Blag

I use Windows' virtual desktop feature pretty heavily. I find it useful to quickly switch between work and communication software. This helps me keep focused while working, and minimize the time it takes me to reply to something in Slack.

This works great for most software, but every now and then I find myself having to move a window back-and-forth between my desktops.

I use Chrome on Windows as my primary browser of choice, and one thing I find particularly annoying is joining Zoom meetings.

If I open a link to a meeting the tab opens up and then I have to click an additional confirmation dialog to get the meeting to actually open in Zoom. Once I've done that I still have to go back and close the Chrome tab. For meetings that I've got bookmarked, it's a lot of unnecessary clicking.

I decided to look into how hard it would be to create a desktop shortcut to a specific zoom meeting instead of a browser bookmark, and—as it turns out—it's actually pretty simple.

Sorting Papers

Rule of thumb—discard everything

— Marie Kondo

While working from home, one thing that helps me focus on work is avoiding clutter on my desk. Papers are particularly problematic as they're so thin that they can stack up over time without a noticeable difference until it suddenly seems that there's a teetering tower of precariously balanced "things to do".

Receipts, bills, instruction books, warranties, and all sorts of other desk detritus all have a tendency to outstay their welcome.

Worse, if you're working from home you may find yourself absentmindedly attempting to tidy up rather than focusing on the current task at hand.

If you struggle with keeping your workspace clutter-free, I use a system that requires minimal effort and materials.

I was messing around with styled-components in React, and I was struck by how awful the standard naming convention is:

import styled from "styled-components";

const StyledCard = styled.div`...`;
const StyledImage = styled.img`...`;
const StyledDescription = styled.div`...`;
const StyledCTA = styled.a`...`;

export const Card = () => (
  <StyledCard>
    <StyledImage />
    <StyledDescription />
    <StyledCTA />
  </StyledCard>
);