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5 Tips for Keeping Digital Systems Organized & Productive

Guest post by Mystie Winckler of Simply Convivial

Whether your calendar and to do lists are kept on paper or digitally, the trick is to actually use them, to actually look at them.

Digital planning systems present a unique challenge because of the possibility of distraction. We might grab our phone from our pocket to check our to-do list but end up browsing Facebook instead.

Although calendars and lists kept online and in apps are easier to organize, keep clean, and have always on hand, we have to exercise greater discipline with our technology if we’re going to master it rather than have it master us.

Here are 5 tips for using our technology to become more productive rather than less.

5tips

1. Use 2-3 different apps rather than an all-in-one option.

While it might seem more efficient to use one app for managing everything, that isn’t always the case. Apps are generally specialized to do one thing well – a precise tool for certain needs. Specialization allows the app to function faster and smoother, because it’s not trying to be everything and anything.

Just like it’s more efficient to put shirts and pants in different drawers rather than all mixed together, it’s better to keep appointments on a calendar, tasks in a task manager, and reference in a text app like Evernote (Learn more about Evernote for homemakers).

2. Have set daily times where you look over the calendar and your task list.

Lists do you no good if you don’t look at them. In order for your digital system to improve your productivity and actually be useful to you, you need to build the habit of checking it. Since you’re going digital, using an alarm named “check calendar & to-do list” might be the best way to begin building the habit. In the morning, look at your calendar and to-do list to get a feel for the day, and in the evening look it all over again and update it to ensure it remains accurate.

3. Decide where each kind of information belongs, and keep it only there.

Back to the closet analogy: Keeping your shirts and pants and socks in different drawers is more efficient and organized. But, if you set up the drawers (your apps) for a certain function and then tossed anything in whichever one was open at the time, that organization would be lost in no time. Always keep appointments on the calendar and no where else. Always keep tasks in your to-do list. Always keep reference material in your reference app.

4. Actually keep your phone with you all the time, but use the DND options liberally.

In order to enter information wherever you are and whenever you need to, your phone or tablet must be with you. Make it a habit. However, that doesn’t mean it has to be a constant source of interruptions. Use the “do not disturb” and silence features liberally – you should be the one deciding when you need to look at your phone. Don’t let your phone become the boss.

5. Put your distracting apps on the second screen or in a folder (or both).

One helpful tip for keeping yourself on task when you’re using a device for productivity is to put anything non-essential and potentially distracting on the second or third screen. You can go even further by putting them inside a folder.

Adding extra swipes and taps to the process of opening those distraction-inducing apps will help prevent the habitual, unconscious opening that is so easy to slip into.

Remember that when you are using your devices as tools, you must remain the master, firmly in control of your usage. If you can maintain focus when your phone is always in your pocket, it can be a powerful tool to help you get a lot done without the stress of keeping everything in your head.

Mystie and her husband, both second-generation homeschoolers, have five children whom they educate at home classically, seeking to cultivate wisdom and virtue in themselves as well as their children through discipleship in a simple life full of Truth, Goodness, Beauty – and a lot of books. Mystie blogs at simplyconvivial.com about homeschooling, homemaking, and apprenticing our children in life.

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Welcome! I’m Jen McBride. Child of God. Wife to one. Mother to 8. Second generation homeschooler. Queen of my castle. Reader of books. Drinker of Tea. Thinker of many thoughts. Introvert. Read More…

old.paths

“Thus out of small beginnings greater things hav “Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many...”
William Bradford

Thank you for your example Emily - for so beautifully living this out in your daily, obedient, God glorifying faithfulness.  #vigilforem
"So they committed themselves to the will of God, "So they committed themselves to the will of God, and resolved to proceed." ~ William Bradford
"...they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of "...they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work." ~ William Bradford
"They brought up their families, in sturdy virtue "They brought up their families, in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God, without which Nations perish." ~ Pilgrim Mother's Monument, Plymouth, MA
Fellow Christians, don’t let the Left shame you Fellow Christians, don’t let the Left shame you into accepting defeat. The media does not get to decide who is the President of the United States. 

Standing and fighting for truth is NOT being a “sore loser”. Recognizing and acknowledging that fraud is being committed, and calling for justice to be served, is not only absolutely appropriate, it’s crucial. There IS a time to stand and fight. There IS a time to draw a line in the sand. 

The election of a President isn’t on the same level as sports. The future of our country hangs in the balance. This isn’t about having a good, fair game and then laughing and shaking hands and slapping each other on the back and continuing with life as usual. 

Nor is this just “politics”. You cannot separate politics from morality. There is right, and there is wrong. The Left stands and fights for things that fly in the face of God. The Left creates gods in their own image. The Left tramples the Word of God. The Left is determined to allow babies to literally be brutally tortured and murdered and offered on the altars of their false gods. The Left has spent months sowing discord, rewriting history, redefining words, rioting, looting, killing, and burning down the country. 

Consider these things before you capitulate to manipulation and gas lighting and blame shifting. 

Consider these things before you try to be a “good sport” and congratulate Joe Biden, or say “God bless him”, or wish him well. Think long and hard about what you are actually doing and whose side you are on: 

“For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 2 John 1:11

Pray. This is a war that is being waged in the heavenlies. Stand firm. Draw the line. Hold the line. Fight for truth. Our God is the God of Truth and He wins. The battle is the Lord’s.
“Autumn, the years last, loveliest smile.” - W “Autumn, the years last, loveliest smile.” - William Cullens Bryant 

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