Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Todoist Organisational App

Managing time effectively is important when at university, whether it’s studying, completing coursework or exam revision. It is easy to quickly become overwhelmed and feel that there is just not enough time to fit everything in. Making lists of your tasks each day is a great way to keep on top of your work and life.

Todoist is one of the best to-do list apps available. All your information and data is stored and synced in the cloud, which means you can access your lists on any device at any time.  If you need some help with organising your life and becoming more productive then Todoist is a good place to start.

Organising your tasks in a list that you can tick off as you complete them can also be beneficial for your mental health. Firstly, knowing you have all of your jobs in a list can give you mental space and stop you worrying or feeling like you have forgotten tasks. Secondly, looking back at your list at the end of the day can really give you a sense of accomplishment. Especially with the current lockdown, it can feel like days are blending into one, but if you can look back at your lists and see that you have actually done quite a lot.

Some of the Key Features of Todoist

Todoist can give you a sense of confidence from knowing that all your tasks are organised and accounted for. It gives you a clear overview of your day and the tasks you need to accomplish.  Some of the key features include…

Quick Add

The Quick Add feature allows you to add your tasks in seconds. You can then easily view all your tasks for the day and mark them as complete as you go along.

todoist-for-students

 

Recurring Due Dates

This feature helps you commemorate the deadlines and build habits.

Favourites

You can let go of all the clutter and only focus your energy on the important things by easily organising and prioritising your projects and tasks on Todoist. You can plan out your schedules according to what’s most important first and needs immediate attention. The favourite tab helps you do this.

todoist-favourites

 

Delegate Tasks

You can also share the workload by delegating tasks to your teammates on Todoist. It’s very efficient and productive for students while working on group projects. The notifications segment in this feature keeps you updated whenever someone completes the task, or post comments. With this feature, you can make all the important information accessible to all the involved members.

group-work-todoist

Boards

Todoist boards let you easily organise different areas of your life. You could have a board for your studies, a board for your exercise, a board for your social life etc.

Karma

Karma gives you a broad view of your total progress with using the app. Set weekly or daily goals and foresee your work rate trends. Students can use this feature to keep track of how much preparation they’re doing before the exam.

todoist-karma

Conclusion

Todoist is an excellent tool that you can use in all areas of your life to help keep yourself productive and motivated. It’s free to get started and to use the basic features however there is a pro option which costs around £30.00 per year, however students can get 70% off at this link.

Download on the mobile app on the App Store and Google Play store.

Or, get the desktop version from Todoist Website.

Learn about other useful apps on our blog.

Thanks for reading, A2B Assessments DSA Needs Assessment Centre

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Friday, January 15, 2021

The Best Mindfulness Meditation Apps

Lockdown is back upon us, we are again restricted from doing things we enjoy, seeing our friends, going to the gym, going to the cinema etc. The current situation can easily have a negative impact on our mental well-being, resulting in feelings of anxiety and depression.

One thing you can do from the comfort of your home is practice meditation and mindfulness. This study from Science Daily found that just one session of mindfulness meditation can reduce anxiety.

If you would like to reap some of the benefits of meditation but don’t know where to begin we have put together a list of the most-effective mindfulness smartphone apps for you. These apps are easy to navigate and are readily available in your app stores.

These aren’t ranked in any particular order…

best-mindfulness-meditation-apps

Calm

Calm teaches mindfulness and offers daily meditation practices in a simple manner that everyone can understand.

The calm app contains guided meditations, including a 7-days-of-calm series. It also has a body scan and meditation that eases tension.

You will also enjoy timed meditation sessions, over 20 visual and audio nature backgrounds.  Calm is free to use but you can unlock more features by purchasing one of their subscriptions.

Get on the App Store or Google Play Store.

mindfulness-apps

Headspace

The headspace app is a creation of a famous meditation teacher, Andy Puddicombe, who describes it as a gym membership for the mind.

This application has a free and paid variant, and users can opt for either option depending on their preferences.

After downloading the headspace app, begin with the ten-day mindfulness and meditation program that helps users to improve their health.

The headspace app has brain development as its focus, and it entails a list of special meditations in areas like a relationship, health, and general performance.

You can also explore tons of quick, one-time guided meditations to redirect and calm the mind quickly when you need a fix.

One of the more unique features of headspace compared to the other apps in this list is that you can connect with your friends on the app and meditate together.

Get on the App Store or Google Play Store.

meditation-apps

Insight Timer

The Insight Timer app has a huge amount of free content available to consume and experience. To explore the free content, scroll past the button that asks you to begin a free trial and you will then have access to the free library.

Insight Timer boasts over 6 million active users and is like a huge community with thousands of guided meditations from tons of teachers who add new material daily. The app houses guided meditations across fields like creativity, stress, and relationships. Another cool feature is that on the app you can see how many people are meditating in real-time, and how many meditations are active on that day.

You can also browse through the list of teachers on the app to find out what teacher you prefer and follow their profile. Some popular teachers on the app are Tara Brach, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield. Follow any teacher you love and keep tabs on their content to help you through your meditation journey.

Get on the App Store or Google Play Store.

meditation-to-help-anxiety

Simply Being

As the name suggests, this app is a simple and straightforward meditation guide created by Richard and Mary Maddux, a couple who make up the Meditation Oasis team.

Richard is a music composer, while Mary is a healing arts practitioner and counselor. The duo created this simple and appealing app that users can download after paying a one-time fee.

Once you download the app, you can listen to several timed and guided meditations with or without sounds of nature and background music.

If you thrive on simple meditative processes, then Simply Being is a useful app of guided meditations.

This app doesn’t have a free version but costs £1.99. Get on the App Store or Google Play Store.

mindfulness-to-help-anxiety

My Life Meditation (formely Stop, Breathe & Think)

In essence, mindfulness is all about stopping, breathing, and managing your thoughts. This is why this mindfulness app has a name that instills the essence and awareness of mindfulness.

A cool feature of this application is that you can enter your current mood it will direct you to the best meditations for your day.

My Life Meditation is a completely free app created by ‘Tools for Peace,” a non-profit organisation for effective meditation.

Get it on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Conclusion

Mindfulness meditation offers many health benefits, but like many good things, it needs constant practice. If you are feeling particularly anxious try and follow along with a guided meditation and see how you feel afterwards. You have nothing to lose.

For further reading on meditation check out our previous blog post Meditation For Stress And Anxiety.

Thanks for Reading, A2B DSA Assessment Centre.

The post The Best Mindfulness Meditation Apps appeared first on A2B Assessments DSA Needs Assessment Centre.