It’s already the third week of January and it is likely that a number of people like me are still reviewing their activities for last year and planning for the new year that is running fast. One clear fact is that many of us now rely heavily on technology.
For many people and organisations, the first few weeks of a new year are usually a time to carefully start to implement their plans. The big question is, how did you fare in 2015? Did you achieve all or some of the goals that you set out to achieve in 2015?
Well, there are a number of ways in which technology can help your year and it is indeed not rocket science. Let me state, however, that this will make little or no sense for anyone who did not use these tools from the beginning of the year 2015.
Some of the tools that technology has provided to help us achieve our goals and how they are used are explained below.
- Did you manage your time better in 2015?
Many of us are not where we should be in life simply because we are terrible at managing our time well. We are always busy, but in actual fact; we are usually busy doing little or nothing.
Working with to-do-lists can actually make all the difference and tools like Evernote, Wunderlist or Any.do will help you look back at how to handle your time. These are useful tools that can actually help you to achieve all, or some of the things you set out to do. You will also be in a position to know which tasks are outstanding in case you are unable to carry out all of them.
- Where did you spend the most time online?
This also leads to the next point. What if I ask you this question and demand that you respond immediately? Where did you spend the most of your time online in 2015? Will you be exact? Maybe yes, or maybe no, but if you had installed a tool like “Rescuetime”, it will show you exactly where you spent the most time last year and most particularly, it will tell you if you spent your time productively or whether or not you spent it chatting all the way.
- How well did you do with appointments and follow-ups?
Still on another aspect of life that is largely influenced by how we manage our time: were you able to meet all your appointments and follow-ups in 2015?
It is clear that many of us would have used our heads and minds to setup and manage appointments. There is actually nothing wrong with this, but there are tools that could better help you to manage your appointments. These include Google Calendar, (my favourite on desktop), and “Cal” (my favourite on mobile). If you stop me on the way and request for a list of my appointments in 2015, I will produce it quickly with the pressing of a few buttons on my phone.
- What is your total expenditure in 2015?
Except you are an accountant or you love accounting or you have hired a personal accountant, chances of knowing this with a click of the button is very slim. With a tool like “Expensify”, however, you can actually know this with a click of the button. — Finish Reading on the Punch Website
