Archive for the ‘productivity’ Category

5 Great iPhone Productivity Apps

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Yes, there’s almost an app for everything out there, well almost everything. But the ones we keep coming back to time and time again are some of the awesome productivity apps, and there are several good ones.  Here we’ll showcase a handful of our favorites and ones we use everyday.

Evernote

Evernote is a powerful note taking app that allows you to capture thoughts, ideas, or anything you need to remember.  It allows for notes in text, records voice memos, and takes picture notes for images you don’t want to forget. All of your notes are tagable and searchable and organized into notebooks for easy future reference.  The iPhone app meshes seamlessly with Evernote’s web application so you’ll always have your thoughts nearby.  The app and web application are available free, but for a mere $5/month you can upgrade to their Premium service which gives you more security, more upload capacity, and a greater number of supported files types, including PDFs.

reQall

On the App Store reQall is touted as a Memory and Remembering Aid and boy, is it ever.  It’s like having another little brain living right on your iPhone.  reQall is a voice-enabled memory recorder and to-do list.  If you need to create a to-do list on the fly all you have to do speak it and reQall will transcribe what you say and organize your list for you. It recognizes dates and certain keywords which allows it to automatically recognize when you’ve just given it a to-do list item, or even a shopping list.  You can input items by voice, text, text message, IM and email so you’ll always have an option for recording something you just can’t forget.  Like Evernote, reQall has a web application interface as well which will auto-sync with the app on your phone.  A premium version can be had for $2.99/month which gives you direct integration with Google Calendar and Evernote, plus a whole lot more. 

Calengoo

Calengoo brings your entire Google Calendar straight to your iPhone.  Add and edit events and tasks just as you would from the Google interface.  It can even monitor multiple calendars and displays them with the same color schemes used by Google.  With day, week, and month views you’ll never forget about another upcoming appointment again.  Each time you start the app it automatically syncs with Google so that all your calendars stay current and even works offline too.  At $6.99 it’s a little more expensive than the average app, but considering you get the full power and adaptability of Google Calendar in the palm of your hand, it’s well worth it.

GoodReader

Although it’s no longer the only PDF reader for the iPhone, it could very well be the best one.  GoodReader’s best feature is its ability to automatically format any PDF to fit the iPhone screen so there’s no annoying side scrolling.  Transfer files to your phone via WI-FI, internet or email attachments and you’re good to go.  GoodReader can handle huge file sizes with no problem and not only reads PDFs, but Word documents and other file formats as well.  Zoom, search, and jump back and forth with ease in documents you need while on the go.

 

Dropbox

Dropbox is a simple and easy to use cloud storage solution.  Store files in Dropbox and access them from any computer or mobile device, no matter where you are.  It’s like having an invisible flash drive with you everywhere you go.  You can share access to files to allow for collaboration or just to show off some new pics you just took while away on vacation.  Dropbox’s servers automatically secure and backup your files so you don’t have to worry about them.  The iPhone app requires a Dropbox account which you’ll have a chance to create after you download the app and is also free.  After that you’ll probably want to download the desktop version on any other computer you have so you’ll have access to your box everywhere.  The app is free and that gets you a very decent 2GB of storage and if you like you can become a paying customer for more space.

There are tons of great productivity apps out there why don’t you let us know what some of your favorites are in the comments section?

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Productivity for the Creative

Friday, May 7th, 2010

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There’s no doubt the minds of creative people work a little differently than most, and when it comes to things like productivity and flow, sometimes the approach to getting things done needs to be modified to better fit the creative spirit.

Those of creative bent often rail against the rigidity of to-do lists, and schedules and productivity systems.  This is due to creativity being linked with the right side of the brain, which has a tendency to dislike a more logical (left brain) approach to things.  Karen E. Peterson’s book, Write:  10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block. Period., while obviously focusing on the crippling affliction of writer’s block, has some interesting insights into the creative mind which can be applied, in general, to why we sometimes sabotage ourselves in doing the things we want or need to do.

According to research cited in the book, the right brain doesn’t care about order, or to-do lists.  It wants results, and it wants them NOW.  Unfortunately it also craves perfection, so what you end up with is a compulsion to do it all, without mistakes.  You can see how this might be a problem; if you can’t complete your tasks, regardless of size, in one go with perfect results, you may feel there is no point in beginning in the first place.  You end up distracting yourself with other meaningless tasks, or time wasters in order to avoid something your right brain tells you cannot be done properly.

Peterson lays out several methods for tricking your right brain into working more smoothly with your left brain so you can be more productive.  Breaking tasks down into smaller bits, working for shorter periods of time and rewarding yourself (and your right brain) for your hard work with periods of free time during which you can do whatever you like.  In doing so you satisfy your left brain’s desire to knock off items from your to do list and your right brain’s penchant for immediate satisfaction.

There are plenty of resources on the web for productivity, such as the famous GTD (Getting Things Done) system developed by David Allen, which is wildly popular, but not for everyone as this excellent article from Zen Habits points out.  Productivity systems are great, but sometimes we can get bogged down by the system itself instead of, well, getting things done.  One of the seven tips from this article is Allow Yourself to Suck.  As we discussed above, don’t let perfection rear its ginormous ugly head and throw us off track, or worse, freeze us in our tracks so that we end up doing nothing.

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Zen Habits is a great place to start if you’re looking for simpler more intuitive productivity tips and Leo Babauta, the site’s creator, has even taken Allen’s GTD and modified it for simplicity, calling it  ZTD or, Zen To Done.  If you find the surfeit of productivity tools and systems out there too complicated and/or overwhelming you may want to try it out.

At the end of the day, you need to find the right system that works for you.  Sure, you may be a creative type, but that doesn’t mean you can’t discipline yourself to get into a regular routine.  Some people achieve this through regular breaks, others by waking up at the same time every day.  Whatever your routine, you won’t know until you try and do it enough times in a row that it becomes a routine for you.  You can still show the world all of your productivity while keeping your creative spirit.

Are you more of a creative type that runs from schedules and to-do lists?  What are your tips for getting things done?

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