I am really excited to film this video because it's going to be such a classic 2010 YouTube style of video. I just want to run you through a few of my new, let's call them productivity favorites, things I have been using recently that I've been loving. If you've been here for a while now, you know that my productivity favorites change a lot.
And I feel that for the past two to three years, I have basically established what I consider my essentials of productivity. I haven't felt any sort of fluctuations in how I use these tools and these resources. So I just want us to go together on this sort of presentation um on how I have been using these items lately.
So the first thing I want to talk about is the brick. This is not sponsored by Brick. I know that everyone has been seeing this little device everywhere lately.
They do probably spend a lot of money on social media marketing. So, I was very curious about this because personally, you know, procrastinating because I'm scrolling through social media, especially on Instagram, is probably one of the reasons why I don't [music] actually manage to tackle my to-do list every single day. So I thought this could be a good experiment and honestly I love it.
It really works. [laughter] It seems so gimmicky and in a way it engages your brain in such a basic way and propels you to be productive in such a simple way that I thought it wouldn't be possible for me to actually [music] use this with success. H and honestly it's really really useful.
So what I do is my brick is usually in my kitchen. Of course, I brought it here so I could film this video. My brick is usually in my kitchen.
Uh, and this is magnetic, the back of the brick. Uh, and I usually just put it on my kitchen whiteboard where me and my husband write little notes to each other or like a small to-do list or shopping list. So, it's always there.
And what I do is before I start working in the morning when I'm working from home, I will tap the brick with my phone and it will automatically block all of my social media apps along with Discord, which is also a big one for me. Um, and then I just go off to work. And what happens is when I'm on my laptop, if I feel the urge to [music] check Instagram, for instance, just the idea of having to remove myself from the office and walk to the kitchen because I can't resist scrolling gives me such a huge wave of embarrassment.
I just won't do it. I always think that am I getting up on purpose just to scroll through social media when I have absolutely no reason to and then you know pure embarrassment leads me to just remaining on the office not going to the kitchen to unlock the brick and [music] you know procrastinate because of that. So it's such a very simple way of forcing you to actually do your work.
I never thought it would be as powerful as it is, but it is. Another really good thing that it does is, for instance, if I'm going on a date with my husband, I break my phone on the way out and I have no ability to check my social media or to check my phone while I'm out of the house so that I can just stop that really annoying habit of doing this, you know, unlocking your phone, just looking at your phone, then putting your phone down. And once again, very simple way to use, super powerful, highly recommend.
and the brick works really well. Uh you do not pay a subscription for this. So basically you purchase the brick and you download the app and that's pretty much it.
So you have lifetime use of this little device here. Second thing I'm bringing over are my Kindles. So I have two.
I have the typical little one and I have the big one. I've had these for a while now. The small one is probably 3 years old, four years old.
And I have these two devices for different reasons. So the big one, the Kindle Scribe, I use mostly to read my own manuscript and edit my own manuscript as I'm going through revisions. I consider the Kindle Scribe too bulky to read a book uh for leisure.
It's really heavy and it's really awkward to hold in your hands. Uh this one has the cover. So like it's really heavy.
It's really big. It almost looks like an iPad. So, it's not ideal to use [music] in those conditions, but it comes with a pen, which I actually don't know where it is.
Uh, but it comes with a pen and you can handw write notes in your own documents, in your own PDFs, your own word documents. And of course, that then you will have to manually add those notes somewhere else if you have to, but it's really useful for that. You know, the standard Kindle for me is really great just to read on the go.
I am a book lover as you can see in the background. So I like to have my books in traditional like printed formats. However, since I became a mom, it has become very difficult for me to hold a hardback.
For instance, if I'm sitting on the couch and I have my feral toddler with me, it's really hard for me to read a book, whether it's a hardback or a paperback, but especially the hardbacks. It's really difficult for me to hold them because he will be so curious. He wants to see the dust jacket.
He wants to see what I'm looking at and he doesn't really care about the Kindle. So, what I usually do is if I have a really chunky book to read, for instance, I've been reading recently the Far Seer trilogy, which has these really chunky books, uh I will just download the book uh to my Kindle and then I will just like purchase what I call a trophy copy for my bookshelves. And usually because books on your Kindle are cheaper, for instance, the Robin Hobs books, I bought each one of them for $5.
I think for me it makes sense to have both, but I usually only do this if they're really chunky and difficult to hold and very heavy to carry. Next on the list, we have calendars and planners and productivity apps. So, right now, I'm using a combo of a notebook and a flow.
Once again, Acflow is not sponsoring this video. They have sponsored me for a long time, but are not sponsoring me anymore. Um, but I'm just really I'm an AUFlow fan.
It's probably the best calendar software I've ever used across all calendars in my life. If you know me, you know I have tried probably all of them. It was always my specialty in the productivity world was um reviewing calendar apps and ACFlow is the best.
It's it's actually the best of all of them. Uh it is expensive because when you compare it to Google calendar or other free calendar apps, Echifilow does something really well which is connecting to all different kinds of productivity um apps and [music] email apps. So that means that you can basically incorporate into Acuflow everything you're doing across multiple workspaces.
So you can incorporate Slack, you can incorporate Teams, you can incorporate you know Gmail, Outlook, you can incorporate notion databases, to-do list. So if you're working for instance freelance jobs and you have different employers that use different things, ACUFlow can basically condense everything into one app. For instance, on Gmail, if you want to send a specific email to your Acuflow to-do list uh as an as a task for you to to finish that day, the only thing you have to do is to start the email and it will pop up in your Acuiflow taskbar.
[music] So, I've been using Acuflow for everything. Whether that's work, whether that's um this YouTube channel, whether that's writing related tasks and projects, and I have a lot of them lately, thankfully, um everything is in AcuFlow. Now, when it comes to, for instance, taking notes during meetings, I really like the ability of having a physical notebook.
And I don't use this physical notebook in a very organized way. The only thing I do is I I get a big moles skin uh notebook every single year and I will just you know write as I have to and then I will note the pages with like paper flags or something similar but I don't have any sort of bullet journal system going on or anything too structured. I just want to have a notebook that has everything and I only have to leave through to find whatever I need instead of, you know, scattering information and notes and meetings across different things.
So, basically a combo of Acuiflow and Notebook. And you know what? This may sound very surprising, but that's pretty much it.
[laughter] along with the notes app on my iPhone. I think that everything in my life right now is condensed [music] into AcuFlow, a notebook, the notes app, like typical [snorts] file management system in my laptop, and that's it. This system has been working perfectly for years, like 3 years, and I've never been as busy as I am now.
Like, never in my life. I've never been this this busy. I swear to you since I wake up in the morning to when I like lay down to rest.
Uh I'm always doing something whether that's working or writing or reading because now I have also to read because I'm a writer which means that I have to keep on I need to be on top of the books that are coming out that are similar to mine. Uh and also taking care of a family, taking care of a toddler. Um, it's always work, work, work.
And I never felt like I need anything other than this combination of digital calendar, a simple notebook, and honestly, the brick. This is the most life-changing thing that has happened to me in the last few years. This really works.
Uh, if you procrastinate a lot because of your phone, this works. Just get this. Please get this.
It's going to be worth your money. I promise. And that's pretty much it for this video.
Super casual, I know. super old school. I really miss doing these and I will see you in the next one.
Bye-bye. Writing takes a very big chunk out of my time. And the first thing that usually I have to sacrifice is self-learning time.
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