INITIALIZING CYBORG SEQUENCE

Thanks for joining the ranks of fellow cyborgs.

Before we do introductions, here's your first tip!

Can't tell you how many times I have accidentally closed the wrong browser tab (usually doing too many keyboard shortcuts in succession).

A simple CMD / CTRL + SHIFT + T should help save the day! It re-opens the last tab closed—and it's repeatable, often even across multiple browser windows.

Even better is that this shortcut tends to work in other "tabbed" applications, like Obsidian.

Pro tip: When learning a new shortcut, it's best to check if it will work in a given application when the stakes are low and your unsaved data is not on the line ;)

Rock Bottom

In 2018, I had an experience at work that destroyed me. I came home having gotten the news that my position was going away in 2 months. That was only the start of the bad news that weekend.

After a sudden cognitive decline, I ended up in the emergency room on that Sunday, getting an MRI. Now I had a diagnosis thrown into the mix: Multiple Sclerosis.

There were a lot of scary questions I now faced, but first I had to figure out how to finish my last two months of work when I could no longer walk in a straight line, let alone edit a website.

To understand how I survived the next two months, we have to go back two years.

A Subtle Change

Ctrl / CMD + L

The keyboard shortcut that changed everything for me.

It was my first or second day on the job when J.B. looked this key combination up as a way to speed up a task he was training me on.

It selects the URL if you’re in a browser. (And the file path in Windows Explorer!)

Suddenly, I could chain this combo with copy/paste to cut out 10 or so seconds from my task of sending a webpage for review.

I grab the URL with Ctrl / CMD + L,
Ctrl / CMD + C to copy,
Ctrl / Alt + Tab to switch tabs in the browser, and
Ctrl / CMD + V to paste into my task manager.

10 Seconds, Big Deal

This was revolutionary, not because it was a massive productivity hack. Rather, it was the realization that I was using the computer the wrong way.

The intuitive features of a computer are massively under-powered.

If there’s a hidden keyboard combo that selects the URL—how niche is that?—there will be so many more powerful things it could do.

It was just a matter of exploration and learning.

It lead me down a path I never anticipated—the path of the Cyborg.

...No, really!

Why a Cyborg?

Technology is powerful, as you already know. Humanity is just as powerful.

I believe that even a few simple skills and a mindset of exploration can get us out of the trenches and into a healthier work-life. I believe that using technology to extend our humanity is the next way forward.

That also comes with some boundaries. No more workaholism, no more “grind” and “hustle.” We can’t survive squashing out our humanity for a couple of unsustainable gains.

Technology + humanity is a balanced equation. That’s where we work smarter, not harder, not unhealthier.

Let’s do this.

​