I mentioned in a recent episode how much I'm getting out of using the Due App.
When I had Natalie Houston on the show, she inspired me to make more use of timers in my teaching and productivity. Here are some of the places she has written about her use of timers:
As I started to find multiple uses for timers in my life, I ran into a challenge. As soon as the timer went off and I turned off the alarm, the item quickly went out of my head.
Enter the Due App.
I don't have that problem with the Due App. I set a “timer” and it keeps bugging me however often I tell it to… If I get distracted in the moments following a reminder to take care of something, I quickly get my attention pulled back by the next alert.
Here are a few ways I'm using the Due App reminders in my teaching and productivity:
Meeting with students. What I enjoy the most about teaching are the one-on-one conversations I get to have with students. That means that I frequently lose track of time and run the risk of missing something urgent. Now I set up an alert in the Due App for five minutes before our conversation is supposed to end and set it up to buzz me every five minutes after that. You have complete control over how often it will bug you.
Committee meetings. I'm charing a few committees this semester and often have to squeeze the meetings in between my teaching schedule. I set a Due alarm for ten minutes before the meeting is supposed to end and then for each five minutes after that.
Reminders to take / pick up students' exams that are being proctored by the disabilities office. I like to do blind grading for exams. That doesn't work very well if I don't have the students' exams with me who have had their exams administered by another person. I set a Due reminder to nudge me to pick up their exams from the office prior to me leaving the office and heading home. Then, I can be sure to grade their exams along with everyone else's.
As I was researching stuff for this post, I discovered that there are also reusable timers as a feature of the app. They give the example of a Pomodoro timer that you might launch when doing a burst of productivity. Maybe you have a set period of time for each time you brew tea, or start a load of laundry in the washer? You can reuse the timers anytime you want to perform that activity that could use a set duration of time.
There are so many possibilities that I know things are just getting started.
I just bought the Due App for the Mac and look forward to syncing all my reminders between my Apple Watch, iPhone and Mac.
[reminder]Are there apps you're using in place of a “traditional” timer to keep tasks top of mind for yourself? [/reminder]
