Stuff - UK (2021-08)

TAKE OUT TEXT PICK OUT PICS

QChat with Otter
Information lost from meetings
and interviews can hamper
organisation. But with Otter
(£free, Android and iOS) you
can record (with permission)
and get a live transcription to
work with later. Pay and you
can import existing recordings.

QScan with Adobe
We’ve mentioned the bane of
paper, right? Use Adobe Scan
(£free, Android and iOS) to
turn your smartphone into
a pocket scanner. The app
tidies up scans, and performs
OCR on them so you can save
the result to PDF then copy
and paste the text.

HABITICA

Organisation can feel like

a chore, particularly with

tasks you do on a regular

basis. Habitica ‘gamifies’

task management, using

success to power up a

pixelated hero. Suitably

equipped with weapons,

skills and pets, your little

character can then duff

up monsters.

£free (IAP) / Android, iOS

STREAKS

This habit-former invites

you to define up to 12

habits (ideally just six)

to track; these can include

timed habits and ones

you want to break. When

done, you prod the big

button; when curious,

you can dig into the stats.

The app’s sense of focus

encourages good results.

£4.99 / iOS

BFT – BEAR

FOCUS TIMER

Blocking out time in your

calendar to do all of the

things is no good if those

time-blocks are frittered

away. BFT helps you

train your brain by turning

your phone face-down

to trigger work sprints.

99p / Android

£1.99 / iOS

75

APPS

FOR LIFE

QFlag your faves

Photos were once precious

and rare, shot on special

occasions and placed lovingly

in albums; today they’re

a constant stream. Learn

to organise them, flagging

favourites to later reminisce

over and turn into digital takes

on the old-school album.

QUse tags and AI

Centralise photos and work

with apps that let you quickly

access and organise them. AI

and machine learning can help

you access images by theme

or date. Try also using manual

tagging to build collections of

related snaps.

QBlock it all out

It’s commonplace to block

meetings out in your schedule.

Get into the habit of doing

this with other tasks, jobs

and events during your day

as well, to provide a better

representation of availability.

QBook in faffage

You’re going to spend part

of your day on minutiae.

If you want to get properly

organised, admit this and

schedule it: create repeating

calendar events to burn

through email and social feeds

a couple of times per day.

QAdd regular breaks

Downtime is important. If you

work in a job where you get

a fixed lunch break, block it

out in your calendar and mark

yourself as unavailable. It’s

vital to be organised about

taking time out, otherwise

you risk not doing so.

POWER UP

CALENDARS