I really enjoy Success magazine. Every month has tons of great content for the entrepreneur.
Every time a new edition arrives the first thing I do is flip to the back to check out the latest ‘hot apps’ that they recommend.
I love apps. Mostly because I’m a productivity junkie. It’s a game to me… to see how much I can accomplish in a given day, week, year… and then do more the next time – in less time.
And I think that last part is key… in less time… because that means more free days to spend more really focused and present time enjoying my highest values.
Of course I’m an entrepreneur so many of my productivity habits are related to my work, but I apply the same principles to my everyday life and use apps to make sure that I maintain all of my ‘health creation habits’.
How can I workout in the least amount of time and get the best result?
What’s the most efficient way to cut the grass so that I can turn off the mower and play soccer on the newly cut grass with my kids?
How do I get the best sleep? How much sleep is best for my performance? What sleep and wake times create the best sleep for me?
How do I stay in a productive mindset, focused on what I’ve accomplished vs. dejected at the gap between where I am and where I want to be?
How do I stay grateful?
How do I keep on track of everything I need to do to accomplish my goals without having my long to do list overwhelm me?
How can I consume more content (books, podcast, online courses…) so that I can increase my knowledge and capabilities faster?
There are lots of different strategies to accomplish more in less time… an IF used ‘well’ I think technology, and apps specifically can be one of the most powerful tools of all.
And at the same time if you’re not careful can suck your life away 🙂
I know for me when I first started to really use technology and search out resources to help my productivity, and encourage even better ‘health creation habits’ I went overboard. I tried to find an app to do everything… and in the process I think I became less productive because so much of my time got lost messing around with the technology itself. Maybe you can relate…
I know if you take a quick glance around you, in almost any social setting, you’ll see people totally consumed in their ‘technology’ completely oblivious to what’s going on right in front of them…
I’ve definitely been guilty of it. And over time, I’m happy to say I think I’ve found my sweet spot.
I’ve developed good habits around when I use technology and when I don’t, and most importantly I’ve reduced the amount of technology to only the ‘necessities’ – the ones that directly drive me to be more productive and allow me to stay focused on what’s most important.
I definitely feel like I’ve found the simplicity on the far side of complexity 🙂
Here are some of my favourite apps that have helped me get there:
I find whether or not I meet my goals is almost solely dependent on me keeping good habits. I’ve identified 12 different habits that if I am consistent with will almost surely result in me reaching all of the goals I set for myself. Habit List is a ‘habit checklist’ to keep me on track every day.
Another simple app that prompts me each morning to enter 3 things I’m grateful for and 3 things I want to accomplish in the day ahead, and then prompts me each evening to enter 3 wins for the day along with things that I can improve on. This simple process helps me start the day focused on gratitude and on the 3 most important things I need to complete. It also helps me end the day celebrating the wins and thereby keeping me out of the gap between where I am currently and where I want to be.
Podcasts
My mobile learning library – I love to learn and this a guaranteed way to make sure I learn something everyday. Every time I get in the car I push play on a podcast… which means at minimum 30 minutes of learning every day. To consume more in less time I set playback to 1.5 or 2x speed.
This is my favourite of all. It’s a to do app. I think its advantages over others is that it syncs seamlessly across all devices and provides several levels of segmentation and organization to keep all of your to do’s organized and clear. It also does a really good job creating recurring to do’s – like remembering to pay your credit card every month, or reaching out to a friend on their birthday.
Banking
I thought everyone used mobile banking to deposit cheques… but the more I talk to people the more I realize that most have no idea that you can do this (and maybe not all banks do it). With my CIBC banking app I can deposit my cheques on my phone saving me a trip to the bank. I used to take 2 or 3 trips to the bank each week… so this saves me at least 40 minutes each week.
Although I’m not a big fan of having ‘electronics’ close to my head while I sleep, I think using it for a month to figure out your sleep patterns so that you can maximize them for the rest of your life is worth the consequence. Poor sleep can such a negative impact on our health. Sleep Cycle helped me determine what the best sleep an d wake times are for me, and how many hours of sleep I do best on. It also helped me realize that I clearly wasn’t getting good sleep on certain days of the week… repeatedly. The app helped me to figure out why and make the correct changes to improve it.
This has become my note taking tool of choice. The biggest advantage is it syncs across all devices, so I can take quick notes anywhere on any device and finish them later on another. It’s also a great tool to instantly clip anything online and save it as a note for quick reference later. If I’m out with my kids and see a great birthday idea of them I can quickly snap a pic and save it to my ‘birthday gift idea’ folder.
If you’ve got a personal trainer or are a member at training facility like CrossFIt 613, where all of the programming is created for you then you won’t need this. But, if you don’t, Train Heroic is a great tool to get access to world class training programming so that you never have to think about what to do at the gym again. All you have to do is show up and do the work and leave all the programming and planning to the experts.
Food Apps
I personally don’t track my food in any way or cook for that matter… so I don’t have any nutrition related apps to recommend, although I would definitely use them if I did.. everything from grocery shopping lists, to recipes and food log apps can be found in the app store. Yes, I know, lucky me 🙂
What you don’t see on this list is more important than what you do see… email.
One of the best things I ever did was take email off my phone… if I want to check my email on my phone I’ve made it so its a pain in the butt so I’m discouraged from checking it – and default to only checking it when its ‘easier’ during pre-scheduled email times on my home computer.
This has dramatically improved my focus on whatever I’m doing – playing with the kids, training, going for a walk…. whatever it is I’m focused in the moment and on the experience rather than glued to other people’s agenda in my inbox.
I do have Facebook on my phone… thankfully I’ve never had a problem ignoring it 🙂 … although based on the frequency of people’s posts I think many struggle to resist the urge to check it frequently throughout the day. If that’s you I would highly recommend you remove the app all together and schedule specific times during the day to check it on a different device.
What about you?
What are your favourite apps?
Do you find technology improves or hinders your productivity and your ability to stay focused on your highest priorities?
Leave a comment below and let me know.
Dr. Michael Gibson has committed himself to helping others to live the best life possible. After graduating with a Bachelor of Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario, he received his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree and Masters of Science in Chiropractic Sports Science from Life University. He is the co-creator of Life By Design, owner of The Wellness Group, and co-owner of CrossFit 613. His passion for empowering families runs deep. After experiencing the loss of his sister due to illness, Michael’s purpose became reaching and teaching as many as possible the foundational principles of an extraordinary life. Since that time he has passionately pursued and been successful in living out his dream. He maintains a busy family chiropractic practice, a full speaking schedule and finds time to implement the principles and practices of Life By Design in his own life.
