If you’re a busy church designer looking to get more things done, especially on the go, using productivity-boosting apps on your mobile device is a proven way to accomplish more ... in less time.
Scattered across the digital horizon lie thousands of apps promising to simplify your life. Here’s a narrowed focus of 10 apps designed to hone your skills in organization, task management, mindfulness and, ultimately, free up headroom so you can orchestrate your next creative project.
SaneBox
Haunted by your inbox? Let Sanebox -- an email management software app -- sort and declutter your inbox automatically. This app identifies important messages, hides distractions, has Do Not Disturb, reminds you to follow up and offers even more handy features. (Basic plans start at $7 p/mos., with a 25 percent discount for students, non-profits and 30% off for yearly purchases.)
Todoist
An award-winning app that lets you run with organizing everything you must get done is Todoist. It touts easy to use, uncomplicated features that work great for monitoring your activity. Visually, Todoist is praised for a simple looking and easy to follow experience across multiple devices. This app enables you to work offline so you can add tasks, create filters, move projects around, etc. on all your devices and then once online, have things sync seamlessly. (Free for starters, $3.00 per/mo for premium and $5.00 per/mo for business.)
Trello
For another approach to tackling your to-do lists consider adding Trello to your toolbox. It works using a system of boards, cards and lists. More than just a to-do list, this app is agile as it uses the popular Kanban project management system. It breaks down large projects into short periods of activity marked by things to do, things being done, and things that are done. With the lists, you create cards, or tasks, which move along the workflow. You can set reminders as well as synchronize with other platforms. Tick one of your tasks and have the update show up on your partner’s or colleagues’ device too. (Individual Free, Business plans starting at 9.99 p/mos)
LastPass
Still using pet names for passwords? Do have a hurriedly cobbled list of notes that contain passwords and other sensitive information? If so, then the password saver, Lastpass may be just what you need. Their free version syncs across any number of devices, offers secure and unlimited password storage, and features a password generator. (Free.)
Stride
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stridehealth.drive&hl=en
Troublesome expense tracking can be simplified by Stride, a completely free expense and mileage tracker. It automatically records miles, lets you import expenses from your bank, take photos of business receipts, helps you find money-saving tax deductions and write-offs, and integrates with tax filing software to help simplify tax filing. Built and designed especially for those who are self-employed and 1099 workers, Stride also assists in locating business expenses that can be claimed by self-employed or independent workers that ultimately will help lower taxes. (Free.)
Nozio
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noizio
Are the recent demands of working from home stretching your ability to focus? Do you find your productivity suffering due to a noisy environment? Instead of being distracted, be your most productive self with the help an ambient sound equalizer app. Nozio features a minimalist design you’ll appreciate. Users will find it easy to create, name and save high quality ambient sound mixes to suit your exact situation, whether you need to focus, relax or sleep. ($2.99)
Temi & Google Live Transcribe
A luxury anyone can afford today is to access low cost or even free transcription services. Whether obtaining a script of your client meeting, or simply transcribing your own brain dump, live speech to text transcription apps are a relatively new way to get real-time automated transcripts. Both apps rate well in word error rate (WER), meaning the transcription closely matches the audio. Of the two Temi offers timestamps, encoded information that identifies when a word was spoken, which depending on your needs can be invaluable when reviewing transcripts. (Temi offers 45 free minutes and then a rate of $0.25 per minute. Google Transcribe is free.)
8 SwiftKey
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.touchtype.swiftkey&hl=en_US
Wish you were able to key your texts and messages more quickly? SwiftKey swipe keyboard is one of the original apps to offer swipe functionality, and constantly learns and adapts to match your unique way of typing. SwiftKey delivers a solid experience offering word prediction and autocomplete that accurately predicts your next word. Various theming options allow you to customize your keyboard, even allowing you to add your own images in the background. (Free.)
Sam Harris’ Waking Up
Sam Harris is an author (with five New York Times best sellers), a neuroscientist and a philosopher who has turned his book and podcast into an effective, easy-to-use meditation app. Daily meditations are about accessing reasoning and decision-making abilities that are meant to help users connect to themselves and others more effectively. Ditching an overly spiritual approach to meditation, Waking Up trains for mindfulness, relaxation and mental clarity by focusing on the practice of meditation and learning the theory behind the practice.
(Waking Up is free to download and offers 5 meditations and 5 short talks from the Introductory Course. There is an in-app money back guarantee subscription for either $14.99 p/mos or $99.99 p/year.)
TED
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ted.android&hl=en
Everyone is familiar with TED talks. But did you know that there’s a TED app? For your next dose of education or inspiration you can choose from over 1700 TED talks on a variety of topics. The app curates lists from categories, making it easier for you to find the latest inspiring TED talk. The app keeps updating with new TED talks, so you’ll never run out of cool educational videos to watch. (Free.)
If you have other app suggestions, please comment below.
