

#Simply being app plus#
You don’t need to do this when you’re making your morning sales calls - but when you’re sitting down to write your annual report, or do employee reviews, or create your business plan for your new dream company, Pomodoro plus meditation is incredibly effective

Keep in mind, this isn’t for everything - it’s for those long, intense, focused tasks. I strive to meditate during the short, 5 minute breaks, and then take a walk during the longer breaks. But it’s easier to track and somehow satisfying to see your tomato crops grow bigger, hand in hand with your focus and productivity.Īs I mentioned above, I personally like combining this with meditation (whether or not you use the Simply Being app). You don’t necessarily need a dedicated app for this. This way, you’ll get more done, you’ll feel more focused, and your results will be of higher quality. After 4 consecutive working time blocks, you take a longer break, around 15 or 20 minutes. So Cirillo came up with a simple idea: you use a timer to break your work into focused time blocks (usually 25 minutes) separated by a 5-minute break. We all know that if we try to stretch our brains to concentrate for too long, productivity drops rapidly. Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique? It’s a carrot and a stick type of approach to any kind of intensive and focused work invented by Francesco Cirillo during an exam period in his first year at the university. The motto is: “Work smarter, not harder”. Now that we got our minds at ease, it’s time to tackle the work mess. This works particularly well when combined with Pomodoro Keeper, below. On the subway, at the post office, in a café, it’s up to you. Simply Being gives you the opportunity to turn the world off for a few minutes and allow your mind to relax and regenerate whenever and wherever. But don’t worry, there’s an app for that. How many times during the day do you take a moment to leave everything be, take a deep breath, clear your mind and concentrate on nothing for a bit? I know, zero to none. This app helps you learn to see them and appreciate them - and you’ll be better because of it. Life’s always good when it comes to the small things. Remember that perfect morning coffee that you secretly added sugar to? How about the snowball fight your kids had before you brought them to school? You left the office on time, and for once you came to your favorite lunch place before the queue started growing. Happier is an app that encourages you to collect your happy moments throughout the day. Let’s start with apps that have no other purpose than to simply make you feel better, think new and live well. Please let me know if you do! General Mindset

The four I’m writing about here aren’t as mainstream, but I think you’ll find them incredibly beneficial. His list includes classics, that have been on the top of productivity lists for a few years now, and I strongly encourage you to try them out: Evernote, Trello, Headspace, Fitbit, and IFTTT.

Inspired by a post by Redditor /u/geno149, where he described his experience of wiping all the annoying, social, buzzing apps off his phone and replacing them with ones that actually benefit him - “Apps to optimize your life”, as he calls them - I’ve put together my own list of ones that aren’t quite as common. And as much as I support this decision, because I often struggle with just turning it off once I come home and not think about it until the next day, I may have a different approach for you. One of the resolutions may have been to take a break from your phone and all the other screens every now and then. But hear me out! This is not going to be just another of those articles, I promise. I know, you’re probably fed up with the endless stream of articles about becoming a better you, quit smoking, finally start going to the gym or cut out the carbs.
