A second charger lives in your bag

The cheapest productivity upgrade there is: eliminating an entire category of worry. We're talking about a second charger that never leaves your bag. Instead of deciding every morning whether to grab the charger off your desk or leave it, you simply own a second one that's always already there.

A typical scenario

You rush out the door in the morning and leave your charger plugged in at your desk because you forgot it in the hurry — or you take it with you and discover that evening you're missing one at home for your other laptop. In the afternoon, your laptop battery drops toward zero in the middle of an important meeting, and there's no outlet with your charger anywhere nearby. With a second charger permanently kept in your bag, this situation never happens — the charger is always wherever the laptop is, because you never take it out.

How to do it

1. Buy a second charger for your laptop or phone — ideally a compact GaN charger, which is significantly smaller and lighter than the one that came with your laptop, so it barely takes up space in your bag.
2. Add a second cable too, if your laptop uses a separate cable from the adapter — without it, a second charger would be useless.
3. Put both items in the bag or backpack you carry with you, and never take them out — not even for a single trip. The moment the second set becomes an exception with “I'll just take it home today,” the whole system stops working.
4. The same principle works for anything else you need in two places at once: a second set of headphones for calls, a second HDMI or USB-C adapter for presentations, or a power bank as backup for your phone.
5. Check regularly that the second set is actually still in the bag — the most common way the system breaks down is lending the charger “just this once” to a coworker or family member and it never coming back.

The best tools

• A compact GaN charger — modern technology allows for significantly smaller and lighter adapters than older chargers of the same power output, ideal for a bag.
• A multi-port charger — a single adapter that can charge both your laptop and phone at once, saving space in your bag compared to carrying two separate ones.
• A power bank as a backup for your phone — useful for situations where there's no outlet nearby at all, just for a limited stretch until the battery runs out.
• A cable organizer (a small pouch or pocket in your bag) — keeps the second set of cables and adapters together and stops them from getting lost among your other belongings.

What you get out of it

• Peace of mind: no more morning debate over “did I grab the charger or not” and no more afternoon scramble for a free outlet.
• Time: no going back home or to the office for a forgotten charger, no borrowing from coworkers.
• Reliability on the road: works just as well on a business trip, at a client's office, or in a coffee shop — the charger is always at hand.

Pro tip

The same “a second one that never leaves its spot” principle is worth applying to anything you regularly need in two places — not just a charger, but also headphones or a presentation adapter. A small one-time investment saves you a recurring stress that would otherwise keep coming back. Think about what you've forgotten at home or the office most often over the past six months — it's probably a good candidate for a second unit.