10 Apps That I Use For Daily Success

“There’s an app for that”…That was the slogan from the iPhone commercials of 3 or 4 years ago. That probably signaled the REAL beginning of the smartphone age. Before that time, phone could do quite a few things other than making phone calls but PDAs were the real tool when you wanted to organize your life and seem like you were on the cutting edge. I remember my first Palm Pilot, then my iPaq by HP and of course a trail of other devices that ultimately led to my first Windows Mobile device. Now, the Windows devices were always great to me for a few months and then they got really buggy and slow. Hence, my current hesitance to move back into the Windows phone market, although the tiles do look fairly neat. The bottom line here is that there are quite a few devices that you can use to do what you need daily, to keep up with your banking, to keep up with your writing, your tweeting, your business, and whatever is important to you.

Beyond just the devices, there are all sorts of applications (apps) that you can use to streamline and automate many parts of your life. But, the challenge is often finding the right one, one that works and using it in a way that works for YOUR specific circumstance. My wife thinks I’m an app junkie. But, I am always on a quest to find out what works for me, always looking to learn something new.  Here are some apps that work for my success daily:

1. Evernote
Evernote is my backup brain. In fact, on many days, it’s probably my primary brain. I clip websites. I scan everything. I send little audio notes. I write my todo list. I write my outline, my plans, my scripts, my posts, my emails, my links, my….well you get the idea. I pop EVERYTHING into Evernote. SOme of them I come back to later on for reminders. Some I haven’t ever gotten back to. But its comforting to know they are there, which is a bit odd because unlike some other people I know, who will remain nameless, ahem, I’m not a packrat. But, I guess its not considered hoarding if its knowledge or intellectual property. Besides, I do share as much as I can. There, I am now absolved.

2. Google Calendar
Google Apps is the backend of my business endeavors and I have several Google calendars without which my life would be utter confusion. I share my wife’s calendar and we are working at connecting with each other’s plans. We haven’t worked out the perfect system yet but using Google calendar across all of our devices is an absolute must!!

3. Hootsuite
Now, I probably don’t tweet like a teen or a tween. I don’t Instagram like a champ. I don’t pin like a seamstress and I may not Facebook like a hero. But, I do use them all. Hootsuite allows me to talk to them all at one time without jumping all around the interwebs. The best part is being able to schedule my posts in bulk. Interacting with your followers is definitely important and so I have to pick and choose my platforms for more frequent interactions. But, having Hootsuite dips my dedicated social media time by tons.

4. Kindle
I have always been an avid reader. I got away from reading books for a while and just read a lot of articles. But, someone told me that “leaders are readers.” I took that to heart and have been learning some really neat things. I don’t own a Kindle. But the Kindle app for my iPad is really great because I can have the Kindle, iBooks, and Nook (Barnes & Noble) all on one device and those fulfill my reading needs. It’s also great that Kindle books are a lot cheaper than the physical copy.

5. YouVersion
I read my Bible daily. And while I love just reading great verses, what I love about this app is the different versions and the devotional reading plans. I’m a tell-me-a-story type of person. So, having a great story that connects me to a spiritual premise daily is something that works really well for me.

6. LinkedIn
I meet new people almost every day in one business setting or another. Using the LinkedIn app to check if they have a profile often gives me a sense of who they are and what they have done. This doesn’t mean that I judge them based on that. However, it’s often a point of conversation and ultimately relationships are forged based on common points of interest. So, I often look for something to connect with them about. It’s not a 100% foolproof method, but I’ve had some really great conversations because of this.

7. Bad Piggies/Anything made by Rovio
OK, So, the makers of Angry Bird have come out with this new game and I am playing it but its driving me nuts. It’s quite a bit more challenging than Angry Birds, maybe not as addicting, but still quite a bit of fun. Yes, you HAVE GOT to make some time for fun each day. All work and no play make Jack a really boring and tired dude.

8. WordPress
Of course, I blog. I’m not always by my computer but I always have my iPad and my phone. This app is critical for not only getting things out of my mind but helping to build my platform and reach some of my commitments in 2013. This may not be a daily winner for everyone but I’m sure you can replace this with one of your own.

9. StumbleUpon
There are a lot of different sources that I reach out to for news and whats going on. But, after some time, you may find locked in by going to the same sites. StumbleUpon allows me to find fresh content and fresh sites pretty quickly. Talk about learning new things daily. This gives me my fill!

10. Box
You may have heard of Box or DropBox or SugarSync or any variety of cloud-based storage systems. I am always being asked for a variety of documents and bits of information that I wouldn’t normally carry around in my pocket. I am often asked for W9’s, resumes, course or lectures outlines and a variety of information. It’s very cool to be able to pull those up quickly and email a link to someone.

These are 10 apps that I use for my daily success but you may have some that I would love to try.

What are your daily success apps?