7 hacks I follow that have turned my phone into a great productivity machine.

There are tons a mobile phone can do!! But are you utilizing it to its full potential?

What you are carrying in your pocket is one of the most powerful productivity tools ever invented. Maybe that’s why it has evolved to be a renamed a SMARTPHONE.

It takes little creativity and careful selection of apps to transform your phone into a highly productive machine.

‘Belonging to this smartphone generation is indeed a prezzie all of us need to treasure’. 

Isn’t it terrific to access information and learn A to Z with just a tap!?

Ever since I made the shift to be choosy with what I do with this machine, my phone has precisely contributed to most of my learnings and growth.

Here I take you through what exactly I do with this device which in turn is constructing my progress.

1.  A STRUCTURED MOBILE PHONE.

‘A well-organized phone paves path to a clear mind’.

If you have a look at my home screen, it contains only the essential apps which I use like Caller, SMS, Camera, Google Photos, Keep Notes, and Todoist. Apart from these, there are no social media apps sitting on my home screen like WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook.

The reason I don’t place them in the front is to refrain from opening and scrolling through them unnecessarily which ultimately distracts me from work or study.

I also have dedicated app clusters or bundles to group similar purpose apps (I have a group for Fitness & meditation, Blog assist tools, Instagram tools etc.)  Attractive launchers can make your phone look more organized like the Nova launcher or the Poco launcher I use.

This is how a cluster of apps looks like. 

2. LESS IS ALWAYS MORE.

My phone comprises of a 32GB internal storage + 8GB of SD card storage. Until last week, I was complaining over my phone having very limited storage and needed to upgrade to a higher one (A 64GB internal storage). Though I had a supporting SD Card, the covet for more storage didn’t stop.

I took some time to reflect on this whole additional storage drama and realized that my previous phone had only 8GB of internal storage and the current one was far huge than that. I should only be feeling grateful for what I had in my hand.

''All of us run out of storage space and that doesn’t mean you should upgrade to a higher one, it means that it is time for some deletion and elimination''. I’ve stopped nagging over this concern and started clasping to the amazing process of digital declutter. 

And that brings me to the 3^rd productivity hack.

3. DUMPING APPS, PHOTOS, VIDEOS NOT IS USE.

“Digital declutter includes all the operations we carry out to arrange and organize the files and contents in our digital devices by deleting all those we don’t need any more”.

I’ve personally been a deep fan of this process owing it all to the storage space I kept lamenting about. But this process has other health benefits as well.

Similarly stacking your phone with so many apps is definitely going to demand you to check all of them every day. Even if you have a 64 GB + phone, consider deleting all those you don’t need.

I’ve written an entire blog about this whole process. Read from HERE.

4. LISTENING TO PODCASTS.

Podcasts are episodic series of audio discussions on specific topics like business, inspirational stories of achievers, money management, mental health and so much more.

This dynamic medium has become more popular and is a perfect way to deliver daily doses of inspiration and motivation.

Spotify is my go-to application to explore a wide arena of podcasts. I usually listen to them after my dinner while having a walk or in the mornings when I’m performing some activities.

Nowadays I prefer to listen to podcasts over random songs. The podcasts I’ve discovered over the past few months are seriously power-packed and equipping me with so much information and knowledge.

Do let me know if you want me to write on my top podcast picks and suggestions – I’d love to do it in case you’re interested.

5. THE SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING.

With Instagram being in peak, there are numerous accounts showing up each day. Seriously the fan following for popular celebrities is growing in millions.

Initially when I joined Instagram, I was moved by the celebrity accounts and was even following a few of them.

Months back when I was clearing out on my follows, I discovered that most of these celebrities were posting about their fancy lifestyle, luxurious photoshoots, movie promotions, and nothing else.

WHAT WAS I GAINING BY VIEWING THOSE?? Unless for the urge to also have a fancy lifestyle like they had, I was gaining nothing by simply liking their posts. There are so many wonderful value-adding pages that we simply are ignoring to support. There are incredibly amazing people than the cine stars we see.

That’s when I decided to ditch most of those celeb handles and carefully picked a few Fitness, Finance, Investment, Health, Bloggers, and Motivating handles.

In fact, I’ve created a beautiful community on IG where I’m providing some serious guidance for life and career. Tap this link to join in.

6. THE APPS I USE.

“The time you spend on your device is directly proportional to the apps you consume”.

 If you are hankered to download an app every time you visit Playstore – I’m sorry you’ll face some genuine issues with it.  

One of the best decisions I’ve made that contribute to my productivity is preparing a To-do List every morning in the TODOIST app. A few of the other apps I truly treasure are Presently (Gratitude Journal), Keep Notes (Note-taking app), Quora (Q&A), LinkedIn, Spotify (Podcasts & Music), 2 fitness apps, and 1 for meditation.

If you prefer to make your phone usage more productive, cut down on the unnecessary social media and entertainment apps and switch to more value-adding ones.

7. NETWORK AND CONNECT WITH PEOPLE.

Imagine, I’ve never ever spoken to you, and one day I just send you the link to my blog, you certainly would ignore reading it. So it is extremely important for me to network and talk to people. 

For a blogger and content creator like me, it is significant that I develop a trust amongst people that my content would add value to their lives.

If I stay dumb and not engage with people, I would be a failure. People don’t trust everything unless it is from a reliable source and that’s why I constantly strive to build meaningful connections.

PRO TIP: 'If you really wanna promote your service or product, get there, network and engage with people, else it’s going to be a tough time'.

Finally!!

“Mobile phones are misnamed. They should be called gateways to human knowledge - Ray Kurzweil”.

Smartphones are incredible tools. Make that time you spend on them count and add up something valuable to your lives.

Until next time!!

What else do you productively do with your phone?? Tell me about it in the comments section below.