Happy, Focused, and Productive: There Is An App for That!

One of my colleagues, Nada Hamzeh, a nonprofit capacity building consultant from Lebanon, tagged me when sharing this striking image that depicts how can easily develop a behavior addiction to our mobile phones. As Aliza Sherman and I wrote in the Happy Healthy Nonprofit  the apps on our mobile phones can be agents of distraction, but they can also be agents of calm.

When researching the book, we came up with a curated a list of our favorite technology wellness apps.  But last week, I was honored to do a webinar for Whole Whale where George Weiner and I discussed apps. I learned about a few more amazing apps. So, I thought I would take the opportunity share a few more.

(BTW, Third Plateau is offering a chance to win FREE copy of the book, if you email them your favorite wellbeing app.)

Productivity

Sanebox - Email causes a lot of stress for everyone with a never ending dump of 24/7 messages.  Sanebox can help you clean up your email and make it manageable so it isn't a time suck.

InBox When Ready - This a chrome plugin for gmail that maximizes the time you spend in email. My colleague, Meico Whitlock (aka "Mindful Techie") has more suggestions as does this recent post.

Moment - If you are trying to break your addiction to your mobile phone, the first step is to become aware of how often you pick up and how many hours per week you spend on your phone. This app will give you a regular report as well as what apps you are using.

GTimeReport - We often feel time starved, too many tasks, too little time. And that causes stress unless we reflect and analyze how we are actually using our time. This tool, which works with Google Calendar, let's you export your calendar information to a spreadsheet.

FocusBooster - Are you putting off more important tasks and doing less important tasks or simply avoiding them all together? That is procrastination and is one symptom of being distracted. The Pomodoro method and app is one way to avoid the productivity loss of procrastination.

Idonethis - A simple app that helps you and your team track what’s been done. Most people write “to do lists” that are never ending. As soon as you tick off completed tasks, you add new ones.  Tracking what you have done allows you to track what you have accomplished and reflect on it, not bury myself in busyness.    Here’s a guide to this useful productivity habit.

Wellness

SuperBetter - This app helps you increase resilience or ability to stay strong, motivated and optimistic even in the face of obstacles. Created by gaming expert Jane McGonigal when she needed to recover from a concussion, it gamifies the process of creating good wellbeing habits.

StretchClock - Sitting is the new smoking. And being sedentary for too many hours can lead to poor health outcomes. This useful app gives a regular reminder to stretch.

CharityMiles - This app tracks your steps and converts them into donations for a charity of your choosing. You can also do a mini-competition using the leaderboard feature.

Flux - Staring at your computer screen in the evening can disrupt your sleep because the bright blue light tricks your mind into thinking it is morning and time to wake up. This app can help reduce the amount of blue light on your screen. If you use an iPhone, you can do the same thing with the Night Shift feature.

Happiness

10% Happier  There are many apps that can help you practice meditation. This one is based on the book, 10 Percent Happier by Dan Harris and makes it easy.

Instacart - Instacart lets you order groceries online and have them delivered. Why include this app? A recent study about happiness found spending money on time-saving purchases promotes daily happiness and reduces negative mood, because it protects us from the time stress that we feel in our daily lives.

Moodnotes - With this app, you can track your emotions in different work situations and it prompts you to reflect on the situation and how to manage it.   Having this self-awareness lays the groundwork to help you effectively manage your stress triggers at work and make you happier. There are many Mood Trackers, apps that let you you chart your emotions and thoughts and test different self-management techniques.

What's your favorite app for productivity, wellness, or happiness?