Smart Phones: Not Just For Facebook and Texting

When I was growing up, my family did absolutely no extracurricular activities. We went to school five days a week, we went to church three times a week, and that’s about it. My school had no sports, and the only extra things I had to do involved doing work for the church or doing janitorial duties at the school to help pay for my private school tuition. Needless to say, I had very little going on in my life at the time and it drove me crazy. I was jealous of my friends who had tons of fun activities to do each week, and I resented my parents for never wanting to be involved in anything. This might explain why I insist on keeping myself so busy in present day. Between working a full-time job, attending school part-time, writing for the paper, writing for this blog, exercising at least four days a week, spending time with my wife, and trying to squeeze in time for myself I’m much more busy than I ever was as a kid. How does one keep themselves organized and on-task in a flurry of a hectic schedule? Personally, I use my Smart Phone, and I’d like to share some tips that I’ve picked up since I got it over a year ago.

By now, most of us have at least some version of a Smart Phone. Whether it be a Blackberry, a Droid, an iPhone or some other brand of mini computer, most are familiar. These hand-held devices are handy to access the internet remotely, text our friends and family on the fly, and access countless apps in an attempt to make life easier and sometimes more entertaining. But how many of us use our phones to keep organized as much as we do to pass the time or even distract us from getting our daily tasks done? There’s a lot more use to these devices that the ability to access Facebook (a web site I’m guilty of spending way too much time), and I’d like to encourage everyone to utilize a very simple one.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but using the calendar on my Smart Phone has become a life-saver for me. Every Sunday afternoon, I sit at home and plan out the upcoming week. I plug everything from work hours, class schedules and homework to personal plans like having dinner with my wife or working on replacing the carpet in my basement. By nature, we has human beings love routines and schedules. If you have a set list of things that you want to get done in a day, put it on your calendar as sort of a “check list” or “to do list”. This makes yourself accountable for, quite frankly, yourself. Even plan out personal time for yourself on your calendar to ensure that your quality of life remains in tact. Scheduling fun time is just as important as scheduling work and school time.

Once you’ve got everything in your calendar, make it a habit to check your calendar every night before you go to sleep. You’ll see your list of everything that you want to accomplish the next day. You’ll see what time you need to get up in the morning to work out or head to the office (which will also tell you what time to see your alarm on your phone). The next morning, you’ll be ready to head out with a purpose. After all, there’s more to living than just surviving. Planning each day will help you get as much accomplished as possible in the few precious hours you have before it’s time to hit the sack again. To top it off, when you finally hit the weekend, you’ll be able to enjoy your time off that much more, knowing how much you accomplished during the week.

$0.02 from Scottie Lindsay

~ by Scott L. Clark on March 14, 2011.