{"id":1096,"date":"2020-02-11T11:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T19:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/3.209.169.194\/blogs\/erin\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2020-02-11T11:02:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T19:02:57","slug":"life-hacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/erin\/life-hacks\/","title":{"rendered":"#TSQL2sday: My Life Hacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"T-SQL<\/a>
T-SQL Tuesday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jess Pomfret<\/a> (newly awarded MVP!) is hosting month\u2019s T-SQL Tuesday, and asked us to share our favorite life hacks<\/a> – something that makes our day easier.\u00a0 I have two that I consider indispensable.<\/p>\n

The first is Toggl<\/a>, a free app that Kendra Little<\/a> introduced me to years ago.\u00a0 As a consultant, I have to track my time so we can accurately bill customers.\u00a0 Initially I tried to write it down on paper, but I ended up with MANY pieces of paper scattered across my desk.\u00a0 Organizing those at the end of the week was not fun.\u00a0 Then I tried Excel.\u00a0 Nope, too much work.\u00a0 Enter Toggl:<\/p>\n

\"Tracking<\/a>
Tracking Time in Toggl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s extremely easy to use, it synchronizes with my account so the information is available online if don’t have my laptop for some reason and need to know the time spent on a project, and as I said, it’s free.\u00a0 There is a paid version and it has a lot of cool features that I don’t even use or know about it.\u00a0 It just works.<\/p>\n

My second hack is movies.\u00a0 If I’m not on a call or dial in to a customer, I have a movie playing in the background.\u00a0 It’s always a movie I know well, and a movie I really like.\u00a0 A lot.\u00a0 I mean, I’ve listened to some of these hundreds of times.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A few movies…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it’s completely quiet, I find it harder to focus.\u00a0 I need something in the background to keep some part of my brain just a little bit distracted, which somehow makes everything else clear.\u00a0 I just play it on my phone, no TV, no fancy speakers.\u00a0 There is probably science behind it – sometimes music works, but mostly you can find me listening to any Marvel movie, Apollo 13, The Martian, Miracle, Top Gun, A Few Good Men, or Band of Brothers (not a movie, but close enough).<\/p>\n

While typing, I thought of a third hack…my standing desk mat<\/a>.\u00a0 I have a “plain” one, but my husband got me this one a year or so ago and I really like because it has different shapes and textures for my feet.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s the little things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Jess Pomfret (newly awarded MVP!) is hosting month\u2019s T-SQL Tuesday, and asked us to share our favorite life hacks – something that makes our day easier.\u00a0 I have two that I consider indispensable. The first is Toggl, a free app that Kendra Little introduced me to years ago.\u00a0 As a consultant, I have to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n#TSQL2sday: My Life Hacks - Erin Stellato<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes you need a few life hacks to make the work day a little easier - for me it's a time-tracking app, some good movies, and a mat!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/erin\/life-hacks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"#TSQL2sday: My Life Hacks - Erin Stellato\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes you need a few life hacks to make the work day a little easier - 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