Although the MacBook is designed in a way that helps you be more productive, you may still suffer from bouts of unproductivity. But there are a bunch of things you can do and features you can utilize to combat this issue.Â
Let’s jump right into it.
The menu bar right at the top is a great way to access commonly used settings and extensions. But every new app that you download will start cluttering the menu bar. Fortunately, you can customize toolbar mac offers.
To move an icon around, press Command and then click on the icon and drag it to where you would like to see it. You can also remove icons from appearing in the menu bar and add the ones you want instead.
A customized menu bar gets rid of the visual clutter and gives you easy access to the things that you actually need saving you time and effort.
Turn on automatic updates for your Mac
How does an updated computer help you be more productive? These software updates contain performance fixes and security patches. One helps your computer become faster and less buggy, and the other protects your privacy and data. You can turn on automatic updates, and your laptop will determine when you’re not using it to download and install these updates.
However, you should not rely on Apple’s security protocols only. Get an antivirus program for your laptop to prevent malware and viruses from affecting your data and your ability to work.
Get comfortable with the keyboard
If your job involves a bunch of typing, you should learn your way around a keyboard. Instead of looking at what you’re typing, you can be looking at the screen to edit and type on the go. It is fairly simple to get the hang of things once you start doing them consistently.
There are websites that allow you to improve your typing speed. If you can finish your work faster than usual, that leaves you more time to get things done.
Use keyboard shortcuts
In continuation to the above, you can use keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier. You can pull up the Spotlight search by pressing Command + Space Bar. Spotlight basically allows you to open any app and perform local and web searches, so just knowing this one shortcut can save you a lot of time.
Other shortcuts that you can learn include taking a screenshot (Command + Shift + 3), pasting text (Command + V), and opening a new tab (Command + N). There are several dozen shortcuts that you can learn to get things done faster.
Learn simple troubleshooting methods
There are a lot of common issues that you may face on your Mac, and thankfully all of these can be solved in minutes at home. For instance, if your WiFi is acting up, you can check the router, restart it and your device and connect again.
Usually, that takes care of the problem. Restarting your computer and making it a habit to shut your computer down can resolve most issues. This is because there are apps and processes running in the background that do not close when you send your computer to sleep. These create temporary files and cache that eventually hogs up your memory slowing down your computer.
For specific issues, you can look up your problem, and you will send Apple’s official support articles or designated forums to easily fix your dilemma.
Clean up all the clutter
First, start with your desktop. All the screenshots you take end up there by default, and not only does it create visual clutter, but it can also slow down your computer when you’re trying to run a memory-intensive app or playing a game.
Each icon on the desktop has to be rendered and thus takes up your RAM. To deal with this, either have a regular cleaning schedule where you sit and sift through all your files on the desktop and clean it up, or you can use a feature called ‘Use Stacks’ to neatly arrange all your files into folders. This reduces the number of icons.
Apart from dealing with the visible clutter, you should also deep dive into your files and determine what is worth storing and what is junk. Check out the apps on our desktop and make sure that you need all of them.
Do the same with your other documents – images, videos, and your downloads folder. Once you purge your device of all the junk, empty your Trash. You may notice a visible difference in your Mac’s performance after this.
In summary
Make use of Mac’s built-in features to become more productive and customize the experience so that it works for you instead of adjusting to the default user experience. Some of these tips may only save you a few seconds, but the power of compounding makes it, so you end up saving a lot of time in the long run.
