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After five years here on YouTube and more than 250 videos later, one of the most common questions I receive is, "Scott, how do you get that yellow highlight around your cursor?"

Well, in today's video, I'm going to show you how I do it and how I use Camtasia to produce my videos.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

This particular question about how I apply this yellow highlight is usually followed by comments such as, "It makes watching your videos so much easier, Scott. I love that I can always follow your cursor, know what you're doing," and especially if I'm doing other things, such as maybe zooming in on particular content and zooming out.

This is especially helpful if I'm highlighting certain fields or maybe a dropdown menu in one of the software that I'm covering.

So, in order to do this, I use a software called Camtasia.

Now, for some of you, this may be brand new and you have not heard of Camtasia. For others, you may associate Camtasia exclusively with training and producing training videos.

But I actually use Camtasia for almost all of my video content right here on the Simpletivity channel, both for screen recording and for editing that content afterward.

Recording

So let's get started right here within the Camtasia interface.

Now, at first glance, this may look a little intimidating. There's an awful lot of options that are available to you here within Camtasia. However, compared to many more expensive and more complicated software, I find that Camtasia boils it down to its essentials. And I especially like their menu layout, the choice of words, and the design that they've used so that even a novice—even someone with very limited skills when it comes to video editing—can produce polished and professional content.

But let's get started with the recording process.

Here in the top left-hand corner, we've got this big red recording button, and if I select this, what it's going to do is give me this recording console down below. Now, I can make a few different choices here if I want to record my entire screen or maybe I just want to record a certain section of my screen. I can also choose if I want to record my webcam. And sometimes you may see that I'll have my image in the top left-hand corner as a part of some of my videos. Lastly, you can choose the microphone that you need and adjust your levels. But other than that, you're pretty much ready to go right out of the gate.

So if I hit this record button, it's going to give me a brief countdown: 3, 2, 1, and now everything that I'm doing here, as I navigate, as I go from website to website, whatever I do on my computer screen, it is going to be recorded. Now, none of those effects are going to appear while you're recording; we're going to have to apply those afterward.

But let's just go through here for a second. Maybe I scroll down here, maybe I want to open up this note. I'm going to do something here, I'm going to show you something, and then I'm going to close it down.

When I'm all done, all I need to do is open up this recording console, and I can either pause if I want to go to the next step in my recording, maybe I wasn't happy with this recording, so I can delete it and try again. But if I am pleased with it, all I need to do is hit stop, and that's going to bring me right back here to Camtasia. And here it has actually added it to my media bin. So now I can drag it onto my timeline down below, I can start cutting out parts that I don't want and start to build it in with everything else in my video workflow.

So let me take something that we recorded earlier, and I'm going to drag it down onto the timeline.

Now here you can piece together a large number of files, whether it's a collection of videos or you can also import pictures and images if you want to include them in your files as well.

One of the first things that I like to do is yes, add that little highlight, and I also like to add a bit of an accent to my cursor so that you know when I have clicked on something.

So let's go ahead and do that. Here within Camtasia, I'm going to click on this little more option here, and we see an option here for cursor effects. The first one we see here is this cursor highlight.

So if I apply this, all I need to do is click and drag it onto the image or the part of my video file that I would like to add it to, because maybe I don't want to add it to the entire video. Maybe I just want to add it to a portion.

Here in the middle of the screen in the preview pane, you can see that that yellow highlight has been added. So as I go around, as I preview and drag through this video, you can see that we now have this yellow cursor highlight.

But let's go to the left click here, and you can see that there's some other options that we can add. So, for example, maybe I want a little red highlight to happen whenever I click the cursor, or maybe I want this little crosshairs, this little scope when it happens.

In some of my earlier videos, I used to use this little ripple effect, but I found that it was a little too distracting to have that much water ripple happening on screen. So what I settled on was this one called left click warp.

And just like we did with the cursor highlight, we can just click and drag it onto the part of the video where we want to add it. So the next time that I click something here, let's see when I go to open up—let me drag this over a little bit.

Just before I open this up, you will see, there we go. There's that little indentation so you knew that I clicked on that particular icon.

Last but not least, the other effect that I use most frequently is the ability to zoom in.

So for here, I'm going to click on animations, and this I find is most effective, especially in my tutorials, when I may be showing you something that is only a fraction of the screen, but I want to make sure that you know which checkbox or dropdown or what I'm doing in that given moment.

So here, what I can do—we have sort of two preview panes on the right-hand side or the main preview pane. This is what you're getting to see or what viewers are going to see within your video.

But on the left-hand side, all I need to do is actually drag the little box here to see what do I want to zoom in on. So now you can see this is what it's going to look like when the video is finished.

I can zoom in for this period of time, and then after, when I'm done, let's say I've gone in here and I've hit close, all I need to do is hit this button, which is called scaled to fit.

And so if I go back, let me just preview that for you for a second. So I'm just going to pull it back a few seconds before I zoom in. I'm going to hit play so I can actually preview the video. There it's going to zoom in, it's going to show you what's going on, and then a few seconds later, when I tell it to, it's going to zoom back out.

Adding Text

But of course, Camtasia is so much more than just mouse effects. And one of the things that I use Camtasia for frequently is adding text to my videos.

So here under Annotations, all I need to do is choose one of these pre-set layouts, which are all customizable. I can change the color and just need to drag it onto the video where I want it to be placed.

So here I can come in and give it the new video title. Something really exciting like that. I can change the size of it, I can change the font, and I can add some additional effects to this as well so it whooshes into the screen or maybe it fades in at a particular time.

The other thing that I use quite frequently within Camtasia is also the ability to spotlight different areas of the video.

So if I want to highlight a certain area, however, without zooming in, I can use the spotlight feature, and sometimes I also use this one which is pixelate. So let’s say that I’ve got something here—let me drag this out of the way for a second.

Let’s see, I’ve got something personal here, such as my personal email address or email account. I can drag this onto the screen and cover it over a certain section that I don’t exactly want you to see all of those details.

On the right-hand side, you can make further adjustments. So maybe that’s too extreme; that almost looks like I’ve blanked it out with a white square or something like that. But I can bring this down, so you still can’t read it but it is blocking out that information.

So a large number of effects and things that you can add to really polish up your video.

Now, if Camtasia is too pricey for your needs and for your business, I would encourage you to check out my video on Chrome extensions. Included in it, I share with you a free alternative for recording your screen.

Thank you so much for watching and remember being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it’s very simple.

Why your calendar is so important

- Is your calendar helping you to be more productive or is it more of an obstacle as a part of your week? Well, in today's video I wanna show you how to prioritize your calendar and get so much more out of your schedule.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. And I honestly feel like our calendars are the bedrock or the foundation of any productivity system.

It all starts with our schedule because this is not only where people are inviting us to different events and appointments and meetings but it's where we create time for ourselves. So let me show you how you can do that.

And in today's video we're gonna be using Woven as our calendar. So here within Woven we are actually viewing my Google Calendar

How to analyze your scheduled time

but Woven gives me a lot of extra superpowers. And one of those things is allowing me to see where I am actually spending my time. Here on the left-hand side you can see that I've got a bunch of great analytical data that I can analyze or I can review from time to time to make sure that I'm being the most efficient with the time that I have.

So for example here, I can see that I've got 10 events scheduled for this week a total of just over 10 hours I've got 34 hours available of focus time. Meaning if you subtract out all of these events my working hours are going to allow me for a 34 additional hours.

That seems like a lot of time but we know that that can get eaten up pretty quickly. And then I can also see here at a glance that I've got a total of three hours of video calls which let's be honest in today's environment

is very, very little. But down below it gets even better here I've got a variety of different tags actually telling me where I am spending my time. So for example, I've got three hours worth of education, two hours worth of personal appointments or personal meetings,

Using event tags with Woven

I've got something called management and team. So let's dive into this a little bit deeper. Let's say I need to schedule an event here later today on Tuesday. So I'm going to click here to open up a new event.

And let's say this is a meeting with Jen, okay? So I'm going to schedule a meeting here and I can choose more options or I can come back and choose this a little bit later.

So what I like about Woven here is that I can add additional tags like you just saw in my analytics area so I can categorize this particular meeting. So if I click on private tags, I can say well this is team related because Jen's a part of my team.

I can start just typing in the first few letters. And yeah, I've already created that tag so I can put team. I can add additional tags if I like but in this example I'm just going to leave it with this one. Why I like this over other calendars or basic calendar features is that yeah you can color code any of your other calendars. Google Calendar is a very good example of this

but you can't get a nice summary of those different calendars and you have to toggle through them at all times. Here I can add tags directly to my meeting events themselves and now I can see where I'm spending or where I'm a lot in my time here.

Viewing the Busy Bar in Month view

Now, another feature that I love here about Woven that helps me especially identify if I have conflicts or if someone calls me up out of the blue and say, "Scott, when can you meet later this week?" Is something called the busy bar. So let me show you this,

I'm going to convert to my monthly view here for a moment. And here you can see, I don't have a lot scheduled for the remainder of this month but for this week you can see that I've got this little bar at the top of each day. It's actually giving me a summary of my time. So for example,

I'm free early in the morning and later in the evening and between eight and five, I've got two hours and 30 minutes that have already been scheduled. You can see as this bar slowly moves to the right my day will become more and more filled.

So I can see at a glance that Thursday is probably my busiest day so far, right? I've got four hours booked already but Friday is pretty open let's be honest. I've got a fair amount of available time on most of my other days but here on my Wednesday, I've got this little red color and what that's telling me is that I have at least one double booking.

I've got 30 minutes in conflict here. So if I click on that, of course it's gonna take me directly to that day and sure enough I can see that I've got this one-on-one meeting with Brian but it's scheduled where I have this budget review meeting as well.

So I better update this meeting maybe I need to push it back maybe push it a little bit later in the day so I can schedule that meeting with Brian and I will no longer have any conflicts there as a result. But there's another thing that really helps me prioritize

How to use meeting templates in Woven

my calendar as well and it makes dealing with my calendar so much more efficient

and that is using templates. And that's one of the great features here within Woven

is creating recurring meetings or the types of meetings that you will be using on a regular basis, fill it in with all the information you need such as a video call link, such as the participants there and you can instantly create those meetings in a matter of seconds.

So for example let's say I need to create a quick 20 minute check-in meeting. Well, I've already created such a template. I just wanna be able to add it here on Friday afternoon. So all I need to do is click on one of these spaces here

as if I was going to enter in a new event but you can see here before I enter in the event name, down below I've got a summary of some of my top templates. So these are templates that I've already created in the past and one of them here is my team check-in meeting. You'll see it even has the people pre-populated within that. So if I click that it's instantly going to create that meeting it has the video link.

Let me schedule it and we'll go into those details here. If I open this up, you can see on the left-hand side I already have the different people that have been invited.

Yes, I'm going the three have already been sent their invitations here, I've got my custom video link here for the video call down below, I've got the password information down below here as well. I could custom at a tag or anything else that I want to this

in just a single click I've created that meeting with all of the contents, all of the people, all the information that I need for that particular meeting. So templates can be really, really powerful.

Adding Tasks as All Day Events with templates

Now, one of my favorite tips for being more efficient and more productive is to use your all day events area of your calendar to manage your tasks at least your most important tasks. Why? Well, 'cause you can't ignore it.

Here you can see I've got an example called call Bill regarding the sales flyer and no matter how far I scroll up and down it's always going to be visible at the top of my day. And it doesn't matter what view I go into whether it's a daily view or a monthly view it's always going to be here.

So this is another great use of using templates within Woven. So I can create special tasks at the top of my all day event area and not have to remember to check or uncheck certain things as I'm doing it.

So let me walk you through how to create a template right here within Woven this time especially for tasks or to do's. So all you need to do is hit this plus button here at the top and select template.

Now, in this case I'm going to give it a simple name. You can give it a different name than the task itself, right? Because when we create this particular event we wanna add in the details of the task ourselves. So I'm gonna call this one task that's gonna be the name of the template but down below we can leave the event title blank, right?

Because it might be an email, it might be a project whatever that task is going to be.

Next we're gonna look at the duration and no I don't want it to be an hour or a couple of minutes I'm gonna select custom and I get to say one day because remember I want it to appear up here at the top. I'm going to say done, I'm gonna come down

and maybe pick a different color. I'm going to choose that same dark gray that we had for this existing one here. And if I don't wanna reminder I can just come over here, I can select this and actually click it off and remove it or just adjust the existing reminder there.

The last thing that we want to make sure we do if we are using this template for tasks is we don't want to show it as busy because that would mean as soon as we add a task to any day it's gonna block off our calendar from other people

from either booking it or for showing our own availability. So I'm gonna come here and say free.Now I could add a private tag, I could add other information as well

but I'm going to leave this is at the moment. So now that that task is saved

if I want to add a task here on Thursday all I have to do is click this all day event area,

I'm gonna select task and now it's waiting for me to input that information. So maybe I need to email Jen regarding our new meeting or something along those lines. I'm going to hit schedule and boom! There it is at the top of my Thursday, it's listed as free.

So it's not going to be in conflict with my other meetings. And I can add other tasks that I need to there in the all day event area.

Sharing your best calendar tips

So I'd love to hear from you next. What kind of tips do you have for me and the Simpletivity community to be more productive and efficient with your calendar?

Be sure to share your best ones down in the comments below. Thank you so much for watching. If you got value out of today's video make sure you subscribe right here

to these Simpletivity channel. And remember being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Pros and Cons of Asana

[Scott] There are many project management tools which are vying for your attention, and near the top of that list is Asana.

Now, Asana is an excellent project management tool, but sometimes I feel that some other features are lacking.

On top of that, it can get really pricey when you start to add more and more team members.

So in today's video, I wanna introduce you to Backlog, a tool which has many more features and the price is better as well.

So let's dive in.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

Today we're taking a look at Backlog, and here we are within the dashboard.

Tour of the Backlog Dashboard

Now, one of the things that I like about Backlog is just how clean the look is, yet it gives us some fantastic functionality.

Here I'm taking a look at my dashboard, and it breaks it down by my projects here on the left.

You can see I'm a member of three different projects at this point in time.

On the right-hand side, we have recent updates, so I can always be in the know when it comes to these projects.

I can see that Melissa has been updating a number of issues here within a few different projects, in particular the marketing project here.

Yes, even if I hover over some of this information, I get some further detailed information to the left.

Down below, I've got my issues, so these are the things that I'm currently assigned to as well.

Again, a nice, quick snapshot of what's going on today and where I should be putting my attention.

But let's stick with navigation because what I really love about Backlog is this menu bar here at the top.

For example, if I click on projects, not only does it give me this expanded view and remember I can access this almost anywhere, but I don't have to just dive into the projects themselves.

I can go immediately to a certain area or a certain view such as a board view or a Gantt chart view.

Viewing Issues & Tasks in Backlog

I can add an issue or just view those issues myself.

Let's start by clicking on those issues.

Here we are now within this marketing project, and I can see these are the two issues that I'm assigned at this given time.

Again, I can dive right into my day and start my work.

But I can filter this information in so many different ways.

If I wanna see all of the issues at once, I can do so here and I can quickly and easily filter this information by a variety of different tools.

This is where I find things like Asana and Trello are really lacking when it comes to reporting and filtering out all of this information.

I can even quickly adjust my view options for what I'm seeing here in terms of the results per page and the different columns that are being displayed to me.

This view down below actually reminds me a little bit of monday.com, which I am actually a fan of.

It gives me lots of nice visuals here.

I can sort by a variety of different ways when things were created, if I wanna sort by priority or who it's assigned to, and I can even save these filters as well.

Sharing Reports & Filters in Backlog

In fact, one of the features that is so simple but I think is so powerful is that not only can I save this as a filter, I can save a customized filter here on this screen, but I can share it quickly and easily with a short URL.

If I wanna share this with someone else in my team, I can do so by just texting them this link or adding it to an email or putting it in some other document.

I can do so here as well.

Again, we go much further than just the view that we are looking at.

Board & Gantt Chart Views in Backlog

Here in Backlog on the left-hand side, you can see we can also view this information in a more traditional Kanban style here of a board.

Here, I'm just looking at Katrina and the things that she's assigned to here.

Maybe for a second here, this actually needs to go back.

We need to go back and do a little bit more work there, so I'm gonna drag that over here.

I always have this Assign to Myself button available on almost every screen, which is great.

I don't have to remember a quick key.

I don’t need to come here to a dropdown menu.

I can quickly see what's going on here and say, you know what, I'm actually done that campaign brief.

I'm gonna move it over here to in review.

But we also have a Gantt chart view which is available to us.

It’s built right in.

No, this is not an extension.

No, it is not an add-on.

You have the Gantt chart built right in, and we can still filter it by some of these categories and some of these options up above.

Creating Issues & Tasks in Backlog

But let's back up just one step, because I wanna show you how easy it is to create a new issue or new tasks from scratch.

Here we are back on the dashboard page, and I already showed you how to access projects up here.

But even if I'm looking at my project list down below, let's say, I wanna add an issue here under support.

I love that I don't have to click on support to get into it first.

I can just add an issue to it right away.

Here we are, perhaps I'm reporting a new task and I'm just gonna say, "Email team about the virtual conference that is coming up."

I can add as much detail here within the description area, including mentioning others as I want.

But down below, this is where I think Backlog is really stretching its muscle.

For example, I can quickly and easily assign it to myself.

I don't have to go find myself here in the dropdown menu.

I can select from a variety of different priorities if I want.

But these two fields in particular, milestone and version, I think are most helpful where you can customize these selections.

For example, if I'm a part of a development team, maybe I wanna track the different versions where this task is assigned to.

I'm gonna say 2.7.3.

I can quickly and easily add more versions or add more milestones if I want.

I can also add customized categories as well.

I'm gonna quickly slap on a due date to this issue.

I can attach a file, and then this last one I find is very helpful as well.

I can notify someone else on my team as well.

I don't have to assign them.

Create Reference Material with Wikis

Remember, I'm not assigning them to this task, but I'm just letting them know what's happening here as I create this issue.

Another great feature of Backlog is the ability to create reference material without having to create a dummy issue or a task which really isn't meaningful.

How often have you been in Asana or Trello and you've had to just create something that wasn't really a task, but it just had reference material?

Or you had to set up some type of extension that reached out to Google Docs or some other cloud-based service.

Well, within each project, you have your own Wiki page.

This is essentially a place where you can create as much reference material as you need to.

For example, here, if I'm a part of a marketing team, you can see here on the right-hand side, there's a Wiki here called Design Guidelines where it's actually telling me the proper font type and the proper colors that we use for our particular brand.

Here's a Requirements Template.

You can see the different project names, the goals, and the key metrics.

So everyone on your team can have access to this, and they can find it in an easy-to-use location.

It’s not gonna be messed up or it's not gonna cloud out other issues, which are not real issues when you're trying to add this information within your projects.

Backlog vs Asana Pricing

Last but not least, let's talk a little bit about pricing.

I think Asana's pricing is fairly competitive when we're looking at other tools such as Trello or monday.com.

Here you can see their premium plan starts at $11 per month, but that is per user.

In fact, that $11 is if you choose to go with their annual plan.

If you bump up to business, you're going to $25 a month, and that is per user.

I know there's a lot of people who are very tentative because, who's a new user?

Can I afford to add a new team member?

Depending on the size of your operation, sometimes this can get very expensive.

Alternatively, let's take a look at Backlog's pricing.

Now, they both have a free option, and that may be enough for you at least to get started out.

But if you want a little more users and a few more projects, you're gonna need to upgrade to their starter plan, which starts at $35 a month.

You may think that that's more expensive, but let's look at the fine print.

That $35 a month includes 30 users.

So even if you have a team of 10, you're paying as little as $3.50 per user.

If you jump up to their standard plan at a hundred dollars a month, that's unlimited users.

So you're capped out.

You don't have to stop at just 10 members of your team or whatever your budget can handle, a hundred dollars a month with unlimited users.

So if you're frustrated with tools such as Asana or Trello, I encourage you to give Backlog a try.

You can find out more by clicking the link in the description below.

Thank you so much for watching today's video.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

Intro

Hello everyone Scott Friesen here at Simplitivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress and I'm feeling extra grateful this week.

I have so much to be thankful for even though it has been a very crazy year.

First and foremost I'm thankful for you for all of your comments all of your feedback and for watching the videos right here on the Simpletivity channel.

Honestly one of my favorite things to do is to read your comments it gives me fantastic feedback and has led to so many of the videos in which you see right here on the channel.

So as my way of saying thanks to you I'd like to send you some free stuff.

I've got a few different things I'd like to send your way as a part of today's Black Friday giveaway.

So we've got software memberships we've got some Simplitivity swag let's dive in and I hope you participate in this special contest.

Free Lifetime Membership to Mail Butler

First up I have a free lifetime membership to Mailbutler.

Now what is Mailbutler?

Think of Mailbutler as superpowers for your email inbox.

You can track emails, you can create custom professional signatures, you can delay your sending of emails and so much more.

If you'd like to learn more or see my full review of Mailbutler be sure to click this video up above.

But if you would like a free lifetime membership you're going to want to participate in today's contest.

Desktime Memberships

Number two I have three six-month memberships to Desk Time.

Now Desk Time is all about time tracking not only for yourself but if you work with a team Desk Time is going to give you all of the information that you need.

You want to make sure that you're staying more productive than just wasting your time on social media or entertainment apps.

Well, Desk Time has you covered.

It's going to give you insights to your work behavior and what you are doing along with tracking your projects across team members.

I've got a six-month membership and three of those to give away so if you'd like those be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Time Management Memberships

Now because managing your time is so important to having the most productive day ever I also have some memberships to T Metric.

T Metric is also a time tracker which is going to help you find out where to change your daily habits.

It's also fantastic for freelancers if you need to track billable time and make sure that you're billing your clients accurately.

I have three three-month subscriptions to T Metric so you can try out all of the features all that you need to know when it comes to time tracking within T Metric.

If you'd like a T Metric membership just let me know in the comments down below.

And last but not least.

TShirts

i have some simpletivity t-shirts to give away don't like it in blue well it comes in

black as well just in time for black friday if you would like a simple tivoty t-shirt all you have to do is let me know in the comments don't tell me your size we'll deal with that after i've selected the winners but i'm giving away three of these t-shirts as a part of

this contest

How to Enter

Okay now for the most important step: how do you enter this week's giveaway to ensure you have a chance of winning one of these 10 prizes?

Number one, make sure that you give this video a thumbs up.

Number two, make sure that you're an actual subscriber here to the channel.

I'm only gonna be selecting winners who are subscribers to the Simpletivity channel.

And then last but not least, let me know in the comments which of these prizes you would like to receive.

Is it Mailbutler, Desk Time, T Metric, or a t-shirt?

Don't just say that you'd like anything; be specific and let me know in the comments.

I'll be selecting 10 winners on Monday so make sure you get those comments in in time.

Thank you so much for watching today's video.

I wish you the best as a part of this giveaway and remember being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

I think it's safe to say that 2020 was a pretty crazy year. That's why I want to help you start off the new year on the right foot.

Today, I'm giving away two free coaching calls with me so that you can start off 2021 working at your productive best. Now, if you want to win one of these free coaching sessions, stay tuned.

But first, I've got another special announcement to share with you. The Reset Productivity Boot Camp is launching again this January.

Now, if you haven't heard of Reset before, this is my four-week live course that I only offer two times a year. And that's right, you heard me right—I offer it live.

You get to interact with me, I teach you in a live setting, and you get to interact with other participants from all over the world. Now, if you'd like to learn more about the Reset Productivity Boot Camp, make sure that you click the link in the description below so that you can be notified when registration opens next week.

Alright, back to the contest. Do you want to win a free coaching session with me?

All you have to do are the following three things: Number one, make sure you're a subscriber right here to the Simpletivity channel. I'll only be selecting people who are actual subscribers.

Number two, give this video a thumbs up—smash that like button down below. And number three, in the comments, I want to hear from you.

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year? What are you most looking forward to in the year 2021?

Now, I'll be selecting a winner in three days' time and letting you know about it in the comments down below. So make sure you come back and check to see if I've selected you as one of the two winners.

All the best as you participate in this contest. And remember, if you want to join me for the Reset Productivity Boot Camp, make sure you click that link in the description below as well.

As always, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Productivity app criteria

What productivity apps am I using most often on my phone?

Let's find out in today's video.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And in today's video, I'm sharing with you seven apps that I'm using on almost a daily basis.

And bonus, all of them are either 100% free or have a free forever version.

Presentation Timer

So let's dive in with number one, and I'm going to open up here something called Presentation Timer.

Now, don't let the name fool you because I think you can use this for a lot more purposes than just presenting.

But if you do happen to be speaking in front of an audience whether live and in-person, or just virtually just over a Zoom meeting or video conferencing this app can be a lifesaver.

Now, one of the things I love is that it's so simple to use.

You simply pick the time, the duration that you want and then the timer gets going, but it's very, very visual.

And what's so great about this is that it's non-distracting.

Here you can see I've just set up a very simple 30-second test and you can see almost like a sand timer, the blue, is starting to encompass and takeover the entire screen.

Letting me know that it's almost time for me to wrap things up.

But at the very end here you'll see that there's a few different colors which can alert me that I'm getting closer to the end, a little bit of a warning, a bit of a yield light.

And then once I go over, it continues to count this time counting up and flashing a red sign letting me know that, hey, I'm over my duration.

So let me stop this for a second and let me show you some of the settings that we can change here.

So if I go into settings, the number one thing that you're gonna look at here is the theme and intervals and that's right up top here.

So here you can see, you can set it by percentages.

So here are the default colors, you can change them if you like but I've set it that at 80%, 80% of the maximum time that I set, I want it to turn green.

Then at 90%, I want it to turn yellow to give me sort of okay we should probably start wrapping up.

And then with 95% left, I want it to turn red.

Now again, you can change all of these intervals including the colors, depending on your needs, depending on your comfort level when you are presenting.

But keep in mind you can also use this tool for other purposes as well.

So for example, maybe you have a meeting, right?

And it's gonna last an hour.

So let me just take that off there.

We can remove our seconds. You can also click on here as well to enter in your time.

And I'm gonna say start.

So now I've got a one-hour meeting.

I'm still gonna get those reminders, those visual cues.

Now I can just lay this on the side of my desk or if I am giving a presentation I'm standing at a lectern or some other podium, for example, this could be completely hidden.

Only I can see what's going on and letting me know how close I am to ending my presentation.

The other nice bonus with the presentation timer is that you can keep running in the background.

So if you need to go to something else you can go back and the timer is still functioning.

AppBlock

Let's go to number two on my list and that is AppBlock.

And I add this to my list of productivity tools because it really helps me with my focus and staying on track and not being distracted by things such as social media.

So here you can see, I've already set up a profile here, which is called daily usage limit.

And a while back, I found myself spending maybe a little too much time on Reddit.

So I've set up a rule here on my phone that I'm only allowed to spend 30 minutes per day using Reddit.

Now, the nice thing is that it not only applies to the app but it will also apply to the website itself.

So I can't do a workaround and just go to reddit.com, it's gonna apply that limit to both.

Now, let me show you how easy it is to set up.

So when we open up, create a new profile the first thing that we need to do is select what are the conditions going to be?

An Appblock gives us five great options here, time. So for example, maybe I only want to block things during working hours, like prevent me from accessing Facebook between 9:00 and 5:00 for example.

I can block based on location. Maybe when I'm in the office I want to block certain things, or if I want to get away from work, when I'm at home maybe I can block certain things here as well.

You can block by a wifi network. You can block by a usage limit, that's the one that I just showed you a moment ago or you can block by launch content.

This last one I think can be very helpful especially when it comes to something like email.

And if you find yourself checking email far too often you can select that as well.

Now, speaking of focus, number three on my list

‍Buffer

does have to do with social media but it also helps me prevent checking and having to visit my social media pages in order to post.

And that is Buffer.

Now you may have heard of Buffer before.

You may have heard me talking about Hootsuite in the past, which is a social media manager, a social media scheduler that I've used in the past.

But I've actually started using Buffer more often recently because of its simpler interface.

And that continues here on the mobile tool.

Here, you can see that I've got a number of different posts scheduled to my business Facebook page.

How this helps me with my productivity and focus is that I don't have to log into Facebook in order to post something new or to post something in the future.

I am preventing myself from being distracted by going into those social media profiles whenever I want to post something.

All I need to do is open up Buffer and I can create that new post and you can manage a variety of accounts.

Here you can see on the left-hand side I've got both a Facebook page, my LinkedIn profile and my Instagram profile all linked up to my account meaning I can post different things to different social media channels, or if I want I can post the exact same thing to all of those channels as well.

Not only is this helping me create a bit more thoughtful content because I can just open this up wherever I am and schedule a post but I don't have to worry about being distracted and being sucked down a rabbit hole by logging in and actually browsing and swiping through one of those social media profiles.

Now my next favorite productivity app

Adobe Scan

helps me to stay paperless so that whenever I receive a receipt or a paper document, I can convert that easily to either an image or a PDF and then file it away or send it off to where I need it to be.

So in this example, I'm taking a look at Adobe Scan.

Now I know there's a number of different scanners out there. I just find that Adobe Scan happens to be one of the best ones out there.

So here I've got a receipt and I wanna be able to convert this cause maybe I need to file it away.

As you can see, I've got relatively low light and I don't even have to press anything.

It is capturing that receipt for me, it's finding the edges, it's going to adjust it.

So it actually looks like a piece of paper in just a second.

I'm gonna say continue here.

And what we're gonna do now is open up this document. I just wanna show you how great looking this receipt looks, even though we had relatively low light.

So this has already transformed it.

It looks almost identical to my paper receipt that I have standing next to me here.

Now, what I can do is I can rename it up top here if I need to, or I can save it as a PDF.

Now at this stage, what I can do is I can share it to a variety of different apps, I could text it to someone, I can email it to myself, I can send it directly to Google drive.

So many different things that I can use here directly from Adobe Scan.

So if you're looking for something that is quick, easy and free to use, make sure you check out Adobe Scan.

Keep Notes

Now next up on my list is something that I use much more frequently on my phone than I usually do on my desktop and that is Keep Notes.

Keep Notes continues to be my go-to note-taking tool especially if I wanna keep track of something really, really quick.

So here you can see I've shared a few different lists here with my wife, so you can collaborate with other individuals but I've got some other things here down below as well.

So I can keep those quick notes and quickly reference them and search them when necessary.

The reason why I continue to use Keep Notes even though there are a number of other tools that are much more fully featured, have many more bells and whistles is because it's fast.

And when I'm on the go I wanna be able to take a note very very fast. Just by hitting that plus button, we are immediately brought into the note.

I don't have to give it a title.

I like that it already places the cursor there in the note field.

However, if I am wanting to take a more detailed note

Notion

with a lot more information, maybe branch out and brainstorm and start a new project, I am going into Notion.

Now Notion is something that I have used and toyed around with for a number of years but recently I've been using it much more frequently and primarily for its simple database and table tools.

So here, for example, I've got a work page called ski gear rental ratings.

I'm looking to buy some new ski gear.

And so I've been testing out some things at my local ski shop.

And the great thing is that I can create a very simple table here where I have the date and when I took out these rentals I can click on the pictures that I took so I can remember specific details about the boots and the ski size, etc, ski length.

And then I can add up my ratings here to see, you know, what did I think or add some simple notes.

It's a great tool for this purpose.

Here's another quick one I'll show you here about restaurant reviews that my family and I have been using.

We recently moved and so we're trying to find out a few different pizza places that we can rely on.

So we are just sort of adding up and creating our own ratings in this simple table here.

When did we last order?

What were our notes and so forth?

And it can even do simple averages such as the average cost of the meal.

And when was the last time that we ordered out?

So if you're looking for something to create these very simple yet powerful tables and branching out a project, Notion may be the tool for you.

Google Podcasts

Last but not least on my list today has to do with learning.

Because if you wanna work at your productive best you need to be listening to helpful educational content.

And for me, I simply use Google Podcasts.

Now Google Podcasts is the place that I go to search for all of my podcasts.

I know there's a lot of places you can go to manage all of the things that you're listening to and all the things that you're subscribing to, but the great thing I find about Google Podcasts is that it is quick, fast, and easy and the search capability is very, very powerful as well.

Once again, it may not have all the bells and whistles of some of the other podcast services out there, but I want to get in and start listening to something or continue to start listening to something as soon as I possibly can.

So that's why my choice is Google Podcasts.

Now I would love to hear from you next.

What are some of your favorite productivity tools and apps when it comes to your Android device?

Be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Thank you so much for watching today's video.

Remember to subscribe right here to the Simpletivity channel and remember being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

AirSend Overview (logo zooming - When it comes to the world of productivity apps, we often throw out the term all-in-one rather loosely, but in today's video, I'm revisiting AirSend. I wanna show you five reasons why you should take a second look or a first look at AirSend to help you be more efficient.

Hello, everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. And yes, I've actually reviewed AirSend before here on the channel, but I've used it a little bit more over the last few months, and they have added some new features that I wanted to share with you.

Now, firstly, just a very quick overview of the AirSend layout. On the left-hand side, we have our different channels, which could represent different projects, maybe different departments or different groups of people that we are working with here.

They make it really quick and easy for you to jump in between these channels as you go about your workday. Here in the middle part of our interface is where we are going to be communicating, but also receiving updates from our colleagues as well.

A little bit more on that later. And then on the right-hand side, we've got a section which is really helping us to condense, but giving us quick access to things like all of our tasks, which AirSend refers to as Actions.

We can refer to all of our files, which relates to this channel. It even gives us a Wiki. So if we want to highlight or update something that everyone can see and everyone can access, we can do that here as well.

Built-In Video Meeting

The first feature that I want to highlight in today's video has to do with starting a video meeting. How much time do you waste sending out links, like a Zoom link or Microsoft Teams link? And then you gotta get the right password and invite the right people.

Well, if you're already working with them right here, if I go up here and look at the other members of this channel, see that Steve is online right now. So why don't I just start a video call right now? And we can start to collaborate in real time.

And just like you would with any other video meeting software, I can choose to share my screen, or I can share a particular application window as well. I don't have to go anywhere else, I can do it right here from within AirSend so that we can stay on topic.

And remember, you can do this any time that you wish. So as long as someone else is online and working at the same time, you can initiate this video call meeting.

Reference Tasks Directly in Comment Section

Now, the other thing that I like here is the interaction between your tasks, which AirSend refers to as actions. And we've got our action list here on the left-hand side, with the way that we are communicating with others here.

Now, you're already gonna be very familiar with using the at symbol to find the person that you want to speak with. So if I wanna talk to Steve, I can just use that at symbol and I can make sure that he gets a notification directly.

But what if I want to reference a particular project or action? Hey, Steve, let's talk about this project. Okay, and then at this point what I can do is I can use the hashtag symbol.

And what that's gonna do is bring up all of my actions that you see here on the right-hand side. So maybe I wanna talk about this designed new landing pages, I can do so, I can hit Enter and hit Send.

And so now, he knows exactly what I'm talking about. Not only is he being notified because I've addressed him directly, but he knows exactly this project that we're talking about as well.

And the great thing is, is if I come over here to this new landing page, for example, and if I want to look at the action details, I get a complete history of that conversation.

So, no matter where this is mentioned, back and forth between my different colleagues, I can see that conversation history here as well.

Adding Sub-Tasks and Filtering Actions

Now, the other thing that I love about the new actions here within AirSend is that we now have true sub-tasks, right? Because your projects consist of a lot of smaller tasks that are going to accumulate to that bigger task.

So here I've got something called the New Homepage Logo and I can expand this and I can see the other sub-tasks, which are listed down below. And I've got different people assigned to those sub-tasks.

It's really easy for us to add new sub-tasks as well. Let's get started. Let's review, let's find out where we went wrong. All the things that you would typically find in a typical project management scenario.

So I can quickly and easily add these things. I can assign people, if I wanna assign myself, for example, in this particular case, I can do so. And I can have that all here within my Actions setting.

See Tasks in Kanban Board View

Another great feature that AirSend has added here within the Actions section is the ability to View Board. Now, by selecting this option, we get more of a Kanban style view of all of our tasks.

And this is especially helpful when we're talking about those sub-tasks. Here is that action item I created just a moment ago. And now I can see all of my sub-tasks down below, compared to some of my other tasks or projects which do not have any sub-tasks.

Now, I can sort this by a couple of different ways, but the other great thing about this view here is that I can view it across all of my channel. So if I need a to-do list or a task list for all of the things that I'm working on, I can view them, and sort them and interact with them right here.

AirSend has also made it very easy for us to minimize the things that maybe are not relevant to us as well. So here at the top, we've got a few quick icons here. This first one is only gonna show my actions.

So I'm only going to see the things that I have assignments to because I don't wanna be cluttered down by everything that's staring back at me here in my face. I can also sort it a few different ways if I wanna sort it by what's due next, or what's been most overdue here, but I can also take a look at the things that have been completed.

And I like any type of productivity tool which will get rid of the things or hide the things that have been completed. And AirSend's gonna allow us to do that by default right here.

Quick File Access and Convert Files to Tasks

But let's stick with this right-hand section and move over to Files. Because another common question that I get on a regular basis is Scott, should I be using Google Drive? Should I be using Dropbox?

Where should we be managing all of the files that we're collaborating with? Well, wouldn't it be a lot easier if you didn't have to integrate with another tool, but actually access those files right here.

So, under Files, anything that you upload, anything that's been shared here within your AirSend community is gonna show up here. So if I look under my Press images, I've got a history of where these images are, and if I need to mention them, or if I need to call something out, all I need to do is click and drag it here into my communication pane.

So I can say, let's take a second look at this design, something to that effect. So now they know exactly what I'm talking about. They can access this image as well.

Now, if I want, I can also take this to the very next stage, and convert this into an action, because sometimes we do an awful lot of talking. Now, it's great that we have a full history here within AirSend, but what if I don't wanna just discuss this image?

I wanna make sure that someone does something about it. Well, here you can see there's this little lightning icon which refers to our Actions area. And if I select it, I can create this into an action.

So, let's say, let's call this one, REdesigned the blue logo. I can add some notes, I can add some other members, and let's include a due date as well to make sure that we get this done by the end of the month.

Now I can create that action. Everyone here within my channel can see that I've created this specific action here, and I can go directly to it as well. So I can update those details or I can see what other activity has been happening when it comes to that particular action.

So again, I don't have to be switching tabs, I don't have to be going in and out of different applications. I can manage my files, I can assign them tasks right here from within AirSend.

Advanced Search Results

Now, another area where AirSend has put a lot of new focus is on their search capabilities. Now it's true, over here in the Actions pane, we could search through our specific actions, but what if we're looking for a key word or a file and we wanna search across the entire channel?

Well, if we come up here to the very top, I can type in something like logo, for example. And what it's gonna do is not only bring back those results, but it's going to separate it out, so I can see the differences between the messages, the actions which contain the word logo and the files which contain that keyword as well.

Now, it also gives us the ability to select this Show All option, so we can view sort of the same results here, but we can see it in a bit of a different format. This is especially helpful if you have a lot of results for that particular keyword, but now I can zero in on exactly what I want.

Here's my REdesign the blue logo, and I can start to take action on it. So having a very robust search capability, which is not just searching your actions, not just searching the comments, but searching across the entire channel is so valuable to keep you on top of your tasks.

Now, the last feature I wanna highlight here within AirSend may seem rather small, but I think its significance is rather large. And that has to do with read receipts. How often have you been contributing on some type of communication platform, and you just don't know who has actually read or seen that piece of communication.

Well, AirSend has made sure to build that right in. Here you can see on my last few posts, I have this little seen by Steve Fisher, seen by Steve Fisher. So I don't have to be worrying if Steve has laid eyes on my comments here.

And if I scroll up a little bit further, I can also see the ones that have been seen by myself. So if anyone is calling me out, well, didn't you get that update, or didn't you see what I posted yesterday? At least AirSend is going to keep me honest.

So, something rather small, but something that can go a long way, give you some reassurance that people have seen what you are sharing. Now, if you'd like to learn more about AirSend, be sure to click the link in the description below so you can get started using all of these features and staying on just one screen within your browser.

Thank you so much for watching today's video. Be sure to give this video a thumbs up, and don't forget to subscribe right here to the Simpletivity Channel. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Why Pitch is different from other presentation apps (text whirring) (text chimes) Creating effective presentations that are eye-catching and impressive are essential in today's business world.

But what if you could do it that much more productively, do it from the mindset of a to-do list or a project management tool?

Well, in today's video, I'm gonna show you something that's gonna help you make that awesome presentation in a fraction of the time.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

Now, don't get me wrong.

There's an awful lot of presentation tools out there, including some of the standards like PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.

But what Pitch does differently is that it puts productivity first so you can stay on track, you can collaborate easier with your colleagues, and also create fantastic-looking slides in a matter of minutes.

Now, Pitch was actually created by the same founder who created Wunderlist.

Now, for those of you who don't know, Wunderlist was one of the most beloved to-do list apps of the 2010s.

In fact, so beloved that Microsoft acquired it and then abruptly canceled it for its own Microsoft To Do.

Why is that important?

And why does that make an impact here on Pitch?

Well, Pitch has certainly put time management

Track your presentation status with Pitch

and productivity at the forefront.

You'll notice here on the right-hand side, I've got something called a status label or a status tracker.

So that means that as I'm working through my slide deck, I can come here and say, "You know what? "Yes, I've been working on this in progress, but now it's complete. "I'm going set it to Done."

Maybe I come down to this slide and say, "You know what? "I haven't started this.

"I need to get on top of this.

"I'm gonna set it to the status of To do."

So how many times have you been working on a slide deck, perhaps you have 30 plus slides, and you jump back in, and you forget where you last left off and where you need to be putting your attention?

Or maybe more embarrassingly is that you've started your presentation, you get near the end, and there's a blank slide or something that you forgot to update.

Well, Pitch makes it that much easier with this status control, even if you're a team of one.

But if you happen to be working with others, not only can you set the status for each and every one of your slides, but you can make those assignments as well.

So I can come down here and say, "You know what?

"I'm gonna take on this one here.

"But on second thought, I'd rather have my teammate, Jane.

"I'd like her to start on this one, the slide before."

So we can track and decide who's gonna be doing what and really stay focused on where we're going with this presentation.

Video collaboration from within Pitch

But it gets even better.

If you wanna collaborate with others in real-time, the natural thing would be to set up a Zoom meeting or maybe a Teams or Meet meeting, and then collaborate via video conferencing.

What if that was built right in?

Pitch has something called a live collaboration feature.

So if I select this Live button here, what I can do is I can start a live collaboration meeting with others.

I'm gonna say Start.

And now what I get on my screen is actually a little video bubble which is anchored to my cursor so I can meet with other members who I give access to the slides, and we can start to talk about this figure here and why I didn't like the way that this graphic was appearing over here.

No, I don't have to set up anything else.

I don't have to open up another application, and I don't have to worry if they're not going to see me or if I can't interact with them on a direct basis.

I love this type of functionality where we're having video built into more and more of our applications so that we can collaborate in real-time.

Maybe I just notice that someone else is working on this presentation deck at the same time that I log in.

We can quickly and easily start this type of live meeting and start to collaborate together.

So a great way of keeping you and your team that much more productive.

Adding content quickly and easily in Pitch

But beyond just collaboration and time management and productivity settings, if you want to save time when creating your next presentation, you need to be able to do it quickly and add new templates, images, and create your content in a matter of minutes.

What I really love about Pitch is that you can see that it has boiled itself down to just the essentials.

I don't have an unlimited toolbar where I have to go through a variety of different menus.

Let me show you how easy it is to create and grab quick-and-easy graphics.

So if I wanna come in here and grab an image, let's say, of a keyboard, it has built-in functionality directly with Unsplash.

So I don't have to worry about getting a low-resolution graphic.

I don't have to worry about copyright.

I don't have to worry about jumping to my browser tab to grab these images.

I can do so right here within Pitch.

But it gets better than that.

You can see that I can also add some quick gifs.

I can add some custom icons here, which I've been using a lot more frequently, but also brand logos.

So for example, maybe I want the Google logo.

All I need to do is search for it here and click it.

And now I've got a PNG logo, which is gonna look great no matter what I size it to, but also it has that transparent background.

So no matter what the logo is that I'm searching for, I don't need to go grab it and then paste it and then realize, "Oh, it's too small," or, "It doesn't have a transparent background."

I can do so and grab that right here within Pitch.

The other nice thing is that they have this stickers feature where Pitch has actually designed a number of 3D graphics to help make your content stand out.

So for example, wouldn't this make something really stand out on my slide if I had a graphic, something like this?

So these are exceptional graphics that you can use.

You don't have to go anywhere else.

You can grab them directly here, right from within the Pitch software.

Connect content directly to Google

Let me show you another way that's gonna help you save time, and that is direct integration to things such as Google.

Now, creating or adding a chart is obviously going to be standard or should be standard in any presentation software.

And you can create one from scratch if you need to.

But here I can integrate directly with Google Sheets.

All I need to do is select the account that I want to integrate with.

And now I can select the spreadsheet file that I created earlier.

I can say Select.

And now I'm back within my Pitch interface.

I can select what I want to show.

Actually, I'm gonna show units sold in this case.

And then the category is my four different quarters.

All I have to do now is select Create chart.

And now I've got my information right here within my slide deck.

Style builder and presentation templates

And because everything works seamlessly with the templates within Pitch, even if I decide to change the color scheme.

Maybe I don't want the white background, maybe I want the red background.

It's going to change my graphing information.

It changes all of my texts automatically so it goes with the rest of my theme.

I don't have to come back in here and change my graph, even if I change that graph to something else, like a pie chart or something along those lines.

Let's say I come up here and say, "You know what?

"I'd rather have a pie chart format of it."

That looks great.

But what if I want the red background?

No problem.

It's gonna make those changes for me automatically.

So I don't have to be wasting my time changing each individual color or changing this particular graph.

I can let the template do it for me.

Now, if you wanna take advantage of some of these presentation productivity tools with your existing slides, no problem.

You can import anything from PowerPoint, Slides, and Keynote.

However, if you want to start from scratch, you can also choose from one of the many different professional templates which Pitch has created right here for you to get started.

If you wanna learn more and start using Pitch today, be sure to click the link in the description below.

Thank you so much for watching today's video.

And remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

Problems with Productivity Music Playlists

For years, I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship when it comes to productivity music, what is the best for my needs and what's gonna help me focus on the work at hand. And I've always struggled with the concept of canned productivity playlists because they change abruptly.

And if you're not paying for those services, often you'll be interrupted with ads. Well, I found something that not only is going to minimize those disruptions, but it's been scientifically proven to help you stay focused.

So in today's video, I wanna share with you those results and see how they've improved my productivity over the last two weeks. Hello, everyone, Scott Friesen in here at Simpletivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And for a number of years, I've experimented when it comes to productivity music and music and soundscapes to help me be more focused. And number one, I learned that anything with vocals, anything with lyrics distracts me.

And that's not uncommon for many of us when there is someone who is singing or who has lyrics as a part of their music. It can really detract you from what you're trying to focus on and what you're trying to accomplish.

But as I've experimented with other playlists, whether that's on Spotify or Apple Music or really anywhere where you may find music, I found what was jarring is that just after a nice soundscape, something that has made me ultra focused and zero in on the task at hand.

If it switched to a new song with a completely different beats per minute or a completely different feel, suddenly my attention would be on the music and not on the work that I was trying to accomplish.

How Endel Works and Why It's Different

Well, I have discovered something that not only is not jarring, in fact, it's almost seamless, but it will actually listen to me whether I want it to listen to my surroundings, whether I want it to tap into my local weather, my energy level, and to other smart devices that I may own.

Or if I just want to tell it the type of work that I'm working on. So I wanna introduce you to Endel, I'm gonna show you how the app works and how it's been scientifically proven to help you focus on the tasks at hand.

Okay, so here I am within my smartphone and on the very top row, you'll see I have an app called Endel, gonna open that up and here we are, and I've already got something set up called Morning Energy Rise.

And the great thing about this, is that Endel is actually going to learn from my needs including some of my surroundings. Now we're gonna get to the music in just a moment, I can hit the play button here at any time.

And I'm actually in the first mode, which is called relax. So the tone of this music, the sounds are gonna be a little more down tempo perhaps not much percussion at all but the one that I'm using the most is F for? You guessed it, F for focus.

And that's gonna give me the energy that I need at this time of day to focus on my most important work. And even the visuals are very, very entertaining.

I must admit that I was actually taken aback at first that I can actually see the visuals such as this as a part of my day, but something just a little more entertaining, I found that it brought me back to the app more often than not.

Let me just press pause on this. We're gonna come back to some of the more detailed soundscapes in a moment.

Endel Settings and Features

But at the very top, you can see it's actually using an average heart rate to help me get into that focused mode. So this is not just pulling things from out of the sky. There is a lot of research that is going into customizing these soundscapes.

If I click tap for details, you can see that just like our circadian rhythm, as when we have the most energy and the least energy throughout the day, Endel is actually learning and making use of that.

So instead of just hitting play on a standard playlist which is just gonna start that music and finish that music whenever it pleases or whenever it was written, Endel is actually gonna be learning from me and taking things down and up as I need.

And you can see a bit of the schedule here, rise until 10:53. It's gonna peak in roughly 28 minutes. And then it's gonna start to fade in roughly an hour.

But down below here, you can see some of the real-time inputs, which I've allowed Endel to use to help guide my soundscape. So what I'm using right here is my local weather.

So you can see now that it is roughly 10:30, the sun is up in the sky, I'm getting some full natural light. It's even taking a look at some of the weather as well, right? Is there a cloud coverage? Is it a rainy day or is it bright and sunny?

But you don't have to stop there, down below, you can see that you can allow Endel to tap into other pieces of important information including your Google Fit data, body sensor data or even motion data.

So even if you just throw your phone, for example into your pocket, as you go about your day, you can use this as you're wearing your earbuds, depending if you're doing other activities in and around the house.

But let's go back to the main screen here and show you some of the other simple functions to help you stay more focused as a part of your day.

Specific Soundscapes Based on Activity

If you don't want it to just use the custom inputs which I've just shown you, you can also pick specific activities. And there's no surprise that deep work is the first one in this list.

Now we have several others to choose from including meditation, a power nap, maybe reading or a workout, et cetera. But deep work is definitely one that I've been using most frequently.

When I select deep work, the next step here is just to choose a duration. So maybe I want to select the next 25 minutes to focus in on a very important task on my computer, I can select the duration and then just hit start.

And now it's time to go. Now it's time to focus in on maybe 25 minutes of email or maybe 25 minutes of scanning, reviewing, and responding to a very important report.

Whatever that task may be, I can have this timer working in the background and just focusing in on that task at hand. The other ones I think of using music and using an app such as Endel.

Even if you do work from home, as opposed to a noisy office, chances are is that you have other distractions that are going on around you as well, right?

You may have a spouse who is trying to work in the other room. You may have pets or small children who distract you from time to time as well.

Endel can be a great way of having that type of music to help you focus in on what's most important.

The Science Behind Endel Sounds & Flow

Now, I've already told you how Endel has increased my focus as I've been using the app over the last several weeks, but you don't have to take my word for it.

In fact, science is starting to prove how Endel is helping you to increase your focus more than a standard playlist. And this graph really stood out to me here.

Here you can see how a static or traditional playlist can affect our focus and don't get me wrong, there may be times or peaks as a part of that playlist where that music is helping you to focus.

But I think the main issue here is that most playlists are just a random collection of songs or soundscapes. It really doesn't know what you are doing or the time of day or listening for other inputs versus Endel, which can keep your focus that much higher above this line as it's listening to you and just how fluid it is.

In fact, as I was using the app, I was so pleased that there were no abrupt starts or stops. Even if I changed my mood or changed my selection, it was all seamless as it flowed into the next soundscape.

Now, it can be really challenging to give you a sample of the music and the variety of sounds on Endel, why? Because your needs are going to be different than mine.

And it's all about customization, but if you'd like to take out Endel for a test drive and see how it can help you increase your focus, I encourage you to click the link in the description below.

Thank you so much for watching today's video. I hope you give it a thumbs up and subscribe right here to the Simpletivity channel.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.