1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: their day. 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:11,840 Speaker 2: I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba. 5 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist the founder of innovation consultancy Inventium, 6 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize my workday. 7 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,760 Speaker 2: Today is another mini episode, and. 8 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: I thought the topic that I would cover is something 9 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: that I get asked a lot about, and that is 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: what are my favorite apps that I use to manage 11 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 1: my time better and be more efficient and productive and 12 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 1: so on. So I'm not going to go into things 13 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: like Evane and wonder List and Dropbox and think that 14 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: a lot of people use that I also use and 15 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: love very much. 16 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 2: But instead, I've picked seven apps or. 17 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: Software that perhaps maybe a little bit less well known, 18 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: but I absolutely love. 19 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 2: So let's get stuck into it. 20 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: I want to start with one of my favorite apps 21 00:00:57,840 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: that I've discovered in the last few months, and. 22 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 2: That is software called Superhuman. 23 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: Superhuman is an email program or email client like Gmail, 24 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 1: and it connects to Gmail in fact, so you can 25 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: send and receive emails from Superhuman. So I love Superhuman 26 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: because it is firstly very fast, which is exactly what 27 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: it claims to be, so the website says that it 28 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: is the fastest email experience ever made, and I definitely concurb. 29 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,479 Speaker 1: Superhuman also has a beautiful interface that I haven't been 30 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: able to find anywhere else, and believe me, I've tried. 31 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: The only other place I found it was in an 32 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: email client called Newton, which is the software that I 33 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: used for many years, but it closed down about a 34 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: year ago, and so I resorted back to Gmail for 35 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 1: a few months. But I find Gmail is just so 36 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: crowded and Superhuman in comparison, is beautiful and clean, and 37 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: it's also very clever. 38 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 2: So it uses. 39 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: Natural language to execute commands. So, for example, when you 40 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: press command K, which opens up like a search bar, 41 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: I can basically type in what I want it to do. 42 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: So if I type send this email next week, it 43 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: understands what I'm typing it will do just that, and 44 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,920 Speaker 1: it can do other things like remind me if no 45 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: one has responded or replied to an email that I've 46 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: sent within a certain certain timeframe, which is handy because 47 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: it means that nothing slips through the cracks and I 48 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: don't have to create a separate. 49 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 2: To do list item, and it's also got some clever shortcuts, 50 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 2: like if. 51 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: Someone emails me and says, hey, meet such and such, 52 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: there's actually a shortcut just by pressing three keys where 53 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: you can automatically reply and BCC the person that did 54 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: the introduction so that they're not included on the email. 55 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 2: I also like that you can just close. 56 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: It down and it's completely gone from the screen when 57 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: I don't want to be an email. 58 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 2: So that's Superhuman. 59 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: And because they have got a waiting list of literally 60 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,799 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people, really the only way to 61 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:02,920 Speaker 1: get in quite quickly is to be referred by someone, 62 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: so like referred by an actual user. So if you're 63 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: a listener of this podcast and you're key to try 64 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: out Superhuman, feel free to send me an email at 65 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: Amantha at inventium dot com dot au and I can 66 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: refer you on. And I should add that I'm not 67 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: an investor. 68 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 2: I don't have shares or any in any of these apps. 69 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: I am simply just passing them on because I've had 70 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: a big impact in my life. So the second app 71 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: I want to talk about is Woven, which is WOVN 72 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 1: and Woven is a fairly newish calendar app, so it 73 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: sinks with all the major calendars like gcal for example, 74 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: but it's really clever and it uses artificial intelligence to 75 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: do things like schedule meetings for you. 76 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 2: So if I'm trying to coordinate. 77 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: A meeting with someone else, I can simply include at 78 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: woven in the email text and it will help me 79 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: schedule the meeting on my behalf. Sometimes this works, sometimes 80 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: it doesn't work, but look, most of the time it's 81 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: pretty good. And something else that I love about is 82 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: that you can create templates for events that are happening 83 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: frequently in your calendar. So for example, I pretty frequently 84 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: conduct interviews for this podcast, and for every guest I 85 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: send them a calendar invite which is the same template. 86 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: So now in Woven I can actually create that template 87 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: and all I need to change is the guest name 88 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 1: and email address and date of course, so very handy. 89 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of Woven. 90 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: The next app I want to mention is perhaps a 91 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: bit more well known than Superhuman and Woven, and a 92 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: few of my guests have actually mentioned it on the podcast, 93 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: and this is an app called Pocket. 94 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 2: Pocket is an app where you can. 95 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: Put on your phone or as a plugin in your 96 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: Internet browser like Chrome, and it lets you save articles 97 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: that are sent to you or that you find when 98 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: you're browsing online. So what I find terrific about Pocket 99 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,040 Speaker 1: is that often when I uncover an article that I 100 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: think looks interesting, I don't want to go down a 101 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: black hole of reading, or I simply don't have time 102 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: to spend five or ten or fifteen minutes reach. Instead, 103 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 1: I want to just stay on the task that I 104 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: was originally on. So what I can do is I 105 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: can click on my Chrome Pocket plug in and save 106 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: it to Pocket, and Pocket saves all. 107 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 2: My articles and then I can read them later. 108 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: So I can essentially batch the reading of articles and 109 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 1: learning at a time when it's not interrupting the task 110 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: that I'm on. Very very handy. The next thing I 111 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: want to talk about is a plugin that I use 112 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: on Chrome, and there might be an equivalent for other 113 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: Internet browsers, but I use it on Chrome, and it's 114 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: called send from Gmail. Send from Gmail, And I'll link 115 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,600 Speaker 1: to all these in the show notes as well. Now, 116 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: what I find is that sometimes when I'm going about 117 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: my deep work in the morning and I'm trying to 118 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: stay out of my inbox, I'll need to send an 119 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:45,599 Speaker 1: email to someone. So let's just say I've written an 120 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: article and I need to send that off to Scott, 121 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: who is the amazing person that looks after all the 122 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: publicity in pr and inventition. So rather than just put 123 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: that task to the side because I'm staying out of 124 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: my inbox, I can simply click on this plug in 125 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,720 Speaker 1: send from Gmail, and it opens up a composed window 126 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,720 Speaker 1: where I can send an email without actually having to 127 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: go into my inbox, which I find very very convenient, 128 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: and it's great for keeping focused because I find if 129 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: I open up my inbox in the morning, it's quite 130 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: hard to actually just send something quickly and then get 131 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: out of it because I'm obviously tempted to take a 132 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: peek at what else is in there. 133 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 2: So that's send from Gmail. 134 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: The next app is something that I think a few 135 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 1: guests on the show have mentioned that I might have 136 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:30,479 Speaker 1: mentioned too, which is Freedom. 137 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 2: So Freedom dot two. 138 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: Freedom is where you can basically lock yourself out of 139 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: anything that you want to be locked out of on 140 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: your computer. So it can lock you out of specific 141 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: Internet sites like Facebook, or specific software that you might 142 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 1: be using on your computer, so you can basically stay 143 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: focused without using will power or discipline. 144 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 2: So on days where. 145 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: I'm feeling a little bit depleted in willpower, I will 146 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: open up Freedom and I'll ask it to lock me 147 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: out of things I know are distracting intending email, for example. 148 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: So I find Freedom infinitely helpful and just great for 149 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: helping me stay focused. Now, there are two other apps 150 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: that I want to mention. The first one is called Overcast. 151 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: So Overcast is how I listen to podcasts. I find 152 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: that most people will just listen to podcasts in their 153 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: native environment, like Apple podcasts, and I must say I 154 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: also use Apple Podcasts as well, but I really like 155 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: Overcast because it's got some quite cool features that I 156 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: haven't seen in other podcasts. So, for example, you can 157 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: turn on settings that do things like shorten the silences 158 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: in an episode and also boost the voices, which are 159 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: two things that I think are quite useful when you're 160 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: listening to podcasts and make for a better listening experience. 161 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: There's also a function called smart resume, which means that 162 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: if you stop listening to an episode and then you 163 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: start again a bit later, on actually backtracks I think 164 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: it's about fifteen seconds, so you remember what you're actually 165 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: up to and also it's just got a really beautiful 166 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: user experience. It's nice and clean is it to navigate, 167 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: unlike some other podcast apps that are out there. 168 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 2: Now. 169 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: The final app I thought i'd mentioned because I find 170 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: it very useful in the role that one of the 171 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: roles that I play for this podcast, which is doing 172 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: a lot of reach out to guess that I would 173 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: like to have on the show whose contact details I 174 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: don't have. So I do this through an app called 175 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: contact Out. So this is an app that syncs up 176 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: with your LinkedIn profile, and if a guest that I'm 177 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: trying to get on the show has a LinkedIn profile, 178 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: I can use contact out to actually see what their 179 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: email address is, even if I'm not connected with them, 180 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: which is very useful for contacting someone directly as opposed 181 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,320 Speaker 1: to indirectly through a social media channel. So seven apps 182 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: which I will link to in the show notes. So 183 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: I hope that you're feeling keen perhaps to try out 184 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: one of these apps, and I must say every single 185 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: one of them has definitely made me more productive and 186 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: happier in the way that I go about my day. 187 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 2: So that is it for today's show. Thank you so much. 188 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: Much for listening and look, if maybe you know someone 189 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,720 Speaker 1: else that could benefit from one of these pieces of 190 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: software or apps, maybe you might want to share the 191 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: episode with them, and I hope that they enjoy it 192 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,720 Speaker 1: as well. So that's it for today and I'll see 193 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: you next time.