Who are you, and what do you do?

– My name is Alan Zhang. I major in Global Supply Chain Management and minor in Entrepreneurship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. I am the founder of Outing Travel, co-founder of Qianjian in charge of marketing, and founder of English Animator Society of CUHK(SZ).

What hardware do you use?

– MacBook Pro Retina 13′ (early 2014) I use it for almost everything related to my study and work. It’s also my powerhouse of creativity and inspiration, and my tool to take down everything in my life. It’s a gift for my university life from my grandma, and has therefore stayed with me for more than 2 years.

– iPhone6 Most apps I use on Mac also have iOS clients, so that I can continue my work on mobile. However, the best thing is that it enables me to capture great and beautiful moments in life well and fast.

– iPad Air 2 With a touch pen (cheap on Taobao), I can use my iPad to annotate on any course slides or reading materials, and this has greatly helped me to be an efficient learner in class. I also use iPad to read all textbooks (haven’t purchased a single paper textbook since I got an iPad). It simply saves you the cost and weight of paper textbooks for your 4 years in university. IPad is also a great tool for mobile learning, as you can learn coding, read global news or course slides on an iPad even during an Uber ride.

– Mi Band 2 It’s the alarm clock on my wrist, the step tracker and a good-looking watch. It’s cheap. I only have to charge it once a month.

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– Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 (over-ear) & Audio-tech E50 (in-ear) headphones: As I listen to music all the time during my work or study, having good ear-phones becomes necessary. I would use E50 outdoors as it has perfect physical isolation, and Momentum to appreciate music in a silent environment.

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And what software?

I tend to use a lot of softwares for different aspects, and they have greatly helped me to increase my working and study efficiency. Some people think that apps are rather distracting, while I think as long as you know how to use the core functions of select products, they will benefit you much more in turn.

I mainly use apps in following categories:

Efficiency and Communication

– Fantastical(Mac&iOS) a perfect combination of Apple reminder and calendar, to manage my schedule
– Apple Stickies(Mac) to take down and sort out my daily tasks and memos(convenient on desktop)
– Teambition(Mac&iOS) for team cooperation(Native in China)
– Telegram(Mac&iOS) for team communication (keep your communications efficient and in order)
– Cloudmagic(Mac&iOS) for e-mails (minimalism interface)

Writing & Learning

– MWeb(Mac) for Markdown writing (Minimalism interface)
– Day One(Mac&iOS) to take down journals and long notes (Markdown support, excellent UI)
– Mindnode 2(Mac&iOS) to make mindmap for all kinds of planning, including essay writing
– Notability(Mac&iOS-iPad) to synchronise my class slides and make annotations on iPad

Others

– Sketch(Mac) for UI, poster, icon design(best design tool ever)
– Principle(Mac&iOS) for User Experience design
– 1 Password(Mac&iOS) to record all account passwords and credit cards,
– F.lux(Mac) to adjust screen temperature and protect my eyes;
– Snapseed(iOS) to edit pictures on iPhone (mobile editing tool developed by Google)

What is your ideal work environment?

– I can work almost everywhere, while working efficiency peaks when I am in public areas – canteen, open area in library, and coffee shops of course. It’s a bit counter-intuitive – as most people think only the silent environment can help people concentrate, but for me it’s the dynamics of the environment, like background music or conversations, that makes me more self-conscious, and therefore more focused. I actually consider it a necessary ability to keep oneself free from external interference, and make use of the environment to concentrate instead.

– For coffee shops nearby our universities, I recommend the Pacific Coffee in Vanke Plaza. They have better Americano and seats than Starbucks. I used to go there often every weekend, sit in its cozy sofa and do my own things listening to their music selections.

Where does your work inspiration come from?

– Talk to people with different backgrounds
– Notice the details in life
– Stay curious about new things and ask good questions
– Watch classical Movies and series/shows. ( I watch them all the time. The best thing about watching those masterpieces is that you get to know different walks of life in a fairly short time, and are whereby able to obtain a wide range of knowledge. At least they make you a much more interesting person to talk to. )

Recommend a useful tool for daily life.

– Meditation. Watch the Ted talk by Andy Puddicombe and you will find out why I recommend it. I don’t do it often, but every time I feel stressed out, having a meditation for several minutes does help calm me down and gives me a clear picture of my current life and future.

介绍一下你自己和所做的工作。

我叫张昊东。我在香港中文大学（深圳）主修环球供应链管理,并辅修创业（Entrepreneurship) 学位。我是 Outing Travel 的创始人，浅见Atelo的联合创始人，以及学校内 English Animator 社团的创始人。

你都在使用哪些硬件？

– MacBook Pro Retina 13′ (early 2014) 我几乎用MBP完成生活中与工作学习有关的一切事情。它也是我创意与灵感的来源，和记录下一切事物的工具。外婆把它送给我作为上大学的礼物，它也因此陪伴了我两年的大学生活。

– iPhone6 我在Mac上用的大多数app都有iOS的客户端，所以可以用iPhone在移动状态中继续完成事情。然而对我而言iPhone最棒的一点是它的镜头 — 它总能让我迅速地捕捉一些美好的画面与瞬间。

– iPad Air 2 只需要一个专用的电容触控笔（淘宝上很便宜就可买到），我可以用iPad在任何Course slides上做笔记，画图，这也大大帮助在课堂上更有效的学习。我还用iPad去阅读所有的电子教材（实际上在买iPad之后我就没买过纸质教材了）。它大大减少了你在教材上的开销和你书包的重量。iPad也是一个适合移动学习的利器，你甚至可以在坐Uber的时候再学习一些编程，浏览时事新闻或者复习课程笔记。

– Mi Band 2 它是我手腕上的闹钟，是步数追踪器，也是一个外观不错的电子表。它很便宜，并且每个月只需冲一次电。

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– Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 over-ear & Audio-tech E50 in-ear 因为我几乎做什么事都会听音乐，所以给自己配了两副够用的耳机。我会在室外的时候用铁三角的E50挂耳式耳机，因为它有非常好的隔音效果，而在安静的室内用森海塞尔的Momentum 2欣赏音乐。

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软件呢？

我倾向于在不同方面使用很多不同的软件，它们都大大帮助我提升了工作和学习的效率。有些人认为使用太多app会使人分心，但我觉得只要你能真正掌握并使用一些优秀App的核心功能，总体来说你会大大受益于它们带来的回报。

我主要使用以下几种类型的app：

效率与沟通

– Fantastical(Mac&iOS) Apple reminder和Calendar的完美结合，用于管理我的日程

– Apple Stickies(Mac) 用于记载和整理每日的任务和备忘（在桌面上使用非常方便)

– Teambition(Mac&iOS) 用于管理我的项目和团队（非常的中国本土化）

– Telegram(Mac&iOS) 用于团队沟通（让你的聊天更加高效和有序）

– Cloudmagic(Mac&iOS) 用户电邮管理（极简主义界面）

写作和学习

– MWeb(Mac) 用于Markdown语言写作（极简主义界面）

– Day One(Mac&iOS) 用于记载日记，游记和较长的笔记 （同样支持Markdown语言, 界面非常好看）

– Mindnode 2(Mac&iOS) 用于为各种策划以及文章构思做思维导图

– Notability(Mac&iOS-iPad) 用于同步我的课件并用iPad在其上面做随堂笔记

其他

– Sketch(Mac) 用于UI，海报，图标的设计（我用过的最棒的设计软件）

– Principle(Mac&iOS) 用于User Experience设计

– 1 Password(Mac&iOS) 用来保存我所有的密码以及信用卡

– F.lux(Mac) 用于根据日落时间调整屏幕暖度，保护眼睛

– Snapseed(iOS) 用于在iPhone上精修照片（Google开发的app)

你最理想的工作环境是什么？

– 我几乎可以在任何地方工作，但是在餐厅，图书馆或咖啡厅这样的公共区域工作是效率最高。这和大多数人的直觉相反 — 很多人认为安静的环境才能帮助自己集中精力。对我来说，是环境的动态变化，比如背景音乐和周围的对话，让自己更真实感觉到自己的存在，从而也更加专注。事实上，我认为能够保持自己免于外界干扰，反而利用环境来专注是一种很必要的能力。

– 对于我们学校周边的咖啡厅，我会推荐万科广场的太平洋咖啡。他们有着比星巴克好喝一些的美式，也有更舒服的座位。我以前尝尝在周末到那里，坐在那儿舒服的大沙发上，听着店里的歌单做着自己的事情。

你平时获得工作灵感的方式有哪些？

– 和有着不同背景的人交谈

– 留意生活中的细节

– 对一切新事物保持好奇心，并经常问好问题

– 多看经典的电影和美剧 ( 我喜欢看这些优秀的影片的原因之一，就是他们能让我在短时间内对生活中各行各业发生的事情有所了解，有所体验。你可以由此收获非常有广度的知识，这些也让你变成一个更有趣的人。)

推荐一件生活利器给大家。

– Meditation(因为觉得“冥想”这个翻译不太准确)。去看看 Andy Puddicombe的TED演讲 就知道我为何推荐了。我并不经常做，但每当我感觉压力很大的时候，几分钟的meditation的确能让我平静下来，并让我对现在的生活以及未来有一个更清晰的认知。