Make Your Life a Little Easier with Text Replacement

 

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could write your email address on your phone with just two characters?

I mean, how many times do you have to type out your full email address? Typically, you’re filling out a form, which also includes things like your address which can also be lengthy. These things also need to be correct 100% of the time.

I should do a poll but I’m guessing that less than 50% of the people I know have no idea this is a standard feature on Apple’s operating systems. Or, they do but have never thought of ways they could use it to make their lives a lot simpler.

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Dictation on Apple Watch

I do a lot of walking. At least I try to. As my mind wanders, inevitably I have some thoughts I want to write down. Save the world type thoughts. Ok, not really. Just stuff I needed for myself.

I had heard some good things about an app called Just Press Record. The app made it simple to record a memo and then transcribe it. Not only that, the recordings could be found on your Mac as an audio file (but not the transcribed text).

After purchasing the app, I installed it on my Apple Watch Series 0 (AW0). I used it a few times and although I liked it, I didn’t love it. Then came my AW3.

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Minimize Paying the Monthly Bills

Do you like paying bills?

If your answer is yes, then skip the rest of this post by clicking here. If not, then ask yourself how many times you pay your bills during the month. Chances are, you have several different things to pay and they are randomly scattered across the month. Therefore, you have to do the miserable deed multiple times over the course of the month, every month.

As it turns out, there’s a simple solution.

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The Fastest Line in the Supermarket

My college roommate once posed this question (well before smartphones):

How much money would you pay to never have to wait in line for anything for the rest of your life?

I think back to that question semi-frequently, especially if I’m standing in a long line. I’m not sure I ever came up with a ballpark dollar amount but it has to be up there. $100,000?

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A Great Piece of Advice from Arianna Huffington

“You can actually complete a project by dropping it.” – Arianna Huffington

I could try to write a full blown blog post about wasting time but luckily, I don’t have to. I’d rather be efficient and refer to this keynote by Arianna Huffington a couple of years ago that I was lucky enough to attend.

Jump to the 17:53 mark to get to my favorite part of her talk although if you have the time, I found many great nuggets of wisdom throughout.

The only thing I will add personally to her keynote is that there are many people out there telling you do something or use something to help you improve your life (including yours truly).

Try it. But if it doesn’t work for you, shut it down. Find something else that works for you.

Why do you think there are multitudes of successful to-do list applications? Should you use Todoist or Wunderlist or 2Do or ToodleDo or Any.Do or Google Keep or OneNote or Remember the Milk or OmniFocus?

They all can share market space because we all work differently.

As Arianna says, drop things with clarity. If you know it doesn’t work for you, no matter how many people you trust suggest you try it, dump it.

By not continuing to waste your time, you ultimately save time.