I spend the vast majority of my time in Chrome, and it’s one of my key pieces of software that I don’t notice much except when it’s not working. So after getting more questions and having been almost 3 years since I updated this, here’s my current Chrome setup:
Pinned Tabs (that open with Chrome):
Google Calendar – essential software for events, and the update is amazing
My “Tasks” board on Trello – to keep track of what I should be doing
My personal gmail – to keep an eye on personal messages
My “Sales” boards on Trello – to keep track of sales activity in various projects
My business emails – usually 2-3 tabs depending on the day/demand
Extensions:
An essential tool since I manage so many pieces of software and so many secure details. I pay for premium since that allows me to automatically securely sync these details with all my other devices (critical when you’re in a meeting and need to log in on a laptop vs your desktop at home).
I need to watch YouTube videos commonly (whether it’s tutorials or learning etc) and YouTube is a distraction nightmare if you don’t have this. Essential to not just blocking the site all together.
Having so many accounts and emails etc that without this it makes it extremely hard to find emails or documents which can take a lot of time. This solves that by making a single tool to search all your files at once.
Another essential software to keep all my contacts organized, cleaned, and updated. It also adds a layer of information and context to email as well so it’s easy to remember where you met someone, or where they work.
As a calendar is a huge part of my life (second most important right behind Trello), the app allows me to keep quick track of how much time I have before the next meeting, and enables lots of other features to update events or see a quick list of upcoming events.
As I use Facebook for a ton of stuff (managing groups, posting content, managing ads), I need to access it fairly often, but it’s also extremely distraction heavy. This blocks the main offending issue with it, and let’s my continue to access tools like Facebook Messenger (which is my preferred messaging platform, and I use more than anything else) without getting distracted.
The best new tab hands down. It’s minimal, not distracting, and sobering in terms of helping you be aware of the passage of time.
A lot of the time opening emails can be problematic when they have trackers. So this helps me fight email controlling my time while still being able to read the email and triage effectively.
My favorite way to share web pages and comment on them. I use this internally and with friends a lot. Basically like being able to start a new chat room overlay on any web page.
Allows me to quickly send links and small files between my devices. Very helpful for sending links to my phone from my computer to then send in a text.
I’ve searched for a good bookmark manager for a long time. I have 5k+ bookmarks of some of the best software tools and content on the web, so retrievability is my #1 factor in terms of rating.
Sadly they don’t have the best search function (the top thing I need), but it backs up and allows much better dynamic categorization of content. Definitely need better searching though. I’m consistently frustrated by knowing there’s a tool I have bookmarked, but I can’t find it because of limited search functionality.
Time is the most valuable, precious, limited, and irretrievable resource. And we spend a ton of it on the computer working (at least I do). To NOT use a resource like this is unthinkable in the long term. This allows me to see trends, collect data, and change behavior over time. Very valuable.
The most comprehensive and quality content sharing tool. Allows me to take extremely fast screenshots, add markups, upload to an image host, and copy the link to share it or embed it in literally seconds. Fantastic tool for blogging or writing how-to’s etc. Exceptionally featured and powerful tool.
Allows me to add my own custom code (especially CSS) to websites that I use frequently to make them more usable. Could be as simple as making text more readable, adding some padding, or making a button bigger.
Last, but certainly not least. This plugin not only saves me distraction and visual clutter, but saves privacy and computer resources as well. The best plugin I’ve found for sure. I prefer to support creators directly (like I do with Point above).
Conclusion:
I hope you’ve found this valuable. You’ll notice a lot of the same items as my last post (a testament to their durability and value!). I’m still using Chrome, but considering Firefox Quantum if Chrome starts to go sideways. Let me know what you’ve started using, and ones I might be missing!