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Monday, September 19, 2011

Using Your Smartphone as Productivity Tool

When people talk about productivity and smartphones the conversation is usually about being able to stay connected or some app touting productivity.  Both of these are true and are much of the reason people get a smartphone.  They are wonderfully powerful devices that continue to transform the way we do things. 

In a recent post about my digital personal kanban system I mentioned that I use a number of Google products in my productivity system.  I use Google Calendar to sync all my work appoints and personal appoints in one convenient place.  Google Tasks is a simple To-Do list I use to manage my short duration tasks.  I also keep track of smaller tasks like phone calls or conversations that I my do that day.

These tools by themselves are not unique and can easily be done with paper and pencil.  The simplicity of these tools make them appealing.  I have been able to combine the simplicity of these digital tools and powerfully portable handheld device into a productivity tool.   Here is a screen shot of my system:


The top left is where my calendar resides showing me my next 3 appointments. In the upper right corner is a digital post-it note that allows me to quickly type a note or list of things that I must do today.   On the bottom of the screen is my To-Do list sorted by date.  The tasks are colored coded as I mentioned before by category. This is my home screen on my phone so that it is first and foremost easily accessed.

This is my own portable visual productivity board right in the palm of my hand.  How do you use your phone to increase your productivity?  Share your experience in the comments of this posts.


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4 comments:

  1. I like how simple and easy it looks. It is always on top so you can see it without wasting motion to log into other screens. Very nice work.

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  2. I also use the calendar and the todo list synching with outlook. I do not know how to have them side by side on the screen as a cockpit but I use the widgets. I do not control my phone calls but for networking purposes always thought it would be good to have a list that shows who was not called for a longer time. I do not know a way of controling it this way. Thomas.

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  3. Thomas, I am not sure what you are referring to. What do you mean controlling calls?

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  4. Great post, Tim. I too sync with Outlook calendar, tasks and memos. I keep my "brain dumps" in the memos, such as ideas for blog posts and articles I want to write as well as concepts I want to talk to clients about.

    I love the mobility of my smart phone. I get a lot of ideas while walking in the woods with my dog. It's so easy to use my smart phone to capture things that I can refer to later.

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