5 Tech Tips to Save Time
We live in an ever increasingly connected world with mobiles, tablets, laptops, computers at work and home. It is a 24/7 connection to the world through a small device. When talking to friends and family they usually have a feeling of having less time even though having all of this technology at their fingertips should be freeing up time. This phenomenon has been reflected in the news and scientific research as well. There are many suggestions on apps or programs that can help to save time. Here are a few quick and easy ways to help free up your time and be more efficient.
Pocket - This is a great app that you can install on your mobile, tablet and computer. It syncs across all the mediums when it's on wifi. You can basically collate all of the news articles, blog posts and webpages that you want to read and save them to read when you have time or are traveling with no wifi. In the mornings when I am whizzing through different newsletters and news outlets I save the articles I want to read for later in the day when it's more convenient. Pocket will send you suggested articles over in areas that you are interested in. When you have finished reading an article you can archive it, favourite it and share it. It's a free app with an option for a paid upgrade.
Boomerang - This is a great feature to enforce a zero email policy in your inbox. Boomerang is a feautre for gmail. It's easy to install. It has a whole host of benefits that include follow up reminders, send at a later date, reminders if you don't hear back, and read receipts. The reminder features means that an email can be moved out of your unread folder and will reappear in there at a time that you have preset. It's a great way to keep on top of following up for meetings, appointments and all kinds.
Evernote - This one is a well known app that has been around for a while. I am a little slow on the uptake of this one! It's because I really enjoy writing things down in an old fashioned notebook and pen/pencil. I do appreciate the functionality and simplicity of Evernote. The app is super versatile with the medium you want to add to your notes. They can be voice file, text, images, links or drawn in. You can share any of your notes with anyone. It is available across all of your devices and has an amazing search function for finding words so you never have to lose anything again. I've started using this for convenience and because I travel a lot. It's become apparent that as beautiful as notebooks with handwritten notes are carrying five around with me for a few months is a little cumbersome.
Google Calendar - This is a super functional app that means you can consolidate calendars together, share them with family, friends and work colleagues. It's great to organise events or blocking out travel times and know that everyone has the correct and full information. Whether they look at it is another question! It's a step in the right direction. It can be more efficient sharing your calendar with a loved one as you can both see when the other is available for date nights, social events or has work commitments. Google Calendar is a free download across all devices.
ASANA - For the person with lots of projects to manage. When I mean projects these can be work or personal. It's super easy to use. I use Asana for a combination of work related projects and for personal to do lists. You can share the Asana project, allocating tasks to team members, set task due dates, reminders (these can be synced with your calendar), monitor progress at a glance, add notes & feedback. Attachments can be added, the structure can be created to suit the project and it helps stop your inbox becoming full with lots of emails where you could potentially miss key dates or tasks. Again, this app is free with an upgrade option.
