Save Time by Using Smartphone Geolocation Reminders

Here is a simple and easy to use, time saving feature that many people haven't set up on their smartphone: use geolocation reminders. Simply put, you can dictate a reminder which will appear on your phone when you arrive at home. For example, "Remind me to take the steak out of the freezer when I get home" or "remind me to water the flowers when I get home." Whatever you want to remember but don't need to think about until you get there, you can use geolocation reminders. You can also set geo reminders for your workplace, and (although I haven't) set them for specific places like your local grocery store. You can find nice, detailed instructions for iPhones here on how to do this. Geolocation reminders work on Droids, too. Note that you can set reminders for times, too, which also are helpful, such as "Remind me to call my wife at four."

The main idea is, of course, to remember something, but the added bonus is that you can task your phone with the work of both recording it and reminding you. Recently I heard about some research that points out we can only keep four things in our brain at a time, so this is a way to help declutter your mind and keep room available for other, bigger things that need your attention. I also have mentioned suffering from Dementia of the Preoccupied, and this helps with that, too. 

I also have written about the Things program in the past, which I use for organized to do lists. One of the many features I like about this program is that any dictated reminders get put in the Things inbox so I can move them to a list later and not forget about them. 

Take time today to get your smartphone set up and take advantage of this helpful feature. I hope you will find it as helpful as I have!

Single Tasking to Combat Self-Induced Distraction and Infomania

Image Source

I frequently have written about something I first learned about on the Note to Self podcast, such as the Attention Economy, JOMO, and Crystal. Back in January, Note to Self issued a challenge for listeners combating Infomania and I participated.  Recently they revisited the topic with an Infomagical Bootcamp and it was a great refresher. I encourage you to listen to it (20 minutes is all it will take). Here are my highlights:

• Multitasking is actually switching many tasks rapidly rather than doing more than one thing at once; not really new information, but important to understand. Switching attention uses glucose and is tiring, as well as increases stress. Scientists have determined that it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds after an interruption to get refocused. Yikes!
   
• There are external caused interruptions (such as a new email ding or incoming text message) and internally instigated interruptions (checking Facebook or surfing the web without being prompted). Scientists have observed that interruptions are "self perpetuating", meaning that if you have had a hectic hour of external interruptions, you are likely to frequently self-interrupt your work and thoughts the next hour even when not prompted to do so externally. We are making things worse for ourselves!
   
• Research shows that the more urbanized you are, the more likely you are to be a "digital junkie" who spends more time consuming information and talking about it with others. However, only half the information we take in daily even gets stored and used in the future.
   
• One solution: single tasking. Make lists and prioritize these to-do lists. Get things out of your mind that don't need your attention at that moment which would be a distraction. Our brain can only hold four items at a time anyway.
   
• Another tip I found beneficial- don't let the environment dictate what you do. For example, starting your day off by sitting at your computer to answer the most recent emails allows those items to dictate what you are focusing on vs. spending time deeper in thought on a more important task or project from the previous day. 

Personally, I have found the Things program great for my lists and to-dos. I have also found it beneficial to take control of my phone and its apps by turning off almost all notifications, badges, and alerts. I believe it's important to reflect on our use of technology, which I've called Techcognition, as well as help our kids (who can't imagine life any differently) learn to do this. Single tasking is a skill I can help my kids learn and try to practice myself.  I hope you will, too!

Related Posts:

• 86+ Day Facebook Fast: You're either busy living or busy dying.

• Techcognition in an Attention Economy

• Crystal Knows, Digital Footprints, and Personalized Learning

• Five Ways to Raise Digitally Balanced JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) Kids in a FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) World

• Stop Digging Yourself a Bigger Hole & Get Stuff Organized with Things 

• New Year's Resolution: 3 Ways to Cut Back on Digital Distractions

• Technology & Relationships- 15 minute interview

• Crazy Busy: You Are Letting the Screen Strangle Your Soul

• My First Apple Watch: Solution to Distraction?

• The Next Tech Thing: 10 Days Without Email

• Be Where Your Feet Are: #RealTime with Those Around You

• Curbi: Great Option for Filtering and Monitoring an iPhone/iPad/iPod

• What's in a Name? Digital Health & Wellness vs. Digital Citizenship 

• The Teenage Brain +Dementia of the Preoccupied

• March Madness Boss Button: Adults Get Distracted, too!

• Raising Digitally Balanced Kids: Cybersafety Resources

Stop Digging Yourself a Bigger Hole & Get Stuff Organized with Things

"If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." 

 -Will Rogers 

Things Interface. Image Source

For the past month I've been using Cultured Code's Things program for keeping track of tasks and stuff I want to remember.  I really liked it and have found it to be very helpful. As I've written about before, I find myself becoming more and more forgetful with and ever growing amount of information. (See Dementia of the Preoccupied) It seems I have all sorts of things I want to remember and ideas, questions, and to-do items that pop into my head at inopportune moments, and if I don't make a note of them, I will forget.

I've tried numerous systems over the years, everything from digital notes and Post-Its, the Reminders app on my phone, and other programs similar to Things. Most often I'd just send myself an email, resulting in an ever growing inbox of unorganized items that could not be sorted by importance or categorized. This resulted in major inefficiencies of re-reading the same items and missing important items that were buried. I was digging myself into a bigger hole. Things has changed this.

One of the best things about Things is the fact that it works across all my devices. The app is on my iPhone, iPad and also my Mac. Any item I add syncs across all of these locations. It sounds simple, but is wonderful. Thoughts occur anywhere; access to your lists and tasks should mirror this. It also integrates with Siri, which is super helpful. Anytime I think of something I don't want to forget, I only need to tell Siri to "Remind me to..." and the item is added to Things. I love the convenience of this compared to my past inefficient systems. 

The four buckets in Things. Image from Things.

The features within Things program itself make it so much better than just using the iPhone's Reminders app or Notes. Each item that you add can be categorized in one of four buckets:

1. Something that needs to be done Today
2. Items that are Next
3. Scheduled Items you assign a due date
4. Items that can be put into a Someday bucket

There are many other features in the program, most of which I haven't even tried out yet. The interface is simple and it was easy to get started. It has a two week trial period, which is a great way to get started. The week I bought the program it was half off the $50 retail price which was a nice plus. 

I first heard about Things in December at the TIES Conference from Mark Wallace. Mark's presentation was entitled, "Redeeming Time: Finding Freedom from Overload" and was one of the best I attended. Mark shared the Will Rogers quote above and it fit my current lack of an effective system. He also mentioned the book Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson which I had read and liked, so I was hooked. (See a previous post on Crazy Busy: You Are Letting the Screen Strangle Your Soul.) 

Mark talked about the "stuff generators" in our lives: email, social media, family, students, home. He pointed out that research has proven we can only hold four to seven things in our short term memories. Capturing and offloading it into the least amount of places is therefore necessary. Then we need to clarify and organizing our stuff into actions and outcomes, which you can do with Things. I am thankful I was at his presentation and saw this solution. Hopefully you find it beneficial, too.