Tag Archive for: organization

How Gayle King Stays Productive

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

A couple weeks ago, I went to see Gayle King give a talk. Gayle is an iconic journalist who has worked in media for over 40 years (even though she didn’t have a TV until she was in sixth grade!).

Plus, she’s Oprah’s BFF! And you know how much I love Oprah!

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11 Free Fab Finds for Productivity

Screen Shot 2015-02-18 at 5.03.21 PMGetting things done doesn’t always have to be time consuming and costly. There are actually a whole lot of free ways to be more productive.  I’ve put together this list of freebies that will get you on track:

Time Savers

1.  Pathtalk: This app is really versatile (and awesome)! It allows you to contact local businesses, make dinner reservations, book appointments, compare prices, and check in-store availability. Not to mention, you can do all of these things without making a single phone call!  I use it all the time.

2.  Dragon Dictation: Have a brilliant idea but don’t have any paper? Dragon will transcribe whatever you say with pretty good accuracy into a tweet, Facebook post or e-mail.  This is great for capturing to-dos that pop up when you’re on the run.

3.  Umano: This app allows you to listen to professionally recorded short news articles! Sign up and choose from a wide variety of publishers and bloggers (including me!) to listen to. It’s perfect for when you want to listen to stuff on-the-go! If you decide to try it out, use my code when signing up to get unlimited listening: NN8MEZ.

4.  Timeful:  A way to schedule all the things you really want to do!  You can connect Timeful to a calendar you already use and schedule in tasks like reading and meditation.Timeful will suggest the best times for you to complete each task – which you can accept or deny.

5.  Minutes Please: Control your web time here! You know how it goes — taking a 10 minute break to check Facebook turns into one hour. Enter the URL of the website and the number of minutes (up to 120) you want to spend on it. Minute Please will give you a countdown at the top of your browser. Never waste time online again!

6.  Scannable: A new mobile scanning app introduced by Evernote. I’ve already used it a bunch of times to scan receipts, insurance cards and articles.  All you have to do is point and click and you can instantly save or export the picture.

7.  HelloSign: You can sign e-signatures with this site that are legally binding.  This was a lifesaver when I was buying my apartment.  There’s just so much paperwork to fill out.  I used HelloSign to scan, edit, and sign documents.

8.  Hellofax: From the same makers of HelloSign.  With this app, there’s no need to have a fax machine anymore. HelloFax takes a high quality scan of your photo and securely faxes it to wherever you want. One of the best parts is, you can keep your current fax number to avoid confusion with customers. There’s a free 14 day trial.

Email

9.  Email Game: If you have an endless inbox — conquer your e-mail, with a game! This game encourages you to read and responds to e-mails faster and more decisively. This adds a fun twist on the boring task of sifting through your inbox.

10.  Unroll.Me*: Junk e-mail can pile up pretty quickly. When you’re in the store and they ask for your email, all of a sudden you’re getting a ton of useless newsletters. Unroll.Me will identify every newsletter that you’re subscribed to and you can opt-out with the click of a button.

11.  Boomerang: Get your inbox back down to zero. This app provides various useful features. If you’re up late answering emails, you can schedule to have them sent out in the morning. This way you can get your day starting out doing other tasks. You can also prioritize certain emails that you want to tackle later. Plus you can schedule emails you’d like to follow up on to pop back up into your inbox when you’re read to deal with them. The first 10 emails are free.

Still feeling overwhelmed by your email? Check out my course Take Back Your Inbox, which I created to help you get back in control!

Check out these free fab finds and let me know what you think below!

*Unroll.Me makes money by learning what people stay subscribed to and what they unsubscribe from – that data is valuable and helps corporations learn what people want and what they don’t want. Your email address is NOT sold. If you’d like to keep your subscription list private you’ll need to unsubscribe manually from individual email subscriptions. If you appreciate the swiftness that you can unsubscribe from multiple sources while helping brands service customers better then Unroll.Me is for you!

An Organized Closet Organizes Your Mind

pantry I’ve already revealed the challenges that I had buying my first apartment and moving into it in New York City. However – one of the highlights was being able to organize the space from scratch so it works efficiently for me and my hubby Jay. He shares my affinity for everything having a place. Of course, looking for an apartment in New York City is a lot more straightforward than it is now and we didn’t really have coliving spaces similar to Urbanests to call back on.

When we were searching for an apartment we would get so excited when we found one that had really organized closets. So we vowed that when we got a place of our own we would do the same.

So one of the really great improvements we made during the renovation of our apartment was to go totally wild in The Container Store.

If you don’t know about this store — you must. It’s a staple for anyone who loves organizational stuff or simply needs a little bit of help keeping things together. They have a line of closet shelving called “elfa” and we used it throughout our home in every single closet.

Here are my highlights: Read more

Springpad Says Farewell

Springpad app will be shutting down on June 25 (Photo Credit: beginnerstech.co.uk)

Springpad app will be shutting down on June 25 (Photo Credit: beginnerstech.co.uk)

Unfortunately, it’s time to say goodbye to another one of my favorite apps.

Earlier this year, I introduced you guys to Springpad—an app designed to help you plan, organize and share information regarding anything from important lists to your favorite recipes through notebooks and “springs”.

And once again, Evernote is taking over!  I feel like I’ve had to do so many of these posts lately—it seems like Evernote is taking over all of my favorite apps! Luckily, I’m a big fan of Evernote too, so I believe that Springpad is in good hands!

Springpad is officially shutting down on June 25th. You have until then to export your data, either to Evernote or to HTML and JSON files. Fortunately, Springpad has released an export tool that gives you the option to export your data to all three, in just a few simple steps.

Here’s how to transfer your data to each of the following:

1.     Evernote: Begin transferring your data at springpad.com/savemystuff. This will allow all of your Springpad data to move into an existing Evernote account. Once you transfer your data, all of your notes and notebooks will be available at evernote.com and sync on all of the Evernote apps. Luckily, you’ll be able to continue capturing and organizing all of the things you want to remember! Read more

Make THIS List This Summer

(Photo credit: melodygranger.com)

(Photo credit: melodygranger.com)

Any season is great for list-making but summer is especially perfect. There’s always so much I want to do and hopefully, the weather cooperates. With a busy schedule and summertime just around the corner, it’s a great time to make a list of goals to accomplish by the end of the summer.

My Summer Goals

1. Go to the beach at least two times. I grew up near the beach on Long Island and strangely enough, I haven’t been on the sand in the summer in a few years. I must remember to take a beach chair with me the next time I go so I at least have a bit of protection from the sand! As much as I love the beach, there isn’t anything worse than being covered in a large amount of sand.

2. Read two fiction books. I spend a lot of time reading lots of non-fiction for work and my own research that some of the stories I love to get lost in getting put on the back burner. Right now I’m reading Emily Giffin’s “The One & Only” and I have a few others on my list. Check them out on GoodReads. Read more