Minimal Ways to Maximize your Digital Tools

By Nadia Zaifulizan

Backup your work.

Create a separate online account for work use. The easiest would be a google account. Next, use this account for your work-related needs only, including folder storage, browser bookmarking, working drafts, and so on. Sync your bookmarks so you can access them across multiple devices. Although you already have your work-affiliated account and storage at work and some are still accessible remotely, this separate account can function as an easy back-up and help you have access to work-related contents when you’re away.

Save, declutter, and organize.

Save a copy of your files and folders on your iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox or other cloud platforms. Organize them into separate folders for ease of access. If you share your files via Google Drive, make sure that you check the “can view” only box if you wish to preserve the editability of your file’s contents.

Ready your IM app.

If you use instant messaging apps such as Telegram, you can update to the latest version which enables you to use the “forward” button to “Saved Messages” for fast storing of information. This is great for instant information-saving as you interact with others on Telegram, since you can just forward important information onto your saved messages for personal record-keeping. Remember to password your Telegram as a security measure.

Streamline your note-taking.

Optimize the time you spend on gathering information. If you want an easy note-taking function, you can utilize apps like Evernote, Google Keep, One Note, and many others. These note-taking apps mostly help you keep copies of files you browsed online, store your ideas and writings, as well as ease the synchronization of the device that you write from, across multiple platforms.

Revamp your information digestion.

Optimize your reading focus. Personalize your own newsfeed to ease your daily dose of information updates. You can use online platforms such as Feedly to set-up your feed and instantly get up to date on the latest contents from a single platform. No more scouring multiple sites and blogs for the latest updates.

Refresh your daily tasks (and life) management.

You can utilize effective productivity apps like Trello, Toggl, or Todoist. Input your tasks into the app and add or edit the information that you want to update from time to time. This can ease your task management processes, and help you keep updated of your daily or weekly tasks progress. If you wish to track the time you spent on different activities each week, you can also use a “time-tracker” app like Hours, Timestats or RescueTime to observe the time you’ve spent for each activities.