A Few of My Favorite Things

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This week’s blog is a little different…

Hello everyone! My name is Melissa. I am the executive assistant and community manager for Take Control ADHD. Some of you may know me better by my Discord screen name, Discord Mom.

Nikki asked me to take the reigns on the next two blogs during The ADHD Podcast’s current series: Techvember. I am honored to have the opportunity to speak directly to the TCA community about some of my favorite tech.

If you’re a regular listener of The ADHD Podcast, I hope you have enjoyed the first two installments of Techvember—I know I have! If you have ever listened to Pete Wright talk tech for any length of time, you know he knows what he’s talking about. I have already gotten so many great ideas from the recommendations during this series that I can’t wait to try out!

So now, Nikki asked me to share a couple of my go-to tech rec’s that line up with this week’s episode of the podcast about work tech.

This one was a little bit harder for me, mainly because most of the tools I use for work come from Pete Wright recommendations and were mentioned on the podcast this week. After some thought, I came up with a few things that aren’t normally talked about on the show.

Headphones

If you ask anybody, they will tell you I basically live in my wireless headphones—and they would be right. I’m not a fan of “silence”, so I’m usually listening to a podcast—unless I’m working. During work hours, when I need to focus, I’m usually listening to an EDM playlist (without vocals). There’s just something about those deep, bass beats that puts me in the zone.

My wireless headphones of choice are the Silensys E7 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones. Right now I am rocking these in a fun, emerald green color. This is my second pair as I wore out the first headphones after about two years of continuous use.

These headphones are super comfortable and easily pair with any of my bluetooth-compatible devices. The sound is crisp and clear, and the added benefit of the noise cancelling feature allows me to drown out all other background noise and truly focus on what’s in front of me. And, as a girl on a budget, the price is just right.

Keyboard Shortcuts

If I can find more ways to do less work and get the same result, I am all about it. Keyboard shortcuts definitely fall under that category. The ability to keep my hands on the keyboard without having to break focus to use the mouse is a game changer. But, how am I supposed to remember all the different key combinations, especially with an ADHD brain like mine?

Welcome to my favorite “tech” assistant, the SYNERLOGIC Mac OS Keyboard Shortcut Sticker! This 3 inch square sticker fits conveniently in the corner of my laptop and gives me instant access to a ton of common and not-so-common keyboard shortcuts for my Mac. The company also offers a similar option for Windows users.

Did you know there is a keyboard shortcut for the Mac that allows you to add emojis anywhere you put text?! Me either! Until I got my keyboard shortcut sticker, that is. Now, any time I hit Cmd + Ctrl + Space bar, a small window pops up with all the emojis I could ever want! And who couldn’t use more emojis in their life?

So, those are a couple of my tech recommendations around work. I will be back next week to give a few more recommendations as Pete and Nikki wrap up our Techvember series.

Haven’t listened to the Techvember series yet? Check out the first two episodes here:

Techvember: The 2022 ADHD Email Review

Techvember: Email & Work Tech Review

Thanks for your time and attention!

-Melissa (Discord Mom)