Be Smart With Your Phone
A recent survey revealed that the average Brit spends 90 minutes a day on their phone. And while that might not seem a lot to some people, it actually amounts to 23 days a year spent glued to your mobile! But we all know that phones are rarely used solely for communication these days, there’s a plethora of functions and facets of life that can be dealt with by our handheld little friends. Business coach and Belle About Town columnist Ryan James Lock says: “Instead of seeing your phone as a source of distraction, actually use it to help keep you organised, focused and, when necessary, relaxed.”
Ryan has come up with 9 ways your phone can actually make you more efficient, giving you more time to spend on living your life!
1. Learn on the go
You can use your smartphone to listen to podcasts, audio books and self-help classes on almost any subject. Why not choose a subject you’d like to learn more about, either personally or professionally and download a lesson on it? You can listen to it on your way to and from work.
2. Look great on the go
Save the Prettly site in your browser and the number on your phone, then just make one quick call and you can have a professional makeup artist or beauty therapist at your door in minutes. Prettly helps you find and book beauty professionals for treatments to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own chosen location. They will head to the office if you’re going for a post-work drink, or your home to get you ready for that all-important interview or night out. And they’ve created a discount code just for Belle About Town readers, so enter code BELLE20 at the checkout and you’ll get 20% off!
3. Never miss a trick
The last thing you need when multi tasking is to have to keep switching from your phone to your laptop all day. Push Bullet is an app that allows your phones notifications to sync with your computer, so when you get a text message you can just read it on your desktop. It even lets you send files between your computer and phone.
4. Music
Life without music would be dull, dull, dull. With apps like iTunes and Spotify you have a universe full of music at your fingertips.
5. Never be stranded
Apps for taxis like Addison Lee and Uber mean that you are only a few minutes away from a driver picking you up and taking you where you need to go, wherever you are, whatever time of the day or night.
6. Get organised
Like having a personal assistant on your phone, apps like 24me combine your calendar, notes and to do list to generate reminders from friends birthdays to when to pay bills and schedule appointments. If you need to take the pressure off and schedule some reminders, use this!
7. Boost your fitness
There are no more excuses for not hitting the gym now that apps like gymaholic are available. A comprehensive workout aid for those who commit plenty of time to the weights room. The library of exercises can be used in a set of workout plans for all abilities, or you can build your own custom routine.
8. Get mindful
Rather than seeing your phone as a distraction or energy drain, you can actually use it to increase your mindfulness. Simple tips like using your alarm to time your meditation practice or using calendar notes to remind you to take a short walk can make a small but profound difference to your day. We love the HeadSpace app for learning meditation and mindfulness, find it in the apple store
9. Multi tasking
When you need to do several things at once and the deadline was yesterday, you need a smartphone that can handle multi tasking without a drop in performance. The Mate 8 smartphone from Huawei does just that and even has business card scanning technology that adds people to your contacts list just from scanning their business card. Making it the perfect phone for busy professionals like us!
