do a quick sweep or vacuum, etc. But that's it. It's quick but useful. It seems to be going fairly well so far. Little cluster piles begin showing up and it's helped to become aware of what I do with stuff once I'm done, which is usually totally unconscious. Anyway, short bursts of tidying make the place much easier to keep clean, rather than what has typically happened, which is clutter building up and a whole few hours are needed to just get the place tidy, and then I can start doing the actual deeper cleaning.

I think the goal for me is instead of only trying to find tips & tricks, is to over time focus on becoming someone who is more efficient as a characteristic.

Hope this helps!

Interesting idea using 2 weekly notes. I personally use daily notes, but it is too limiting for things such a groceries or planning.(daily is better for introspection worse for planning).
If your comfortable sharing could I see the general format for your weekly notes?
- Totally. I'll PM you.

As a general rule :

Never doing stuff that will take care of itself. Since the dishes want to dry themselves, it'd be really rude to prevent them from doing so by manually wiping them.
Minimising the time spent in pointless effort for things that will need to be undone. So never making my bed, only folding clothes that really need folding and that I won't use soon, etc.

Random stuff :

When cooking, making food for several meals at a time.
Using a rice cooker (or other appliances that cook food for you and that you don't need to watch).
Using several laundry bags, one for each type of laundry program or liquid, so that it's already pre-sorted and I can see easily if there's enough in one bag for a wash. It avoids going through everything only to find there's not enough black clothes/white clothes/delicate clothes/towels/bedsheets/whatever for a laundry.
Never using laundry clips. They take too long to put and remove. Instead I use hangers and S hooks, and for the small items that can't be hung on hooks and won't stay on hangers like gloves and socks, I just dump them on a shelf made of metal bars (there's folding ones you can put on a radiator).
After doing laundry, leaving clothes I will probably wear soon where they hang instead of folding them and putting them in their place only to have to take them out later.
Having a "to put in bathroom" and "to put in kitchen" basket where I put stuff I need to put back in the bathroom and kitchen, so I don't have to walk there for every item.
Not putting a duvet in a cover because it's very tiring and I really hate doing it. Instead I sandwich it between two larger bedsheets.

On my computer :

Keybinding every frequent apps and actions, rofi almost everything else (apps, ssh, file browser in some cases, calculator, unit converter). Saves a lot of time, pain and aggravation by not clicking so much all the time.
Using 'vim -y' for simple text editing cause I don't have months to spare learning regular vim, or years reconfiguring emacs' shorcuts, just to take some notes or make an ASCII drawing. And nano's shortcuts make my brain hurt almost as much as emacs make my hands hurt. (To be fair, I probably would save more time in the long run by just learning vim but my brain starts going "NOOOPE I'm on strike" whenever I consider doing it ^_")
I'm considering trying NixOS because I keep wasting time forgetting if I already configured something, how I did it, what settings I used, etc, and having a declarative config file instead with everything listed in it seems much more practical.

When unloading the dishwasher's silverware rack, just take the whole thing out and unceremoniously dump it out onto a towel on the counter. Makes a ruckus but beats taking flatware out one by one while bent over the dishwasher.

Also, pick up all of the same size fork or spoon, then hold them loosely while shaking your hands and they'll naturally align into their proper nested position. Actually lots of identically shaped things will do this when gently shaken. I used to align nerf darts vertically in a bucket like this as a kid

It's him, we found The One
- I'm just a standard issue neurodivergent chick haha
  wait shit I forgot there are no girls on the internet uhhhhhhh. SPORTS. FAST CARS. YEAH