As part of Nokia’s Smarter Everyday programme, which aims to inspire you with fresh approaches to productivity, collaboration and technology adoption, we’ve looked at how your Nokia Lumia can do just that.
It breaks your day up
Experts reckon that if you want to sustain intense levels of work, it’s important to take short and regular breaks. That’ll stop your focus from drifting. There’s no general optimum pattern, though; different sorts of work and different people will work best with different break patterns—just don’t forget to take the breaks! An app like Tomato is invaluable here: it uses the Pomodoro technique of time management with customisable work/break timings, and alerts you when it’s time to stop. Plus it has Live Tile integration—great for Windows 8 users!
It helps you work it
Exercise is always important. If you’ve got a regular exercise routine, your energy levels will be higher. You don’t need to spend your lunch-break on the treadmill, either, or run five miles before work; getting up and moving around the office helps, as does popping outside for a quick walk now and then. If you want something more intense, apps like Push Up Workout coach you through a short burst of equipment-free exercises that you can perform in your office without any prior skills.
It aids your power naps
A bad night’s sleep can seriously affect your performance at work. To keep your energy levels up, try and get to bed early—but if you can’t, or if you’ve got other factors, like small children, that keep you awake, try and take naps during the day. It’s trickier to do in an open-plan office, sure, but you’re guaranteed to work smarter if your body’s adequately rested. If you’re having trouble drifting off, try plugging headphones into your smartphone and switching on an app like Sleep or Sound Sleep that will play soothing music or white noise to help relax your brain.
It offers food for thought
Watch what you eat! Regular healthy snacks keep your blood glucose levels at a steady, productive level, while sugary, unhealthy snacks will make you peak and crash. That won’t do you any favours—even if the sugar rush is fun in the short term. Try using your smartphone to keep a food diary: this will let your track exactly what you’re eating all day, making you more conscious of your snacking choices and more aware of how your energy levels are related to what you’re ingesting. My Food Diary is a smartphone app that lets you add notes about how you’re feeling and send the data to yourself later as an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.
It gives you away day ideas
As well as breaks within the day, you need to take holidays away from the work environment. Keeping with the theme of short and frequent, though, some experts think that taking a couple of long breaks each year is less effective in relaxing you and replenishing your energy levels than taking more long weekends and week-long breaks. Take the hassle out of holiday planning by using apps like TripAdvisor and Skyscanner to sort out your hotels and flights.
It manages the way you work
Finally, when you’ve got a few tasks to do, it can help to do them in focussed bursts. Concentrate on one task, or use your energy to get through a series of similar tasks in a burst. As with taking breaks, a timer can be helpful here. Apps like StopWatch have countdown functions that can create mini-deadlines—and there’s nothing like a deadline to help most of us focus.
There’s no doubt smartphone and their apps are adept at helping you apply useful principles about breaks, exercise, pacing and fuel to your working life. However, if you’re keen to learn even more about energizing your day why not download our latest ebook? We’ve also got a useful website, Nokia for Business specifically created to show how our technology can help you and your business work smarter. And if you’ve got any other tips for using your Nokia Lumia to energise your working life, we’d love to hear them.