Lifehack Deals presents - 8 Mac apps for you to improve your productivity in 2013. Enjoy! They are only free for a limited time so get it quick!
Brian is a Lifehacker who covers all sorts of tips for life. He is also fascinated with new technology. Contact Brian at brian@lifehack.org, Google+ You want to start blogging, and that’s great! So, where do you start? Do you really need a blog? What topic are you going to write about? Where are you going to get ideas? How you are going to get it all done?
I have gathered a few great tips from Lifehack.org blogging experts to get you started. There are a great many amazing bloggers who have created their best lifestyles on the foundation of blogging, so these questions should form the foundation of the blog you’re planning.
“Blogging is the new poetry of our time!” - Author Unknown
Why am I advocating adding another thing to your daily task list? Why am I telling you why you need a blog?
More importantly, it’s not something that should be seen as adding to what you’re doing—on the contrary, blogging (if done well), can be the most productive thing you do all day, and can even take the place of many of your daily “to-do”s. You might need to step out of your comfort zone, but trust me—it’s worth it.
From 10 Reasons Why You Need A Blog
What keeps most bloggers motivated and productive is the reminder of why they are doing what they are doing. Most of us started out with a mission: a vision to share our skills, knowledge or experiences with the world in the hope that they can make a difference in the lives of others. Reconnect with that passion daily, hang a quote about it over your desk if necessary, and when you realize you have gone off track, look up and get back to writing that good content that will make you not just the most productive, but the best blogger on the block.
From How to Become the Most Productive Blogger on the Block by Ciara Conlon.
Just as there are days when you struggle to come up with something to blog about, there are also days when you have so many ideas that you can’t possibly cover them all. When these days come around, make sure you write down all your ideas, either down on paper or in a file saved on your computer. When you aren’t motivated or can’t think of something “good” to blog about, consult your list—you might find yourself inspired again.
From How to Work Through Blog Burn Out
This is what a “normal” day could look like for me:
Wake up at 6. Try to get two or three blog posts finished.Go to work at 8.Work until lunch. Try to write 1,000 words (on anything: blogs, books, etc.)Work until 5. On the way home, brainstorm and plan the evening’s writing goals.Write until 8 or 9 pm (I like to do this in Starbucks, because everyone loves to make fun of writers in Starbucks).Go to bed.From How to Maintain a Blog AND a Full-Time Job
When you have all the time in the world for work, you end up using all that time to work. If you resign yourself to the fact you have the entire day to finish your workload, it will literally take the entire day to finish. It just happens to work that way.
I can speak from personal experience—I work better with time constraints, and you probably do too. If I limit my working time to 4 hours, I’m betting I’ll get all the work done. I’ll find a way to.
From Freelance Blogging: Why You Should Schedule
Now, with a great foundation and some helpful tips like these, you too will soon be on your way to being a awesome blogger! Find your passion, find your rhythm, and share your most epic stories.
Featured photo credit: A young main pointing at a computer screen via Shutterstock
Keeping track of your time and the things that you do with it is one of the foundations of being productive. It’s always good to take a look back at your day, week, month, or year and see exactly where your time went to make sure that you are giving your attention to the right things.
aTimeLogger is a free application for the iPhone “for tracking your everyday activities.” Let’s take a look at what aTimeLogger has to offer for time tracking your life.
aTimeLogger has a decent design setup with a grid of buttons for launching activities so you can start timing them quickly as well as a tabbed navigation for viewing activities, logs, categories, reports, and more settings. The background is set to a “chill” theme which is basically a cold looking stone background and with dark accents around the app, but you can simply change this by going to More > Settings > Other > Theme and picking something more to your liking.
Log ScreenWith aTimeLogger you can add a time log by simply clicking the button for the log you want to create (like “Work”, “Transport”, “Eat”, etc.), the app will notify you that it’s starting the log (which can actually be turned off in settings) and the timer will start at the top of the screen. The developers made a good decisions to put a “plus” button at the top right of the Activities screen so you could report your own custom log in case you didn’t use aTimerLogger to track it. You can then choose which Activity you want to associate with it.
The Log screen allows you to see your time logs by day, week, or month in either a list form or a handy graph. The graph isn’t too important at first, but once you get a lot of logs in there and become obsessive with the app (like me) then the pie graphs are a great way to look at how your time is spent.
The design of the categories screen is a little clunky and isn’t necessarily apparent what you can do from here. Basically this screen is used for creating, editing, and organizing your groups and activities. You can have groups of groups and a bunch of activities in each group. You can then use the groups for report making and viewing.
aTimeLogger gives the user the ability to create, what appears to be, unlimited number of activities to track, unlimited groups to put these activities in, view logs by day, week, month and get reports on each of your activities or entire groups. You can also export your reports to CSV or HTML for using them on your computer for other purposes.
With aTimeLogger you can import your own custom icons for activities, although the stock offering is pretty great actually. You can also track multiple things at once, say if you are driving to work and listening to a podcast you can track a “Transportation” and “Entertainment” activity.
Activity screenIn the settings for aTimeLogger you can turn turn on quick add and turn off warnings for starting new activities when one is already running. This is a really nice feature as the little popups tend to get annoying after the first one. You can turn off auto-lock of your phone so the interface will stay open when you are in the app. For log settings you can change the view of the logs like turning on multi-line comments, turn on whether your logs are grouped or just a flat list, and in the pie chart you can toggle showing unlogged time.
aTimerLogger allows you to backup and restore your logs with iTunes File Sharing.
The thing that I like the most about aTimeLogger is its ease of use. To start logging some time it’s as easy as starting the app and tapping an activity button. Also, looking at your log history is simple and self explanatory too, just go to the list and see your data. There isn’t a lot of cruft in the app and the developers made sure that aTimerLogger was approachable for anyone that wanted to start tracking their time.
I love that you can also export your reports in CSV so data crunching side can have access to the numbers for even more detailed reports.
The biggest thing I can’t stand about aTimeLogger is no automated backup of your data; you still have to plug your phone into iTunes and sync it with File Sharing. A simple Dropbox or iCloud integration would fix this pain point.
Also, it would be nice if there was some sort of notification that you could setup that would allow the app to notify you that a log as been running for a certain amount of time. I sometimes forget that logs are running and don’t stop them in time. At the very least you can manually edit the time lapse of your log.
CM Smith is a technologist, writer, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State. CM is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.
So, we have made it to the third week of the challenge and I am officially sore! You know the saying “I’m working muscles that I never thought I had”? Yeah, I think I know what that means now.
Anyways, it’s been a big week for both editors here at Lifehack as we move forward with the challenge. Here is our experience from week 3 as well as our results.
I’ve gotten better over the past week with my eating, but not so much with my exercise. I’ve only started to get back into the NerdFitness stuff (only to be fully aware that I’m traveling again this weekend to watch my wife run in the Tough Mudder) and my Run 2 5K workouts have been non-existent since that first week.
Basically, I’ve fallen off the wagon and am slowly making my way back on. It’s clear to me that CM is going to take this thing, but that doesn’t mean I have to give up. After all, I’m not doing this just to win a challenge amongst editors; I’m doing this to improve my overall health.
There hasn’t been much in the way of change of measurements, which is a good thing (I suppose). But Week 4 has to be better. It just has to. Here is where I’m at as of the end of Week 3 (initial results are in parentheses):
Weight: 178 lbs (177.4)Waist: 35.8 inches (35.75)Hips: 40 inches (41.75)Biceps (flexed): 12.6 inches (12.5)Legs (mid-thigh): 19.9 inches (21)Total inches: 108.3 inches (111)I decided to challenge myself this week by upping the weight and reps in the NerdFitness routine. I added significant weight to my leg exercises (30 – 40lbs) as well as upped the number of reps in my deadlifts. Also, I moved from inclined pushups on the stairs to full on pushups on the ground which has kept my heart rate up as well as help work out my core muscles more. I’m also making sure that I am using the right combination of weight and reps so that when I get close to the last rep per set I am exhausting my muscles.
I decided to switch up the 5K program to biking instead this week. The reason; I hate running. I’ve always been more of a “mechanical” kind of guy, so the idea of using a decent bike, repairing it, etc. is cool. Plus, I get to see more when I’m out for a ride and it’s far less boring. A couple of years ago I was turning into a biking fiend, so this fitness challenge has lit the spark.
As for my diet I am still sticking to a modified paleo approach. I have let a little more sugar slip back in (my wife bought me a mammoth peanut butter cup from a local chocolatier), but other than that I have been eating well. According to some different calorie counter apps I’m currently under the number of calories that I need to be eating, but I feel OK and my blood sugar seems correct, so I’m not too worried about it. Once again, the thing that I probably don’t consume enough of is water. But, in good Lifehack spirit, I have set up a few reminders on my iPhone to help me remember.
Here are my results for the past week (initial results are in parentheses):
Weight: 201.4 lbs (208)Waist: 41.75 inches (43.5)Hips: 42.1 inches (43)Biceps (flexed): 14.25 inches (14)Legs (mid-thigh): 23.5 inches (23.5)Total inches: 121.6 inches (124)(Photo credit: Muscular man lifting weights via Shutterstock)
CM Smith is a technologist, writer, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State. CM is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.
If you are anything like me, then if you don’t write down something to remind yourself of it later, it either won’t happen or will quickly forget about it. For most of all my task management I use the all-powerful OmniFocus, but if I have to remind myself of little things, especially if they are timed actions, then I find myself turning more and more to the reminder and timer app for iPhone, Due.
Let’s take a look at what Due has to offer.
Setting a reminderOne of the best parts about Due is how fast you can create a reminder or start a timer. Simply tapping on the reminder tab at the bottom of the app, tapping the add button in the top right, and then entering your requirements for you time reminder is all you have to do. Due includes a nice touch for reminders where you can add a repeat function to the reminder, like every week, or every 6 days.
There is also a bar on the reminder screen called “Quick Access Timings” where you can set times such as when you wake up, lunch, after work, or before bed. Then with just a tap the time in the create reminder screen will go to that specified time. It’s fast to set one of these quick times and then go from there.
Once you have reminders created you can swipe them to delete, duplicate, email, message, or even tweet them. There is also a very nice quick access bar on each reminder that speeds up the process of postponing a reminder until tomorrow, or moving it’s due date back an hour.
Setting timers is a fast experience too. Go to the timer tab, tap new timer, set your criteria, and you are done. To start a timer just tap the timer toggle and the timer will start.
Quick settings on a reminderDue is all about simplicity. It doesn’t have a ton of features so the interface isn’t all clogged up with buttons, crazy repeat settings, messages, and confusing items. What I like the most about Due’s design is that it gives you access to features right when you need them. For example, after you have set a reminder and when you tap on it you get the quick action bar at the bottom of the reminder to postpone it, turn it into a repeat, etc. This type of “just in time” feature addition allows Due to keep a very streamlined and non-complicated interface. This is something that makes the app highly usuable and one that I find myself going back to more and more for timed tasks.
There are definitely some smart ideas built into Due like being able to use the Quick Access Timings when setting a reminder and being able to change those times in the settings of the app. Also things like default snoozing of reminders to every minute or every hour.
Another smart idea was to allow for your Due’s app badges to be controlled in such away that you can have a badge count for everything or only the things that you care about the most. This is another addition that Due makes sure that it is simple yet powerful.
Due also can use iCloud or Dropbox to sync all your reminders, alarms, and settings as well as keep them in sync with the Due app for Mac. The only thing that I tested was syncing my Due app with Dropbox and then restoring it. It works a treat.
TimersThere is only one real negative that I found with my experience with Due, and that is not being able to set a repeat on a reminder for every few hours and then also setting a “quiet time” for the reminder. For instance, if I want to be reminded to check email during the day, every three hours and then shut it off at 6 PM, I can’t do that. I’m sure that is a rare case, but is something that other apps like Alarmed can do.
Other than one small feature I feel is missing (at least for my workflow), Due is by far one of the simplest, cleanest, fastest apps for setting reminders and timers on the iPhone. The app will set you back $4.99 but I can’t recommend it enough.
CM Smith is a technologist, writer, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State. CM is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.
As we jump into June, it’s time to look at the month we left behind here at Lifehack. Our Best of Lifehack series showcases articles from the month just gone by, so that you don’t miss some of the best we had to offer at Lifehack.
Over the past month we featured articles on to-do lists, perfection, hacking you life, fitness routines and how to recognize what type (or types) of motivation work for you. As usual, we have a wide variety of articles that made the list this month — and even more that just missed out.
Here is The Best of Lifehack from May 2012.
Are to-do lists the only way to keep yourself on task, or an unrealistic goal that just stresses you out and make you feel bad about all the things you never get to? Should you keep a short list of the most essential items, or a massive running list of every task you’ll ever need to remember? Kelly Gurnett offers what could very well be a healthy alternative.
Tired of being out of control? Is your life ruling you rather than the other way around? Lifehack contributor Judy Belmont offers up 10 essential tips on how you can lifehack, rather than being hacked by life.
Are you familiar with those days where you feel like you have too much going on – way too much work, a dozen errands, e-mails to check, voicemails to listen to, and a growing list of things you really need to handle? Sibyl Chavis offers up one simple thing you can do that can make your day much, much better.
There are hundreds of photo apps out there that take your iPhoneography to the next level. Tris Hussey picked the top 10 camera apps for iPhone, as well as including his top 4 favorite apps to edit and enhance photos just to round things out.
Sometimes what helps us to be successful in our professional lives is not such a great idea in our personal lives — competition is a quality that comes to mind. At the same time, we all have a limited amount of time each day to do the things that we want to do. Robert Chen shares a list of tips that will help you be successful in both life and in business.
Lifehack contributor Curt Pedersen suggests 3 tips that you should make a part of your life for 21 days that will allow you to easily lose 10 pounds. (More importantly, they will become habits that you follow for the days, weeks, and months to follow.)
There are many different forms of motivation. Each one influences behavior in its own unique way. No single type of motivation works for everyone. People’s personalities vary and so accordingly does the type of motivation, that is most effective at inspiring their conduct. Royale Scuderi explains 6 types of motivation so that you can determine which form of motivation is the most effective for inspiring the desired behavior — in either others or ourselves.
James Clear shows Lifehack readers a way to fly first class for free over and over again. The best part? It doesn’t require incredible negotiation skills or dumb luck. Just reading this piece will get you on your way…so go to it!
Maria Hill discusses 9 detox herbs that can help you improve your quality of life by removing toxins from you body and helping to feel like a million bucks.
If perfection is slowing you down, help can be found from a surprising source; from the world of agile software development and Scrum. What’s Scrum? Timo Kiander explains what it is and how it can help you stave off the “perfection bug” in this piece.
(Photo credit: Golden Leader of Business Team via Shutterstock)
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a “pure” productivity offering over at Lifehack Deals — but that ends today.
This bundle of productivity tools is one of the best values you’ll find on the web. It includes seven top Mac apps plus another 4 amazing creative resources that will save you time and money. All of this is available for just $50 — a savings of 91%! As always, this deal will only be around for a short time, so don’t miss out. This is truly a case of where “time is money”.
Here are just two of the highlights of The Mac Productivity Bundle:
Keyboard Maestro 5 is now available with control flow, variables, calculations, file actions, image manipulation, macro library and more. I’ve been using Keyboard Maestro for some time and it is definitely an app you want in your life hacking arsenal.
Keyboard Maestro is a productivity enhancer with four main functions, allowing you to record and design your own macro shortcuts and activate them at any time, navigate through running applications with Application Switcher and open windows with Window Switcher, work with an unlimited number of clipboards using Clipboard Switcher and with clipboard history using Clipboard History Switcher.
Keyboard Maestro organizes your macros into Macro Groups. Think of them as folders of macros. Each Macro Group controls when the macros it contains are active. A Macro is made of two parts: a set of Triggers you choose to determine when the macro is executed and a list of Actions that define what the macro does when it is executed. (Regular price: $36)
Typinator boosts your productivity by automating the process of inserting frequently used text and graphics and auto-correcting typing errors.
Set up custom abbreviations for frequently needed text items, and Typinator automatically replaces the abbreviations with the corresponding expansions as you type.
With thousands of predefined corrections for common typos and misspelled words for US and British English, German and French, Typinator is not only a typing assistant that speeds repetitive typing tasks, but also a system-wide auto-correction tool that automatically fixes typing errors and misspelled words.
Setting up Typinator is easy — you just define an abbreviation along with its replacement text or picture. Whenever you type one of your abbreviations in any application, Typinator inserts the corresponding replacement. (Regular price: $30)
Default Folder X (Regular price: $35)TotalFinder (Regular price: $18)PhoneView (Regular price: $20)iStopMotion 2 (Regular price: $49)LittleSnapper (Regular price: $40)Smashing eBook Bundle (Regular price: $24)Picons Ultimate+ (Regular price: $59)ThemeFuse (Regular price: $196)Glyph Ocean (Regular price: $63)To learn more about all of the apps in The Mac Productivity Bundle, head over to our Lifehack Deals page. And while you’re there, download some trial versions of the software, check out the other deals we’ve got on tap for you, and maybe even pony up the dough to take advantage of this offer while it lasts.
Because it won’t last long.
(Photo credit: Hand Putting Clock into Piggy Bank via Shutterstock)
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
Well, we’ve finshed up the first week of the Lifehack Editors’ Fitness Challenge and there is one thing that both CM and I have in common as of right now: We are both very sore people.
Let’s get into our own experiences with this challenge so far, shall we?
I’m certainly glad we took on the Rookie level of the NerdFitness Rebel Fitness Guide because for me that was a challenge from the get-go. I haven’t done any real exercise in many months (almost a year) and the 2 routines that are part of the guide are tough. One of the things I’ve been concerned about is proper form, as I don’t want to injure myself and/or not get the true benefits of each exercise.
I’m using resistance bands for my workouts, as I’ll be traveling several times during the course of this challenge. So I’ve had to watch videos on how to adapt certain exercises to be performed with resitstance bands rather than free weights. As a result, my workouts are taking longer to do than I’d initially thought – but once I’m in the groove I am pushing through. And that’s a good thing.
The running hasn’t been as challenging, as I’ve only been away from that for a few months. Still, the first half of each Run 5K app routine seems way longer than it should. Luckily i’ve got my own custom iTunes playlist to keep me company, along with a solid set of earbuds that manage to stay in my ears throughout (Note: If you’re in the market for some new earbuds, Lifehack Deals is currently offering BodyGuardz Moxy Earbuds for 50% off). Next week the stakes get a little higher as the time spent running during the routine will increase. I expect that’s when I’ll start to really feel the burn.
Speaking of feeling, did I mention that I’m very sore?
I’ve not altered my diet too much, but am definitely noticing that I really can’t eat as much pasta as I have. Same goes with breads in general. Maybe it’s time I start to look at going Paleo…
As for my weight, it has actually gone up by 1.2 lbs since I started. Go figure.
So, where am I at after the first week? My starting weight and measurements are in parentheses below, preceded by my current ones in this shortened week of the Lifehack Editors’ Fitness Challenge
Weight: 178.6 lbs (177.4)Waist: 36 inches (35.75)Hips: 41.75 inches (41.75)Biceps (flexed): 12.5 inches (12.5)Legs (mid-thigh): 18.5 inches (21)Total inches: 108.75 inches (111)I have to admit; I sorted of cheated a little on this fitness challenge as I started “working out the kinks” for the past couple of weeks. Because of that a lot of my soreness was worked out initially. To compesate for that I ended up doing higher amounts of reps this week in the Rookie level of NerdFitness. That made it challenging and kept me pretty sore. I realized after today’s NerdFitness workout that I need to add some weight to my squats and step ups at the beginning of next week. I will also add 5 pounds to all of my shoulder presses and rows.
As for the running portion of our challenge, I feel like it’s the perfect balance of walking and running. The first half or so of the workout is pretty easy, but once I get above 20 minutes, I really start to feel the burn in my legs and the workout becomes hard.
My diet has been somewhat paleo for almost a year now. I haven’t touched any bread since Fall 2011. The biggest change in my diet this week was to cut out processed sugars completely as well as make sure to drink around 8 to 10 cups of water a day. I haven’t necessarily had too much trouble with process sugars since I’ve gone paleo, but I made sure to cut them all out, at least initially to really cut the fat.
I have to say I am pretty happy with my first 5 days of results; I’ve lost weight and lost inches where it counts and am highly motivated to continue with the challenge. Also, as an indirect result of working out, I’ve found that my energy levels during the day are much more balanced.
Weight: 203.4 lbs (208)Waist: 42 inches (43.5)Hips: 43 inches (43)Biceps (flexed): 14.25 inches (14)Legs (mid-thigh): 23.5 inches (23.25)Total inches: 122. inches (124)(Photo credit: Flexing via Shutterstock)
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
April has come and gone, and so it’s time for another installment in our Best of Lifehack series. This series showcases articles from the month just gone by, just in case you missed some of what we offer each and each every day at Lifehack.
This month we delivered posts on a wide variety of topics, focusing on fitness, nutrition, communication and overall productivity. You may have also noticed a lot of new contributors have joined the fold, largely as a result of our “How to Write for Lifehack” post that was published back in March. The result has been a slew of great articles from some very talented writers — and we’re going to bring even more of that to you from this month onward.
As we bid April farewell, here is The Best of Lifehack from the past month.
Have you ever felt like your to do list is completely out of control and you’re just not getting anywhere? You have jobs piling up and you just don’t know where to start? Zoe B. has put together a primer on how to get stuff done that’s well worth checking out.
You probably make lists of things to do and follow them through. But what about the things you should stop doing? Successful people do not do the following things but chances are you still do. Paul Sloane recommends that you make a decision to add 7 things to your “stop doing list” starting today.
A weight loss workout doesn’t have to be boring. It shouldn’t require you to workout for hours every day to be effective either. You can actually lose weight and excess body fat in just 15 minutes a day. Lifehack contributor Curt Pedersen explains how you can do just that.
Regular Lifehack contributor Royale Scuderi has discovered many very useful apps in her quest for better life management. Here are a few of the best iPhone apps to help your remember and that she has found to be very helpful.
Fixing minor issues can sometimes play a big role in enhancing your overall productivity and allow your creativity to flow like never before. Uttoran Sen offers up 8 things that are hurting your productivity — and how to hack them.
Lifehack Associate Editor CM Smith has been assembling some excellent mini-guides over the past couple of months, and this one is no exception. If you’re a guy who’s looking to lose some excess pounds, give this a good read. And then follow through!
With everything that happens around us, it is sometimes difficult to reach our goals. Robert Chen hasn’t just listed the top 10 reasons why people don’t reach their goals, but he’s also included a quick fix for each of them.
With everything that happens around us, it is sometimes difficult to reach our goals. Robert Chen hasn’t just assembled the top 10 reasons why people don’t reach their goals, but he’s also included a quick fix for each of them.
Remember when you got a raise and bought a new car, and you were happy ever since? Neither does Cara Stein. So rather than dwell on that, she outlines ways that you can be 25% happier in just five minutes — each and every day.
In this excerpt from the book Kiss That Frog: 12 Great Ways to Turn Negatives into Positives in Your Life and Work, Brian Tracy and Christina Tracy Stein explain that no matter where you are today, or what you have done or not done in the past, you need to accept seven essential truths about you as a person.
(Photo credit: Golden leader of business team via Shutterstock)
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
Looking to power up your Mac — and to do it for free?
Well, Lifehack Deals has another great giveaway lined up for you — as in we’re giving 1 lucky winner The Mac SuperBundle!
The apps in this bundle can help you in a wide variety of activities, from converting and managing digital media with Roxio Toast to searching for files more efficiently and effectively with Houdah Tembo to keeping track of your home inventory easily with Compartments.
All 9 apps would normally retail for $453 on their own!
Here’s what’s in this latest Lifehack Deals giveaway:
Completely redesigned from the ground up, the best-selling Roxio Toast 11 Titanium features a new user interface that’s up-to-date, innovative and intuitive! With newly refined workflows, built-in video tutorials and much more, Toast 11 is the ultimate digital media toolkit for newcomers and experienced users alike. From capturing audio and video to converting media to copying, sharing, burning and more, Roxio Toast 11 quickly and easily gets you the media you love…wherever you want it! Regular price: $100
RapidWeaver 5 gives you the easiest yet most powerful tools available to create stunning websites on your Mac! With Code-Free creation, 11 built-in page types, 45 flexible design themes, including 6 new themes from world-renowned designers and built-in support for FTP & SFTPuploads, you’ll be creating and publishing an incredible website in no time at all. Whatever your website needs, a slideshow, company site or personal blog, RapidWeaver 5 lives up to its name – fast, fun and complete! Regular price: $80
Whether you’ve got landscape or city skyline digital photos or nature or vacation experiences on video, Panorama Maker 5 Pro offers a simple and easy way to turn your photos and videos to amazing panorama masterpieces. With a complete set of auto stitching tools, five different stitch modes, powerful media file management, photo editing and a built-in online print service; Panorama Maker 5 lets you produce stunning panoramas photos just like a pro! Regular price: $80
Designed by Mac users for Mac users, Disk Drill PRO is the way to recover important lost data in almost any situation. With patented technology that deep scans your hard drive; Disk Drill PROfinds files you thought were gone forever. Disk Drill PRO is the data protection and recovery app you need to protect your music, photos, import files, presentations and more. Offering Quick Scan & Recovery of HFS/HFS+, FAT and NTFS and Deep Scan & Recovery for any or no file systems, Disk Drill PRO is the perfect investment in your data’s safe and secure future. Regular price: $89
Great for all occasions including birthdays, holidays, weddings – or just to say hello. You also get 10,000+ clip art images to complement your cards and projects. Hallmark Card Studio for Mac makes selecting photos for cards and projects easy. And, there’s no better way to personalize than by importing your own photos from iPhoto or an iSight camera. Regular price: $40
Make finding files as easy as possible with Houdah Tembo – the efficient search tool that’s based on the Spotlight engine! Get search results grouped by categories and then drill-down for real search power – up to 2500 search results within each group! Context filters, including subject, sender and recipient, help you refine your results. With Tembo you’ll get more than just a file search tool – it even works as an extension to Apple Mail to locate messages or to Safari to search browsing history, bookmarks and more. Regular price: $15
It’s easy to download songs from your favorite music websites with Musicbox! Just paste or drag a URL with an audio or video player onto Musicbox for fast download and conversion into a native mp3 format that can be imported into your iTunes library. With Musicbox you can listen to your favorite web audio on your iPod, Mac or iPhone — anytime and anywhere! Regular price: $15
Font Explosion includes five hundred 100% royalty-free, sensational TrueType® fonts for home, school and office. Each font is fully-scalable to any point size and easily integrates with your favorite applications like Microsoft Word, Pages, Keynote, Adobe® Photoshop® and more. With each font family fully compatible with all popular inkjet and laser printers, the Mac SuperBundle Font Explosion software makes print jobs a breeze! Regular price: $20
Compartments is fast and effective home inventory app for Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard. Its beautifully laid out user interface ensures that you don’t have to spend hours entering your home inventory information. Access every category with keyboard shortcuts, enter dozens of your personal items in seconds with the Quick Add feature or select multiple items and tag them with Quick Apply, plus add photos and generate PDF reports. With Compartments you can even keep family members up-to-date with automatic data syncing via a free DropBox or MobileMe iDisk folder. Keep your valuables organized and protected with the easiest to use home inventory software available today. Regular price: $15
The contest ends on April 30th at 11:59PM PST, after which we will select the lucky winner (The winner will be notified directly). To check out all of the official rules and regulations, head over to this page.
Once you’re done that, go here and enter and give yourself a chance to win a bundle that will stack your Mac!
Best of luck!
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
Are you having trouble managing your finances?
Toshl Finance Pro is your solution — and Lifehack Deals is bringing it to our readers for a limited time at only $10 for a 1-year license.
This simple and intuitive web-based application (and mobile app) is a personal financial assistant that, believe it or not makes finance fun. It helps you note down your expenses and income, and plans your finances with detailed budgets so you can be on-top of every penny.
Moreover, you’ll be able to download the mobile app which will make it a breeze when it comes to keeping track of all of your expenses. Your app will sync with your web-based software so it’ll be updated with all of your devices.
With Toshl by your side you’ll reach that peace of mind that comes with knowing where your money is going. And the mobile app makes it a breeze when it comes to keeping track of all of your expenses. Your app will sync with your web-based software, so it’ll be updated across all of your devices.
See how Toshl Pro looks on the web in this live demo!
Here are just some of the features that Toshl Finance Pro offers:
Toshl Finance Pro allows for quick and easy entering of your income and expenses. You can use multiple custom tags, and repeating expenses and repeating income.
With Budgets, Toshl Finance Pro makes it easy to save money Users can do the following to keep an eye on their budget:
Compare the rate of your spending with the time of the monthSave money just on the items you don’t want to be spending onBudgets for all expenses, just for specific tags or all expenses except for specific tagsOne-time budgets, daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, yearlyMove remaining funds to the next budgetLearn from your budget history
Having the ability to use foreign currencies in a financial is incredibly handy for those who spend a lot of time on the go in faraway lands. Toshl Finance Pro lets you enter expenses in any currency, get daily exchange rates for more than 30 currencies, and set a custom exchange rate.
Toshl Apps are as versatile as they are fun and simple to use. You can use them on the following mobile platforms:
iPhoneAndroidNokia Symbian 3Windows PhoneBlackBerryMeeGoSo if you want to get your finances under control in a simple and fun way – then pick up this Lifehack Deals offer while it lasts! You’ll save 50% off the regular price for a one-year license – and you’ll save a whole lot more when you start using Toshl Finance Pro. Get it today!
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
Mac productivity app fans rejoice! Lifehack Deals has a bumper crop of apps that will help you become more efficient and effective with your Mac — and in your work and life. We’ve got a great giveaway that we’ve lined up where you’ll have a chance to win a bundle that contains all of The Omni Group’s top Mac apps.
The total value of all of the apps in this bundle is $580 — and considering that The Omni Group is one of the premier developers for Mac productivity software, you’ll want to get in on this today!
Here’s all of the apps that are part of the Omni Group Bundle Giveaway:
OmniPlan is designed to help you visualize, maintain, and simplify your projects. Break down tasks, optimize the required resources, control costs, and monitor your entire plan—all at a glance.
We’re big fans of OmniFocus here at Lifehack. OmniFocus is designed to quickly capture your thoughts and allow you to store, manage, and process them into actionable to-do items while helping you to work smarter via powerful tools for staying on top of all the things you need to do.
If you need a diagram, process chart, quick page-layout, website wireframe or graphic design, OmniGraffle can help you by keeping ines connected to shapes even when they’re moved, providing powerful styling tools, importing and exporting Microsoft Visio files, and magically organizing diagrams with just one click.
Another favourite here at Lifehack. Use OmniOutliner’s document structure to brainstorm new ideas, drill out specifics, and line up the steps needed to get everything done. It’s more than just an outlining tool—you’ve got multiple columns, smart checkboxes, customizable popup lists, and an über-innovative styles system at your disposal. Use OmniOutliner to draft to-do lists, create agendas, manage tasks, track expenses, take notes, plan events, write screenplays . . . and just about anything else you can think of.
OmniGraphSketcher helps you make elegant and precise graphs in seconds, whether you have specific data to visualize or you just have a concept to explain. Specifically designed for reports, presentations, and problem sets where you need to produce sharp-looking graphs on the fly, OmniGraphSketcher combines the data plotting power of charting applications with the ease of a basic drawing program.
Simply enter your email address on our Lifehack Deals page to give yourself a chance to win. Remember that you’ll want to act on this giveaway offer now — you’ve only got until April 30 to enter. The official rules for this extremely rare type of giveaway are available here.
So enter today — and start lifehacking with your Mac better than ever before!
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
We as knowledge workers, creatives, and entrepreneurs have a lot on on our plates like numerous projects, meetings, ideas, phone calls to make, and decisions to come to. Not only that, but there is an entire other side of our life; the personal one. In our personal lives we have a family to take care of, difficult decisions that have to be made about friends and family, as well as making sure that our family is set up for the future.
If you have been reading Lifehack for any length of time then you probably already have some kind of productivity system in place and have taken advantage of our tips on how to get more and better work done. But even after getting things done, sometimes things don’t feel right. We feel like we are robots. We feel that our lives our unbalanced, that we spend too much time at work and not enough with the ones that we love. We feel that the work we are doing isn’t what we want to be doing. We end up with a feeling of dread and dissatisfaction in our lives.
This is where the practice of being mindful comes in. Rather than running the rat-race of getting things done in your life; you have to stop and understand what your life really is by becoming and staying mindful.
Being mindful means “inclined to be aware” and mindfulness is the act of that. Some would say that practicing mindfulness and using forms of meditation to become more mindful is a Buddhist “thing”. While that is somewhat true, you don’t have to practice Buddhism to practice mindfulness meditation. In fact, there are many members of other religions that practice forms of meditation that moves them towards mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness means that you have to have an open mind and have to be open to a new experience as well as a different way of thinking about things.
Becoming mindful does not mean that you go into a trance, become god-like, learn to levitate, or some other crazy thing you may have heard of. Becoming mindful allows you to see yourself and the world around you just as it is without any preconceived notions of what it “should be”.
It’s hard to talk about becoming mindful without speaking about some form of meditation. What we will discuss here is a sitting meditation that is concentrated on the breath. We won’t delve into the ins and outs of meditation but there are some good resources for that:
There are many benefits to practicing mindfulness through your day. Some of these benefits have to deal with overcoming stress and overwhelm, but there are even links from mindfulness meditation to lowering one’s blood pressure, improving memory, and ridding yourself of depression and anxiety.
These aren’t all of the benefits that we as knowledge workers are looking for (although they are a great to have). What mindfulness meditation gives us is a place we can go to re-frame our world; to accept our current situations and therefore understand ourselves and our surroundings. This is the first step we need to make the right changes in our lives. We see the reality in front of us and based on that new found reality we can make the decisions of where we should be spending our time and attention.
Not only that, but mindfulness meditation will lower our stress as we try to get things done throughout our day which makes work feel much more natural and less threatening.
Getting started with mindfulness meditation is easy. Find about 15 minutes of spare time, a quiet room or place you can go to with the least amount of distractions, a pillow for sitting on the ground (or a chair if that isn’t possible), a timer of some sort (there are a lot of good ones for your smartphone), and no expectations of what will or won’t happen. We need to approach meditation and the practice of mindfulness with as little preconceived notions as possible. The less we expect from practicing and being mindful, the better it will “work”.
Sit down in your quite room in a comfortable position, set your timer, and close your eyes. All you need to do now is be aware of the breath that is coming in and out of your nose. Breath in slow through your nose and concentrate on how the air feels hitting your nostrils. While breathing in, breath deep through your stomach, not your chest. As the breath in starts to slow down concentrate on the split second between the end of your breath in and the beginning of your breath out. Then feel the breath going out of your nostril. Once again, concentrate on the split second that your breath changes from going out to coming back in.
The reason that you concentrate on your breath is because it is something real; it is reality. You will notice as you sit there for an extended period of time thoughts will enter your brain like crazy. The idea is not to “block” or “stop” your thoughts from happening. That will lead to frustration. Instead, concentrate on the reality of your situation and allow your thoughts to enter and exit your mind as your breath enters and exits your nostrils.
Sit and meditate and breath for the set amount of time. When your bell or alarm goes off, slowly open your eyes and go about your day.
This is the practice of mindfulness meditation in a nutshell.
The above sounds easy, right? Just sit and concentrate on your breath. Not so much.
Many people that try to start a mindfulness practice find themselves abandoning it after one or even a few days of practice. Mostly because meditation and being mindful is hard as many different issues can come up:
Sometimes people tend to get uncomfortable with the thoughts that come up or even physically uncomfortable while they are seated.
When it comes to the thoughts that come up a good rule of thumb is first to move your attention back to your breath and to let the thought go through it’s natural progression through your mind while you aren’t attached to it. The thought can keep coming up, especially to someone that isn’t “trained” in mindfulness yet. If it is completely uncomfortable then you may need to stop your practice for the day and come back at a later time to try again.
When it comes to physical uncomfortableness you may need to move your body a little bit or find another position that is more comfortable for you. Something to remember though is to feel some of the minor pain or restlessness or your body as you sit there as it is reality. You of course don’t want to cause yourself injury, but there will always be small issues that come up with our bodies as we sit. Try to sit through them.
Going into a meditation and mindfulness practice you want to have the least amount of expectations as possible, but after some weeks or even months of practice you may find yourself expecting some sort of revelation and peace in your everyday life. When this doesn’t happen you will probably give up on the practice all together because it “doesn’t work”.
While meditation and mindfulness will end up bringing you peace, understanding, and lower overall stress levels, it doesn’t mean that you will experience it immediately. Remember we are shooting for feeling reality for the way that it is. Keep moving forward and shift your expectations.
Okay. So you sit and meditate every day. You concentrate on your breath and live in the moment. But why?
Well, as we continue our mindfulness practice some peculiar things will start to happen. As you live your life and do your work throughout the day you may find yourself slowing down and concentrating on your breath as you become stressed or overwhelmed. This will ground you and help you realize what the current reality is. Rather than reading an email and then instantly fantasizing about what it “could” mean, you can step back and read it for what it is and not get excited or upset.
The projects that you have been working on (or haven’t been working on) start to look a little different. You may be able to slow down and ask yourself, “why am I doing this?” If the answer isn’t apparent you may just want to cut the project entirely. In the past, cutting or declining projects may have been perceived as a weakness. After seeing things for the way they are you can simply see that these project may not interest your or may not help you further your career in any real way. You start to see the reality of all situations in work and life.
Practicing mindfulness start a chain reaction in your life. The simplest of tasks (sit and concentrate on your breath) can turn your life around because you bring that simplicity into everything you do. That’s why we as entrepreneurs, creatives, and knowledge workers need to practice mindfulness.
(Photo credit: Face huge stress, meditation via Shutterstock)
CM Smith is a technologist, writer, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State. CM is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.
As we kick off another weekend, I’m sure you’re not thinking about all of the email you have to deal with when you return to work. I’m not just talking about the email that you left behind for follow-up; I’m also talking about all of the email you’ll receive over the weekend. After all, the Internet never sleeps.
Knowing all of this, can your mind truly be on the weekend at hand? Furthermore, can you keep your mind on the important stuff that goes on outside of your email inbox knowing that you’re going to have to deal with both the important and unimportant messages that will arrive in your inbox on a non-stop basis?
It’s kind of insane, isn’t it?
This is where the latest Lifehack Deals offer comes to the rescue…with SaneBox.
What is SaneBox?
SaneBox contains algorithms to determine the importance of each email that finds its way into your inbox, move unimportant messages out of your inbox into a separate folder, and then summarize them in a daily digest. I’d like to think of it as Gmail’s Priority Inbox on steroids – but it works for all kinds of email platforms. Because of this algorithm, SaneBox separates your most important emails from the ones that can wait. This allows you to prioritize the way you read your messages, saving you time and frustration.
SaneBox works with any mail client you use, such as:
GmailYahoo MailMicrosoft OutlookApple MailMozilla ThunderbirdAOL…and moreLifehack Deals has worked out a sweet deal with SaneBox. Just sign up to enjoy a free month trial to test out SaneBox, and receive a $14.85 credit towards an annual SaneBox subscription if you decide it’s making you more efficient and effective with not only your inbox – but with your time as a whole. If it works out for you, the savings work out to three additional months of SaneBox…for free!
One of the key features of SaneBox is its ease of use – and adoption.
It doesn’t require any training. There are no plug-ins or downloads, and it works on any email client and service. Simply put: if you know how to use email folders, then you know how to use Sanebox. You manage your email like you normally would. SaneBox keeps all important emails in your Inbox and automatically sends all unimportant ones to the SaneLater folder. You can easily check them at your leisure, and you are also sent a daily SaneLater digest…so you never have to leave your inbox.
Some of SaneBox’s other features include:
Blackhole Unsubscribe: One-click-unsubscribe from people you hate getting emails fromOne-Click Defer Power: Defer non-urgent emails until laterSpam Folder Monitoring: It watches your spam folder for false positives, and fishes out emails caught there by mistakeFollowup with RemindMe: Reminders when an email you sent was unansweredSocial Network Refinement: Make your inbox is smarter by connecting to your social platforms…and much moreSo sign up for this latest Lifehack Deals offer today and get started bringing sanity back into your email management with SaneBox. Just click on the “free” button on our Lifehack Deals page and you’ll be sent straight to SaneBox’s registration process. Once you finish there you will have one free month of use and if you decide you like it (which you will) you’ll have a $14.85 credit. If you decide to purchase an annual membership, it will cost you only $40 which is 33% off the price of an annual membership!
Now go and enjoy weekends going forward without concerning yourself about your inbox. SaneBox – and Lifehack Deals – have got you covered.
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can read more of his writing and learn more about him at Vardy.me, and he can be found on Twitter as @mikevardy.
If you’ve been a reader of Lifehack for any length of time, first off – thank you.
Secondly, you’ve probably noticed that we have a wide variety of guest contributors who offer up tips, tricks, tutorials and more. But have you ever thought about contributing yourself?
If you have and you’re looking to do so, we’re always on the lookout for fresh material. And this piece here will let you in on how to write for us here at Stepcase Lifehack.
Everyone who wants to write for us here at Lifehack has to apply using a short application form. The form asks just a few simple questions (along with gathering the email under which you’d like to apply):
Who you are and whether or not you own/have a website you write for. This portion is pretty self-explanatory. It’s best to put something in the website spot – even a Twitter URL will work so that we have a sense of a presnece online that you have control over how you present yourself.Which topic(s) do you want to write about? The main categories we have at Lifehack are as follows: Communication, Productivity, Management, Lifestyle, Financial and Technology. They are fairly broad in scope and while you may be able to write for all six categories, don’t feel you have to do so. There’s a lot to explore in each category, so if you only feel proficient enough in one of them then only mention that one. You can always expand your areas out later on if you begin to write for Lifehack. Take a look around and see what’s been written here both in the past and currently to get an idea of what we’re looking for in each category.Do you have any sample work? This is key. Whether you provide us single URLs for an entire website that you are the sole contributor for or you send us samples from across the web, if you don’t put anything in here then your chances of making it through the application process are slim to none. If you write for a site that features multiple authors and you want to showcase your body of work there, you can usually do that by clicking on your name in a post you’ve written – that will give you a URL for all the posts you’ve written there.After you submit your application, give us a couple of weeks to review it so we can decide if you’re going to be a good fit for Lifehack. If you don’t hear back from us within that time frame, it means that your application didn’t make the cut; there are a number of reasons why this may happen, so please don’t be discouraged by it. You can always re-apply at a later date.
If you’re approved, you’ll get a welcome email from one of our editors, outlining some of the basics you’ll need to get started writing for us right away. Some of these particulars include your username and password, a link to sign up for a newsletter that allows us to regularly update our contributors and a request for a bio for us to use beneath your articles.
Now you’re ready to contribute for us. So what else do you need to know?
Every submission for Lifehack must meet the following criteria to make it to the editing phase:
Articles should be at least 600 words in length.Articles must be original work from the author – and unique to Lifehack.Articles cannot contain any self-promotion – including links and/or references to authors’ own business, or affiliate links. Your bio is where this kind of stuff can go (excluding affiliate links and in a limited fashion).As a Lifehack contributor, you also must agree to our Content Contribution Policy, which is listed on our Contribute page.
Writing for Lifehack will give you and your work quite a bit of exposure, and you’ll be able ot say you’ve written for a site that has worked with the likes of Chris Brogan and Leo Babauta. Both of these former Lifehack contributors have gone on to do spectacular things, and you can start to head down a similar path by doing some specatacular things right here and now.
So what are you waiting for? Now that you know how to write for Lifehack, it’s time to start the journey to actually writing for Lifehack! We’ll hope you’ll look into joining us soon.
Questions? Feel free to leave them in the comments area below.
(Photo credit: Green Key via Shutterstock)
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can read more of his writing and learn more about him at Vardy.me, and he can be found on Twitter as @mikevardy.
There are a host of free task and project management applications on the web as well as for Android and iOS. But, Doit.im is a fully cross-platform application (Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Android, and mobile web) that seems to fly under everyone’s radar even with its new interface and awesome features.
Here is a Mini Guide to using Doit.im to get things done.
Getting your tasks into Doit.im is pretty easy, mostly becausethere are interfaces for both web and iOS/Android. That means you can add tasks quickly from anywhere.
On the web
To add a task simply tap the Add task icon at the top left of the screen. The Add Task dialogue will appear. From here you can fill in your task details like it’s name, a brief description, whether it’s a next action, a deadline, a project, context, flag, tag, repeats, reminders, and even delegation to a contact.
Of course, when collecting you may want to just do the infamous, “brain dump”, and then add these details later. You can do that by clicking on the Inbox selection on the left under the Collect heading. There, you can add tasks quickly by typing in the text box and hitting enter to add it to the list. You can also us the Smart Add Shortcuts for adding tags, projects, contexts, due dates, etc.
You can simply tap the big ol’ plus button at the bottom of the screen and enter your task information.
You can fill in all of the task details if you want, but if you don’t, the task will go to your inbox for later processing.
Next, you need to process your tasks that you added to the inbox. You can make your tasks into projects, give them due dates, assign them contexts and tags, and even schedule them for next actions, someday/maybe, or waiting for. Before you do that we need to setup some contexts.
On the web
To add a new context click on the ‘+’ button on the bottom of the left sidebar and choose New Context. A dialogue will popup and you can add a new context like Online, Mac, PC, Phone, Office, etc. After you have added contexts, you can process your inbox by dragging them to the left sidebar on the appropriate context that they need to be completed in.
You can also drag your inbox items to a different “focus”, like Today, Next, Tomorrow, Scheduled (which is actually done when you give them a due date), Someday, and Waiting. Once you drag your tasks from your Inbox to a new Focus, they will reside on that list and not be in your Inbox anymore.
On your mobile deviceProcessing tasks on your iPhone or Android is a little less intuitive, but you can still have a go of it when you are on the go.
To process a task that is in your Inbox go to the Inbox from the home screen, tap the task you want to process. You can easily move the task to a different Focus by tapping the Move To button at the top right of the screen and choosing a focus. If you want to change any of the details of the task like contexts, tags, project, etc., tap the Edit Task button at the bottom of the View Task screen.
The only way to add new Contexts on your mobile is to create a next task, scroll down to the context option, tap it, scroll to the bottom of your contexts and tap the New Context button. Once you do that for one task though, the context will be available for all tasks.
One of the best features of Doit.im is the way what it supports grouping tasks by projects.
On the webTo add a new project, click on the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the left sidebar and choose New Project…. From there you can fill in the project details and even give it a default context. After you have created your new project you will see it in the left sidebar under the Projects menu.
To view a project, simply click on the project’s name in the Projects menu on the left sidebar. Here you will see all of the tasks that are related to the project, the ones that are marked as next, scheduled, someday, waiting, and even the completed and archived ones. To add a new task to the project you can drag the task from the inbox (or any other list) to the project in the left sidebar, or you can add a task with the Smart Add box at the top of the Project view screen (the same way you can add them to the inbox).
Another way to add a project is to use the handy Convert to project button at the top of the Inbox. Simply highlight a task in your inbox and click the Convert to project button. The project will be added to the Projects list and you will be taken to the new project’s view.
On your mobile device
To create new projects on your mobile, on the Home screen tap Projects and then tap the ‘+’ button at the top right. From there you can enter the important details of the project.
To view a project you can go to the Projects list and tap the project whose information you want to view. You can see all of the info that you can see on the web version, like you next actions, waiting fors, scheduled tasks etc. To add a new task, simply tap the huge “+” at the bottom of the screen to add a task directly to the current project’s next actions.
Another nice touch to Doit.im is the new Filters feature where you can filter your tasks and create other views (think Toodledo’s search feature and/or OmniFocus’s perspectives). Also, you can group your tasks in any way you see fit on almost any list. As of now Filters are not supported on the native iOS and Android clients.
Filters on the web
To add a new filter, click the Advanced link next to the search box in the header. At the filter dialogue you can put in information like the status of the task, priority, a deadline, the context or project. You can even sort and group the tasks buy a number of attributes. After you have set your properties of the filter you can give it a name and save it. The new filter will show up in the left sidebar under the Filters section.
These filters are very powerful. For example, you can view tasks that are related to only work projects, require a phone and a computer, are due in 2 days, and sort them by due date. You are only limited by what you can think up. To bad we can’t add these to our mobile devices yet.
GroupingYou can easily group tasks in any list by clicking the Group by link at the top of the list and choose which attribute your want to group by. Couldn’t be easier.
I’ve been watching Doit.im for a little over two years now and I have to say that it is finally starting to come into its own. With it’s excellent project handling, easy task input, grouping and filtering, Doit.im seems to be a seriously underrated task management application.
Doit.im does have some issues, sometimes slow syncing and app responsiveness as well as lack of continuity in design and features, but overall, Doit.im is one of the best free GTD/task/project management apps available today.
With the help of this Lifehack mini guide, start using Doit.im to get some stuff done on any platform.
CM Smith is a technologist, writer, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State. CM is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.
