I am working on a new program that offers 39 life hacks to combat burnout, so I have been thinking a lot about productivity and efficiency. I came across two Fast Company articles that offered some interesting ways to leverage technology.

 

The first one offered Alexa commands to help you be more productive in the morning. Here are a couple of ideas that stood out:

 

You can sync up your calendar and ask Alexa to tell you what’s on your calendar for the day. This can help you to prepare mentally during your morning ritual and figure out which power outfit you will put on.

 

You can setup your home and work addresses and ask Alexa to tell you what your commute is like so you know the optimal time to leave.

 

The second article shared tips for going paperless. For a number of reasons, I have had tried to be as paperless as possible for a number of years. It started when bills went electronic and has continued from there. They suggest:

 

Creating PDF’s of all important documents. There are several apps that can do that—Scanner Pro and Microsoft Lens are two options.

 

Outsourcing your mail to a third party. PostScan Mail can receive and filter all your mail. They scan the envelope and send it to you digitally. You then let them know if you want them to open the mail and scan its contents or discard it. They can even send the physical paper to you if you want it. Yes, please! Sign me up!

 

Hopefully this gives you some resources and creative spark to how you can streamline other day-to-day tasks in your everyday life. Let’s improve efficiency so we have more time for fun!