4 Ways Technology Can Improve Productivity

The goal of this article is to empower people to incorporate technology into their workday to make life easier. Here we would focus on 4 fruitful ways technology can help us.

Technology helps in work. A lady stressed out because of work

Ways Technology can Improve Work

It can be difficult to focus sometimes, especially at work. Inability to concentrate can have a big impact on your productivity and the amount of work you’ll get done during the day. This is especially relevant today where work from home and hybrid work is becoming more prominent. This flexibility at work enables us to have some control over our work schedules. It even allows us to have a better work/life balance.

During my time in college, I was always coming up with new tips and tricks to stay productive so I could meet my deadlines. My love for technology leads me on a journey to come up with ways to increase my efficiency. Through this process, I found ways that technology could help me better focus, stay on task and meet my deadlines.

Over time I modified and refined my workflow to better meet my needs, demonstrating how adaptable technology can be. My new workflow incorporates a handful of apps as well as leveraging Apple’s new focus mode, a revamp of their Do Not Disturb feature. The apps that I use are Reminders, Calendar, Timery by Toggl, and the Apple Shortcuts app. In addition to these apps, I also use Apple’s Focus modes to help me stay on track. Let’s dive into my workflow and how each of the items I mentioned helps me stay productive.

1. Calendar & Reminders

Calender in iPhone. Apple iPhone calender to improve productivity by schedules

While the calendar app seems obvious, many might not realize its abundant features to help users stay productive. I mainly use the calendar to schedule my appointments, but I also use the notification features to give myself some time to get ready before my meeting/appointment. For instance, this can be useful for Zoom calls.

Recently, Apple added the ability to add Zoom links into the calendar app, all you have to do is make sure you have Zoom installed and that you’re signed in. Once you have the Zoom link added to your calendar, simply tap the join button and from there you can join directly. You’re taken out of the calendar app and right into the Zoom app. I find this extremely convenient, especially since the pandemic with our reliance on video conference software such as Zoom.

Overall, the calendar app is integral to managing my work and video conferencing schedules. I often use this app in conjunction with the Reminders app, another beneficial one.

Reminders’ is an integral part of my workflow because that’s where I write down anything due or any task that still needs to be completed. I enjoy reminders because I can organize and stay concentrated on what’s due next with ease. I appreciate it because reminders make me feel in control of my tasks, and it gives me great satisfaction when I can complete one and check off the list. It is essential to my workflow because I constantly check the app to keep track of mundane tasks like a checklist or building habits. This can be really handy for grocery shopping.

Reminder Checklist showing diary and planner

Another feature I find useful is location-based reminders; these are great because you can have the app remind you when you arrive or leave an area. You simply set up whether you want to be reminded when you leave or arrive and then you put in the location. After that, reminders will alert you of your tasks at specified locations. The same can be done with time, which can be useful for anyone who takes medication. Especially, if you have to take your medicine at a certain time each day.

I’ve found that the reminders app has made me more productive because I can see what I have to do next effortlessly. This is important if you’re working on multiple projects at once, and I find that it helps take the stress away because I can visualize exactly what I have to do. If you’re someone who needs to imagine something, I strongly recommend incorporating the reminders app into your workflow.

2. Timery

Person holding silver iPhone 6 showing Timery

Timery by Toggl’ is an exhilarating app because it keeps tabs on your time and time tracking is key to productivity. I enjoy this because I can see how long I’ve spent working on a task. It is incredibly advantageous for professionals who have to keep track of their time for billing purposes. However, I like keeping an eye on the amount of time I spend working on a specific project because it helps me manage my time. If I see that I’ve been working too long on something, I can adjust the next time to be more mindful of my time because why not? It’s precious and can never come back.

3. Shortcuts

Apple MacBook Air

As a writer, I’m constantly using quotes from a book or peer-reviewed article. I’m working electronically most of the time, which means I’m typically using an e-book or PDF. Sometimes when you copy and paste a quote, there can be extra material that’s not needed. This is where Apple Shortcuts come into the picture. I use a shortcut that I found online that allows me to clean it up.

Essentially the shortcut takes away any extra material that’s not needed, such as the publisher name. This makes my workflow streamlined because I spend less time fixing something manually. I’m able to, with shortcuts, simply press a button and have the work done for me. This helps significantly with my time management, enabling me to have more time simply concentrating on my work. I appreciate that Shortcuts enables quick little actions that otherwise would be more time-consuming.

4. Focus Modes

Last year, Apple released iOS 15, and with it, they re-equiped the ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature. Years prior, I used ‘Do Not Disturb’ while I worked so that nobody could bother me. Focus Mode takes this to another level where you can have different profiles for different tasks. For example, you can set up a work focus mode that turns on based on your configured time schedules.

So if you’re working and want to get messages from Slack messenger or calls from colleagues only, you can customise to it. In contrast, you’d want a personal focus mode that silences Slack messenger and calls from work co-workers when you go home. I enjoy Focus Mode because you can set up a defined barrier between work and personal life. You can allow the work apps to contact you at certain times and then have them shut after office hours.

To know how to use this option, click here - Tools to Find Focus

Conclusion

There are so many useful tips and tricks such as using location-based reminders, adding Zoom links into the calendar app and tracking time with Timery by Toggl. These suggestions should empower all users no matter what their level of expertise is with technology. For anyone unsure where to start first, I would recommend trying the reminders app.

It’s great because you can use it as a simple checklist, but if you want to go further you can take advantage of features like time-based or location-based reminders. Users can even use Siri while on a webpage or news article to simply remind them later and Siri will save the items for later in the app. I personally didn’t change my entire workflow in one day and I don’t expect anyone to do so. It’s all about trial and error, looking at your workflow and figuring out what works and what doesn’t for you. It’s a process, so don’t get overwhelmed!

To achieve better productiveness, I examined my workflow and figured out where I needed help. I identified that I needed help keeping track of everything I was currently working on. I did some research and incorporated technology into my workflow to do this. I find my new workflow worthwhile, especially when I’m working on multiple projects. I’m not just competent to stay on track and meet my deadlines, but I’m more effective too, which makes me believe technology is indeed a trojan horse for productivity. 

 

~ Christopher Todd Fichtl

 

 

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11 Comments

  1. Definitely going to try these ways to be more productive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Definitely going to try these ways to be more productive.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Will try them as soon as possible

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some of the apps I have used and they are quite handful and I find some other apps here in this article which infact quite productive in organizing your valuable time for more efficient time management. I really enjoyed this article and thanks for sharing such type of article which we need now a days for a good work life balance. Because now a days we want to do many things but falls short due to bad time management and setting priorities.

    ReplyDelete
  5. These tips are very useful in worklife, definitely going to try these ways

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is very informative article for work-life balance, I've tried some of it. And fore sure I'll try some of these trics. To make proper work-life balance.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A very informative and useful article in these busy times. Organising and timing tasks is very much needed. As described in the article technology can be really helpful in completion of work within time limit

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great article and very helpful

    ReplyDelete
  9. A must read article in times of changing technology

    ReplyDelete

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