Hardeep Nagra

Full-time Banker, Parent, and Content Creator

Issue #302 May 21, 2023

About

Hardeep Nagra is from Birmingham, UK and he works in mortgage strategy for a top 10 UK bank.

In his spare time he also runs a blog on productivity, and is a part-time YouTuberand Skillshare teacher.

I have an in-depth blog post of all of the tools and apps I use to stay productive. You can check that out here, otherwise here are the apps I rely on daily:

Photos

2 images

Gear

12 items

Computer MacBook Air M1

Computer Dell Latitude (work laptop)

Monitor Apple Studio Display Buy

Mouse Apple Magic Trackpad Buy

Accessories Logitech MX Keys Mini Buy

Mouse Logitech Triathlon M730 Mouse Buy

Speakers Kanto YU4 Speakers Buy

Accessories Belkin Boost Charge Pro Buy

Phone iPhone 14 Pro (not pictured)

Accessories Apple Watch S5

Software To-do app: Things 3

Accessories Safari

Software

2 apps

Notion

Bear

Interview

4 questions

› What is the most useful item in your workspace?

My Apple Studio Display. I love its simple yet beautiful design. It’s bright and has wonderful colours. But best of all, I can connect both my Mac and Windows laptop and switch instantly between them with the press of one button using a KVM switch. The built-in camera, mic, and speakers are great for Teams calls.

› How do you spark creativity?

I’m one of those individuals who has to have a good work environment to be able to get focused and into the flow of things with minimal distractions. So I setup my desk to avoid clutter, and created a calm atmosphere with ambient lighting. Finally, I can’t work without some background music, and the Kanto YU4 speakers sound incredible when I’m listening to a focus playlist on Apple Music.

› How do you manage work-life balance?

I think the most important thing for me was creating a separate office space at home. It lets me switch between work-mode and home-mode quickly.

› What do you think is the main benefit of remote work?

I’ve very fortunate that my job is fully remote. With two young kids, it means I can take care of school runs without having to panic about commuter traffic and getting to the office in time. The amount of time I save on travelling to and from the office also means I actually have more time to get things done at work while still giving me time to get to the gym during my lunch break.