Optimizing Keyboard Shortcuts
14 Oct 2024
I recently listened to an interesting “Be the Tortoise” episode of The Laracasts Snippet podcast, where Jeffrey Way discusses how developers often spend a lot of time fine-tuning their workflow, obsessing over keyboard shortcuts, and perfecting their setup.
I definitely relate. Whether it’s VSCode or my email app, Superhuman, I love working without touching the mouse — processing emails and writing code without lifting my fingers from the keyboard feels right.
But what stood out to me was the reason Jeffrey gives for why we do this.
It’s all about getting into the flow.
I think sometimes it's more the desire to enter a state of flow. And if you keep having to reach for the mouse or switch to an app or open up a menu bar, it kind of takes you out of that flow. At least that's what I think it is for me when I obsess over stupid little things like that.
And that makes so much sense. We want to get into that deep focus zone, where every action feels effortless, and performance increases by 10%. More than anything, it just feels good typing away without any distractions.