Busy, Busy, Busy?
Are you busy? I know you are! We live in the age of being busy and striving to get more done as fast as possible so we can have more time to do more things. I appreciate you and I know your time is valuable. This is not going to be another post about the perfect app to organize your life or streamline your grocery shopping. I do write about those things, but today I want to share my most important productivity tool and a few tips on how to use it.
All this busy-ness is brought on by all this technology that was supposed to save time. Don’t get me wrong I’m a technology geek. I love all kinds of gadgets and apps of all kinds — everything from special kitchen gadgets, to crafting tools, to productivity apps.
While all those neat gadgets and gizmos are fun, especially if you are a geek, they can also be overwhelming. How do you use them? Where do you store them? Do I really need a pineapple cutter that slices rings and another that cuts in wedges? I have lots of ways to organize all those physical gadgets, but what I really want to share with you today are some ideas on how to manage all the data streaming through your devices.
My Most Important Productivity Tool
One of my favorite gadgets is my paper shredder. It gets rid of all that paper that can, if not managed, overwhelm a person. I love that it is a real, physical “delete button” (air quotes). Let’s face it once you shred something there is no going back. This is not some spy movie where you’d set out to tape all the little shreds back together. It’s real life and real life in this busy, technology age demands the use of my favorite productivity tool, the DELETE button.
7 Tips for Using the Delete Button or Not
This list of tips will get you started on making use of the handy, dandy, delete button to simplify all the data coming toward you on a daily basis.
- Do delete emails you have as soon as you read them with one exception.
- Don’t delete emails that require action from you, until after you have taken action or planned to take action. If the email is an invite for a birthday party, add the party to your calendar and put a task on your to do list to buy a gift. You can copy and paste any important info from the email invite to include in your calendar or task.
- Do delete emails without reading them that don’t apply to you any longer. If your children are over age 6 you probably don’t still need those Babys ‘R Us promotional emails (be sure to unsubscribe).
- Do delete old files. Do you really need your budget spreadsheet from 1992?
- Do delete duplicate files. I find I end up with some duplicate files, especially pictures and songs. For files on your computer you can use this app to find those files and then delete them.
- Do delete emails and files when you know you can get the information elsewhere. You don’t really need all those receipts for your Amazon.com purchases. You can always look up your purchase history on Amazon.com.
- Do delete anything that is taking up your time and preventing you from reach your goals. If you spend too much time binge watching Netflix, instead of spending time with your family or working on your business, then delete it off your phone or tablet. (Yes, I have had to do this!)
BONUS TIP: Maybe your vice is not Netflix, but Pinterest or a game. Deleting those apps from your device and then set specific limits for using them from your computer. You don’t have to give them up completely, just make them less accessible. There is a trick to permanently deleting apps from your devices. They need to also be deleted permanently from your iTunes account.
Do You Have iTunes App Clutter?
When you first got your iPhone you (or your kids) might have downloaded 15 million apps to try. Over time you’ve deleted the apps you never use from your device, but they are still cluttering up your iTunes apps page. Fortunately, or unfortunately most apps and software make it easy to undo when you delete something. Which is great if you deleted it accidentally. What they don’t always do is make it easy to delete something permanently.
Clearing the Clutter
Since it took me a while to figure out how to clean out iTunes, I thought I’d share the how steps with you. It’s pretty simple.
Two Birds With One Stone
When you delete an app from your device and then sync in iTunes it does NOT remove the apps from iTunes. However, if you delete an app from iTunes that is currently installed on your device, it will be removed upon your next sync. So the most productive thing to do is to delete the apps from iTunes so you don’t have to delete them from both – that’s deleting two (angry?) birds with one stone!
What About You?
Now the delete button can be your most important productivity tool, too. Go ahead and give it a try. Start with something easy like that folder of jokes on your computer that you started saving in 1990. You can always Google to find a joke to make you laugh on a bad day. What’s your favorite way to use the delete button? Please share your tips in the comments so we can all be so productive!
Blessings,
Lauree
…keep dancing the dream
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