For me it's been Gitpod (https://gitpod.io). It's like CI for development environments. It integrates with Git and lets me build my project continuously, and then create a containerized environment with the latest artifacts that I connect to with my IDE. I like it so much I decided to build a self-hosted alternative. It's at https://hocus.dev if you want to check it out.<p>What are yours?
Todoist - Browser extension and phone app for checking off todo items. I get a slight dopamine hit every time I complete something.<p>Obsidian - Note-taking desktop app with a nice UI, good extensions, tagging, and more.<p>Leechblock - Browser extension that blocks certain sites during specified time periods. I've got a similar app on my phone, but its free version only allows 3 apps to be blocked.
- jira-cmd (which I maintain) for managing jira at work
- org mode for planning
- plantuml for making personal diagrams
- Emacs for text editing
- gnucash for finance
- ublock origin browser extension for zapping out certain css elements which get attention
- stylebot for changing css of pages to lower the cognitive load of those websites have
Obsidian transformed the way I work with information - personal and work related.<p>Mylifeorganized for infinitely customizable, hierarchical, advanced GTD-like to do lists.<p>Atimelogger (Android) for time logging, to see where my time goes and prevent procrastination.<p>OBS studio and Otter.ai for meeting recordings and notes.
For me it's hardware: two large monitors give me one screen for IDE, one for VScode and the native for references. I also desperately need a good mouse -- tried one defualt/basic logitech one and a "vertical" one but neither is really satisfactory.<p>On software side a good IDE is really helpful. Jetbrain really excels in this field.