Macropads Made Me a Productivity Beast: How One Device Eliminated My Workflow Friction

I finished editing a video last month in half the time it usually takes me. Not because I learned a new technique or upgraded my software. Not because I suddenly became a better editor. Definitely not that I finished faster, because I’d been paying an invisible tax on every single editing session and I finally stopped paying it. Here’s the thing.

Every time you sit down at your computer to do focused work, there’s this low level friction happening that you probably don’t even notice anymore. Little clicks and menu hunts. Keyboard shortcuts you almost remember but have to think about for half a second. Repetitive motions that don’t feel like much in the moment, but compound into something heavier over hours. I didn’t notice it either until I accidentally made it disappear.

Let me paint a picture that might feel familiar. You’re working on something. A document, a design, a video, an email that requires actual thought. You’re in that zone where ideas are flowing and you’re making real progress. And then you need to do something repetitive.

Split a clip, insert a transition, open a new tab and navigate somewhere. Toggle between two windows. It’s not hard. It takes maybe two seconds. But your brain has to context switch.

You go from creative mode to where is that button again? Mode. You find it, you do the thing, and then you have to climb back into the flow you were just in. Multiply that by 50 or 100. That’s a typical work session.

There’s research on this. The idea of switching costs every time your brain has to shift from type of task to another, even for a moment, there’s a cognitive price. It’s not just time. It’s mental energy. And it adds up in ways that are genuinely invisible because we’re so used to paying it.

I’ll tell you what made me realize how much this was costing me. But first I should probably explain what I’m actually talking about here.

This little device is called a macropad. And I know it looks like someone chopped a number pad off a keyboard and decided to sell it separately, which honestly isn’t that far from the truth. But here’s what makes it different. Every single key on this thing can be programmed to do whatever you want. Press one key and it types out your email signature.

Press another and it opens a specific app, moves it to a specific spot on your screen, and resizes it exactly how you like. Press a third and. And it executes a five step command sequence inside whatever software you’re currently using. Think of it like this. A regular keyboard is for typing words.

A macropad is for storing actions It’s a physical button board for all the repetitive stuff your brain shouldn’t really have to think about. The one I use daily is called the Ducky Pad Pro. It has 20 keys, a little screen that shows what each key does, and two dials for things like volume control or scrolling. The software to set it up isn’t exactly intuitive, I’ll be honest about that. But once you’ve configured it, the thing just works.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. I was editing a video a few months back. This particular project required a lot of cutting, removing dead air, trimming mistakes, rearranging clips. Pretty standard stuff. Normally, this takes me a while.

Not because the cuts are hard, but because I’m constantly doing the same sequence. Position the playhead, the make a split, select the clip, delete it, move on over and over and over. Each step requires either a keyboard shortcut I have to remember or a menu I have to click through. But this time, I had my macropad set up with a custom editing layer. One key for split and select left, one key for split and select right.

One key that applies a standard text style, one that aligns clips outside the frame for animation. And about 30 minutes into this session, I. I realized something strange. I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t annoyed. I was still in a zone.

The same zone I’d started in. Usually by that point in an editing session, there’s this building frustration I don’t even consciously acknowledge. A low hum of, ugh, this repetitive part again. But it wasn’t there. The editing just kind of like, flowed.

One button cuts. No menu hunting, no trying to remember if it’s Command shift K or Command option K. Just see something that needs cutting, press a button, keep moving. When I exported the final video, I checked the time I’d finished in roughly half my usual duration for that length of project. That’s when I understood what I’d actually done. I hadn’t just saved time on individual clicks.

I’d eliminated the friction that was draining my focus the entire session. Here’s what I think is really happening. Your brain has limited processing power for active decisions. Every time you have to think, what’s the shortcut for this? Or where’s the option in the menu?

Even for like a fraction of a second, you’re using some of that processing power. A Macropad doesn’t just make actions faster, it makes them thoughtless in the best possible way. The action moves from conscious effort to muscle memory, from something you have to decide to something your hand just does. And that frees up mental space for the actual work. The creative part, the thinking part, the part that really matters.

It’s the same principle as having a clean desk versus a cluttered one. The clutter isn’t actively preventing you from working, but removing it takes away all these tiny decision points your brain was processing in the background. This is what I mean by invisible tax. You don’t feel yourself paying it, but you definitely feel the relief when it’s gone. The video editing thing was my breakthrough moment, but I quickly realized this applies to way more than just creative software.

My Ducky Pad Pro. It now lives on my desk, and it handles stuff throughout my entire day. System controls. I used to dig through menus for volume adjustments, launching apps, switching audio outputs. Now they’re just buttons.

There’s something almost ridiculously satisfying about having a physical button for things you do constantly. It sounds trivial, but. But after weeks of using it, going back to hunting through system preferences feels genuinely primitive. And this works for basically any workflow that involves repetition, spreadsheets, coding, music production, CAD software, writing, especially if you use the same phrases or formatting regularly. The core idea is simple.

Identify the things you do, repeatedly program them into physical buttons, and. And stop spending mental energy on them. So back to that invisible tax. Every day, most of us sit down at computers and spend hours doing focused work. And every day we’re paying this tax.

Little bits of friction, tiny mental interruptions, repetitive clicks that still small amounts of focus over and over we don’t notice because we’ve been paying it forever. It’s just what using a computer feels like. But it doesn’t have to be. A macropad won’t turn you into a productivity God. That title was clickbait, and we both know it.

What it will do is remove a layer of friction you didn’t know was there. And sometimes that’s the thing that actually makes the difference. Not the big, flashy productivity systems, but the quiet removal of things that were slowing you down. If you spend serious time at a computer doing focus work, it might be worth exploring. There are options at different price points.

There are. The Ducky Pad Pro is what I use, but it’s not the only good one out there for me. The week I spent setting it up has paid itself back many times over. Not in raw hours saved, though that’s real. But in sessions that feel less frustrating and more like flow.

I’m Lewis, and this is InputZen, where we explore the tools and mindsets that help builders do their best work. If you’re someone who makes things code, videos, designs, businesses, whatever. And you care about removing friction from design that process. Consider subscribing. We’ve got more coming on keyboards, workflows and the craft of building, and maybe even more on macropads too.

And if you’ve tried a macropad and have your own breakthrough story, I genuinely love to hear it. Drop a comment down below. Until next time, stay Zen. Perfect.