Tag Archive for: productivity apps

How to Travel Productively

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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.

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Spontaneous trips are fun but productive trips are better!

Having a plan allows you to save money, travel safely, and enjoy a stress-free trip to a beautiful destination! And there’s a perfect amount of planning to prepare for your vacation.

Founder & CEO of Tripscout, Konrad Waliszewski joined me on Inside Scoop to teach how to travel productively.

Here are his top tips for an organized (but not too organized trip)!

Read more

(VIDEO) Priorigami App Helps to Prioritize Your To-Dos

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I’m always on the lookout for new list-making apps that do more than just store your lists. Helpful, productivity-based apps are not always that easy to come by. Which is why I was excited when I first discovered Priorigami.

The founder of the app, Monisha Longacre was inspired by her love of the Fitbit, and brought its goal-driven style to her productivity app. I was so impressed I arranged a video chat with Monisha to discuss her app and how it can help people prioritize their day.

Check out the video here, where we discuss the following:

  • 3:10 – How to stick to your priorities
  • 5:15 – Why completing your list should feel as good as when you complete your 10,000 steps on your Fitbit!
  • 6:45 – How to create a priority system
  • 8:30 – Finding the prioritization method that works best for you
  • 9:00 – The afternoon shuffle up, or why you should always take a moment to re-think your priorities.
  • 10:45 – How to deal with lingering tasks
  • 12:30 – The importance of breaking your lists down into steps
  • 13:20 Monisha’s top tip!

Priorigami is a free app – if you download the app let me know what you think!

Is My Meeting Scheduler Making Me Rude?

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Since I quit my job and went out on my own as a media trainer and coach helping experts, authors and entrepreneurs create videos and podcasts  there’s one productivity site I’ve been using all the time. It’s called Schedule Once. It’s connected to my calendar and allows clients to schedule time to chat with me. It’s brilliant!

Old fashioned scheduling involves a lot of back and forth, Schedule Once makes everything much more streamlined. Clients can quickly go to my page, see when I’m free and pick a time that works best for them.

When it works, it’s great – the thing is, a lot of people don’t want to use it! Read more

A List Making App For Us!

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17oTr569List makers rejoice! There’s an app just for us!

It’s called The List App — and it’s like Twitter for lists.

You can create and share all your best lists. You can also request a list from users – so you could ask your friend what they favorite food is, or you can ask Snoop Dogg for a list of his favorite movies. (Yes, even Snoop Dogg has an account!)

The app was created by The Office actor and writer B J Novak along with Dev Flaherty. On producthunt.com Novak explains why he created the app:

“I just love ’em. I’m always asking people for lists of favorite restaurants in certain cities, or documentaries on Netflix that are good, and originally wanted a place where people could request and share those types of lists with friends. There’s still a lot of that.

But we’ve also discovered what I think we all knew deep down – that lists are addictive, because they’re the way our brains naturally order things anyway. It enables substance way easier than other forms of writing because it is often the connective tissue that gets in the way.”

The app encourages people to share all kinds of lists, not just shopping lists. There are lists on hot new music alongside lists of favorite emojis! Read more

Outsourcing Site Zirtual Goes Bye Bye — Don’t Panic

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zirtual**There’s an UPDATE to this story…Quicker Than a Celeb Marriage…Zirtual is Back!**

 

If you follow my blog regularly you know that I’m a huge fan of outsourcing.  I’ve given lots of ideas of what to get off your to-do list by giving it to someone else.  Plus I’ve talked about some of the best new apps and websites to help with your outsourcing.  The good and bad of some of these new startups is that some can’t hack it in the startup world.  

Enter: Zirtual.  

I’ve told a lot of people about this service and I even mentioned it in my book Listful Thinking — so I feel it’s only fair to give you the skinny and a few alternatives to keep on outsourcing.  

Here’s What Happened

Outsourcing website Zirtual has closed its doors. Due to an accounting error almost 400 employees lost their jobs overnight. According to Fortune’s interview with the CEO Maren Kate Donovan —  Zirtual outsourced some of its financial management to a Silicon Valley company which provided turnkey CFO support and services.

Unfortunately a payroll error went unnoticed and Zirtual projections had missed two additional payroll cycles. With hundreds of employees, that’s a lot of unaccounted money.

So they had to close up shop quick!

What Does This Mean For You?

Sadly Zirtual has not yet announced any plans for reimbursing customers who had not used all their hours. Startups.co aquired Zirtual after this snafu and they will most likely strike a deal with old Zirtual customers to keep their business. But I don’t know what that deal will be.

Even if you’re not a Zirtual customer — we can learn an important lesson from Zirtual. Just because you have outsourced a task doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check in on that task every once in a while.

Some Outsourcing Alternatives

Here are some replacement apps you can try:

Fancy Hands – Outsourcing is one of the best ways to get more done. Fancy Hands is like having your own virtual personal assistant.  Assistants can do research for you, make appointments and even make annoying calls to customer service on your behalf.  They just can’t do any physical tasks.

TaskRabbit.com – Similar to Fancy Hands, except they do physical tasks as well. TaskRabbit is great for crossing items off your list like putting together Ikea furniture or picking up groceries and laundry. Currently, TaskRabbit is available in 18 cities across the United States, as well as in London.

Alfred – This service specializes in taking care of your chores for you, which you know I’m all about.  The cheapest package is a tidy-up service that costs $15 a week, including things like making the bed, doing the dishes and taking out the trash. If you want the option to ask for something special, like food delivery, you’ll shell out $22 bucks a week. Alfred is only currently available in New York City and Boston.

How do you outsource your tasks?