This Productivity Tip Will Blow Your Mind

/3 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Screen shot 2014-02-02 at 5.03.39 PMI use Twitter every day to gather news, ideas, recipes, and the occasional “cute emergency.” I often “favorite” tweets with articles so I can read them later. They are usually ideas for blog posts, interesting tidbits, and, of course, productivity tips. I have all of these stockpiled in my “favorite tweets” but I never actually go back to read them. NEVER. What a waste, right?

Then I found IFTTT.com and discovered the most amazing productivity tip ever! “If this then that” is a service that allows you to connect different apps and sites (channels as they call them) to create your own “recipe” or action that you want your media channels to perform.

IFTTT.com has almost 10,000 pages of different “recipes” to choose from or you can create your very own for pretty much any function. For example, want to know when there will be a chance of rain? Create a recipe to receive a text whenever a drizzle or thunderstorm is near – no more bad hair days! Or want to save all your Instagram photos to your computer? There is a recipe that will automatically save them to Dropbox.

Read more

Organize Anything With SpringPad

/2 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , /by

A friend of mine is moving for a new job and needed to get a lot organized in a short period of time. She tried a few apps that I’ve suggested on the site, but even my hero app Evernote couldn’t keep up with everything she needed to do. She needed an app that would allow her to make notebooks that could include tasks, people, events, lists, location information, and important links. While I can think of the best apps to handle each of those things individually, I couldn’t think of any that handled them all together. Until we found SpringPad.

SpringPad is a multi-faceted personal organization tool that is designed to help you plan or organize anything. Create custom notebooks for yourself, or share them with others to collaborate. Then, start filling those notebooks up with “springs.”

A spring could be anything, like:

Movies – When I spring a movie title Springpad creates a small icon with the poster of the movie. The app notifies me when the film comes out in theaters (and will help me find showtimes), when it comes out on DVD, and even when it is available on Netflix.

Links – For links, I usually use the “Spring It” feature, a button that lives in the bookmarks bar and allows me to “spring” any website to my SpringPad account. It’s a great way to save articles and videos to watch later. Read more

Fab Find: PocketSuite Connects You With Small Businesses Nearby

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

A friend of mine is getting married and has been really into getting fit before the big day! I wanted to get her personal training as an engagement gift, but I don’t live near her so I struggled researching nearby gyms and reading several conflicting reviews on the internet. It was important to me to find the right person for her because I didn’t want to waste my money or her time. Then I discovered PocketSuite, the app that would solve my dilemma!

PocketSuite is designed to connect freelancers, personal assistants, trainers, and small business owners with clients in their area. The app helps you find professionals based on your location for a wide variety of services. Simply sign up, attach a credit card to your account, and then PocketSuite handles:

  • Scheduling Appointments – The app maintains a calendar of appointments, making it easy for you to find the best available appointment time for your busy schedule. Read more

6 Productivity Shortcuts To Save You Time

/2 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Recently, a friend told me she heard a statistic that claimed that the average American living in suburbia can spend up to 3 years of their life waiting at traffic lights. I live in NYC so this time-waster doesn’t apply to me directly, but it really got me thinking about how I might be wasting time even in my very productive life. I’ve written before on the basics – laying out your clothes the night before, having a plan for the morning, etc – but I believe that just like goals are achieved by focusing on the small steps, maximum productivity is achieved through shortcuts.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Using keyboard shortcuts – The tech experts at brainwave.com estimate that you save 2 seconds per minute when you use keyboard shortcuts (vs. reaching for the mouse). If that doesn’t seem like a lot of time – that 2 seconds per minute adds up to 8 workdays per year – that’s an extra vacation!

Read more

Watch My Webinar To Boost Your Productivity

/1 Comment/in , , , , /by

I started this site nearly three years ago when a friend asked me to share an apartment-hunting list I had made. And helping others become more organized and productive has been the major reason I’ve kept writing for all of these years. Wednesday, I decided that it was time to take that help to the next level so I hosted my very first webinar!

It was a lot of fun (despite some technical glitches — please excuse!) In case you missed it, you can see it here:

One of the biggest setbacks people face is just getting started. Let me help you tackle your inbox, find time to cross off your to-dos and make better lists to set you up for success in 2014! If you want personal help, please fill out this Free Productivity Assessment to better understand where you need more organization in your life. I’ll hand pick a few people to have a personal one-on-one phone call with to focus on any issues that are keeping you from being more productive.

Thanks for checking out my webinar!