When we’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or just plain wired, it’s only natural to blame technology.
We’re constantly being tagged with notifications and it send that we’re staying at our phones every other minute.
But let’s take a step back here. We choose to keep in touch. We choose to remain on notification overload.
Don’t shoot the messenger. Take responsibility for what you’ve allowed into your life. If you do that, then you have the power take control of all of those notifications and bring some peace and quiet back into your life.
The trick is to remember that technology can be harnessed to reduce stress and drop the overload.
Let’s take a look at the apps and services that will put you on the path to Nirvana… or something like that.
Headspace
This one is obvious but it’s popular because it works.
The de facto app for teaching mindful meditation.
A free trial will tell you if it’s right for you.
Simple Habit Meditation
Another free meditation app. This one guides you through sessions at different timed intervals.
Maybe you only have 5 minutes. Thus app has you covered.
Fabulous
Fabulous is a beautifully designed app developed in Duke’s Behavioral Economics Lab that can help you to take on new habits and routines and that will guide you through your goals and objectives. It makes setting new challenges for yourself fun and encourages you with motivation and tips along the way.
Standing Services
We know Amazon has automated buttons. If you know you need cereal, printer paper, protein powder, and toilet paper every week, you can set up automated deliveries. That’s just scratching the surface of what’s possible.
There’s a subscription service out there for just about everything imaginable.
- Clothing
- Meals
- Bark Box for Dogs
- Wine
- Cleaning
- Car Detailing
- Florists will send flowers every year for a birthday. How cool is that?
Virtual Assistant
When it comes to getting down to specifics, a virtual assistant may be the way to go.
While you may want to do business in your own country, the internet offers options for you and opportunities for people around the globe to work together.
At about $400 USD per month, you can get a top notch VA from India or the Philippines.
- If you want to test the waters, try hiring someone via Fiverr.com. Be very specific in your training and instructions.
- You can also check out OnlineJobs | ph for Filipino Assistants
- If you just need to outsource your phone calls for work, try Specialty Answering Service
- For one-off handyman tasks, there’s places like Angie’s List, aServices, Mechanical Turk.
- For business tasks, head on over to Upwork.
Todoist
Todoist is a great to-do list app that lets you create task lists. You’ll not only receive notifications and reminders, you can delegate tasks and allow them to be recurring or checked off.
Does this sound like every other calendar? Well, Todoist does more. Check out the video below.
Google Calendar
Any calendar app can be a great way to check your availability and to avoid over booking yourself. It syncs with other apps and even lets you share your schedule with others, too. You can even sync it with IFTTT.
IFTTT stands for If This, Then That.
Learning about this free service can open up whole new worlds for you.
Even with Google Assistant.
That means you can control when the lights go on or off, the temperature of your home, syndicate your online data and so much more.
Now that you have discovered new ways organizing your life, what are you going to do with all of this new free time?
