This article won’t be the article you might be expecting.
We are very often led to believe that we need lots of and lots of tech to be productive and efficient, especially around this time of year.
There will always be certain tools and gadgets that do work for individual people, and we are not saying that this is a bad thing at all, you should always do what works for you and never feel judged for it. However, there are also an awful lot of things that we are advertised that we don’t need. Many blogs list “things you need in 2022” that you really will never need at all, and the productivity niche has become particularly popular for this exact kind of thing.
My opinion is that we need only one piece of tech to be as productive as possible this incoming year:
A smartphone
Smartphones are more capable than ever and they are built like tiny computers now rather than phones. In fact, some young people know rarely even use their phones to make phone calls, their phone app is the least used in their entire repertoire.
We have access to the Internet anywhere we go and we have access to every site, app, and tool that we could ever need.
And no doubt we pay a decent amount for this access every month, it isn’t a free amenity to have a phone, especially such a powerful one.
So why would we need to pay lots of money on extra gizmos and gadgets in the name of productivity when we have this powerhouse of technology in our hands already?
The only thing that we need to do is optimize our phones for productivity. We very often are doing the exact opposite without realising it.
Here are some of the easiest ways to do this:
- Watch your screen time
- Set limits on distracting apps such as social media
- Group your apps into categories
- Put what you want to use the most on the front screen
- Make shortcuts
- Turn off notifications
- Make us of the downtime and bed time functions to wind down before bed
Using our phones in a productive way is all about balance. It is about making the most out of the apps and tools that we have, whilst not getting sucked into spending lots of time on distracting and pointless apps.
While our phones can be powerhouses of productivity, they can also be pits of distraction.
If you use your phone the right way, you won’t need to fork out on any other gadgets this way. Maybe the odd subscription or too, for something you find really helpful and good quality.
All you need to do is maximise the power you already carry around in your pocket every day, by prioritising productivity and limiting distraction, and you will be well on your way to having the most productive mindset possible.
It’s important to remember that marketing is only marketing, and we don’t need everything we are sold.
Sometimes one tool is plenty.
