My Favorite Productivity Apps

Guys, I love my iPhone. I really, really do. AND I love a good app. There are so many great apps out there for literally anything you want to do and "getting stuff done" is no exception. I use a variety of apps on a daily basis to help get things done faster + more efficiently. Hustle and 30/30 are by far my favorites. 

Hustle

I wanted to share this app because it's a lot like a website I shared awhile ago called Liltup, but in app form. Hustle (and Liltup) are super awesome because they're to-do lists with one simple-but-genius twist: a timer. Clearly, I only get things done with a timer going. This app is great for when I get back home from classes in the afternoon and I want to organize my crazy life + make sure I get everything done, from my design to blogging to classwork. And it's so easy! All I do is input all my to-do's into the app, add a time estimate/goal for each task + voila! I have a clear picture of my afternoon + how much work I have on my hands.

Once I get started, I use the timer to push myself to finish everything faster. When I finish something a few minutes early, I treat myself to a little blog reading, a little TV or something else fun. As an added plus, I can see everything I got done at the end of the day. So I get to give myself a little metaphorical pat on the back before bed!

My favorite part about Hustle is that it helps me think realistically about how much I can get done in a day. If I get home at 4 pm and try to get in bed at 9:30 pm, I can't plan six hours of work to do. I just can't. In my head, I might. But when I plan it out like this, I have no choice but to be realist about my time.

30/30

I love 30/30 because it helps me get through the menial routines of my daily life. I use the app on weekday mornings to help me get ready for my day quickly + efficiently. I'm a quasi-morning person. I like being up early because I'm productive + I get stuff done, but I also don't like getting up too early. I leave for class at 7:15 in the morning, but (herein lies my predicament) I also exercise best in the mornings. But homegirl also loves her sleep. Sooo I have my morning scheduled out down to the minute (literally) so I can sleep in as late as possible + meanwhile still get everything done before school. I'm pretty proud of this actually.

I use 30/30 to help me stay on task in the mornings so that I can be on a tight time schedule but so that I'm never late. Like Hustle, you put in all your tasks + a time limit. But unlike Hustle, 30/30 is really well suited for routines. I find myself trying to beat the clock + often times I'm able to finish my routine up to ten minutes early!

My favorite part of 30/30 is that, unlike Hustle, it runs continuously. Meaning that if I take too long on one thing, I have to make it up by speeding up on the next thing. It's impossible to ignore if I'm way off track! So I end up on time for class, exercised + prepared for the day. Win-win-win!

Here's the thing about productivity: I had someone in a comment on an old post ask me why I'm always rushing to finish things. Why I always want to "get stuff done" (which is literally my favorite phrase ever). And I thought about her question for a really long time--it's really a good one! 

As I thought about that, I kept coming back to a quote that I remember from Cheaper By the Dozen. For those of you that have only seen the Steve Martin movie (which is nothing like the actual book), it's the biography of two time and motion experts, which is old timey language for professional productivity nerds. And near the end of the book, someone asks Frank why he's always rushing, why he wants to save time as much as possible. And he responds with this:

“For work, if you love that best…For education, for beauty, for art, for pleasure…For mumblety-peg, if that’s where your heart lies.”

And I just wanted to leave you with that today as a reason for posts like this. I believe in working productively so that I can have time for play, for designing for fun, for laying in my ENO doing nothing, for watching Law and Order. 

Do you use any apps to help you get things done? Share them, share them! Really. I want to know your favorites.

get stuff done: tips + tricks + sanity

Hi pumpkins! How was your week? It's Satturrrdaaayyyyyy!! Yesterday was an especially exciting day for me, not just because it was Friday but also because it was H's birthday! Which meant dinner and presents and happy things. But really, I was so glad his birthday falls on a Friday so I don't have to worry about classwork and everything tonight.

But speaking of classwork and just work in general, I want to share some tips today on how I get through crazy amounts of work. I've found a couple different tools and tips that help me get exponentially more things done.

1. The Pomodoro Method. This one's nothing new, I know, but it's good because it works. This method is best for when you have one task to work on for a long period of time. So this is great for using when working if you're self-employed or a freelancer or really whatever else you're doing. The basic premise of the method is that you work for 25 minutes, then take a break for 5 minutes or use that time to transition to another task. After 3-4 "Pomodoros", you take a 15 minute break. Read more about how it works here.

There are lots of tools online to help you with using this method. I especially like the "Simple Pomodoro Timer" app and MarinaraTimer.com. The Pomodoro Method is really helpful because it keeps you from being distracted by email pings or other little distractions. It's much easier to let them wait if you know you have a five minute slot to deal with them in less than 25 minutes. I've found I'm much more focused and productive using this method.

2. LiltUp. This is an online "to-do" list of sorts but with a timer built in. Basically, you put it everything you have to do along with how long you think it'll take. LiltUp tells you what time you'll be done and then starts the timer for you. I like this tool because when I get home from classes or work, I'll put in literally everything I have for the night (even dinner/shower), and then if I have extra time before bed, I'll put different fun activities and schedule them in between my tasks.

This uber-scheduling might not work for some but it is so helpful for me. The only thing I don't like about LiltUp is that there isn't an app, so I have to be at my computer. If I'm doing work that's offline, that's frustrating because I get distracted by my computer easily.

3. StayFocusd. This is a web extension specifically for Google Chrome but I'm sure there are equivalent tools for other browsers if you look around. In essence, SF has a couple different settings to keep your from wasting time on pointless websites. In one option, you can set a daily max of time on sites like twitter or facebook or whatever your weakness is. After that time, it just won't let you access them. You can also set SF to block certain websites say for a certain time, like an hour, or a certain slot of time. And my favorite SF option is called Nuclear. In Nuclear, SF will block everything on the internet for however long you choose.

One of my favorite things about SF is that you can't go back and change settings (i.e. give yourself more time in the first option) easily. To change the time allowances, you have to copy a paragraph (about procrastination) word for word with no mistakes. It's way harder than you think. Oftentimes, my lazy side will just give up and I'll get back to work.

How do you stay focused + productive?