Imposter Alert

Introduction

Hello there.

I’m Julian and I'm really pleased that you've chosen to download and listen to this episode.  I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to little 'ol me! 

If you're new here, then welcome to the Productivity Matters podcast; here to help you be better at getting things done, through the use of apps, products and services. 

On this episode, there are two distinct items - firstly, I’m going to take a look at podcasting, and the growth of podcasts in the UK.  Following that, What is Imposter Syndrome and do you suffer from it?

That's all coming right up.

Podcasting

Podcasting in the UK is on the rise.  At least, that's according to Ofcom.

Who are Ofcom?  It's the The Office for Communications; the regulator for the communications services that we use and rely on each day, in the UK.

They make sure people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services, as well as keeping an eye on TV and radio.

They also oversee the universal postal service, which means Royal Mail must deliver and collect letters six days a week, and parcels five days a week, at an affordable and uniform price throughout the UK.

Another remit is to help to make sure people don’t get scammed and are protected from bad practices. This is particularly important for vulnerable or older people.

They also help to make sure people across the UK are satisfied with what they see and hear on TV and radio, and that programmes reflect the audiences they serve. We consider every complaint we receive from viewers and listeners. Often, we investigate further and we sometimes find broadcasters in breach of our rules.

Ofcom are independent, and funded by fees paid by the companies they regulate.

It appears that podcasts fall outside of the Ofcom remit, but that doesn't mean they don't keep a keen eye and report on findings.

In this case, a report from 2018, which found that, in the UK, the number of weekly podcast listeners has almost doubled in five years – from 3.2m (7% of adults aged 15+) in 2013 to 5.9m (11%) in 2018.

The increase is across all age groups, but the steepest growth is now among young adults aged 15-24 with around one in five now listening to podcasts every week.

- the most popular podcast genre is Comedy, followed by music, TV and film.

- Half of podcast listeners are under 35. While only 29% of traditional radio listeners are under 35, this rises to 49% for podcasts.

- Approximately 96% of listeners also listen to the radio each week, though live radio commands a much lower share of their total listening activity (48%) than adults generally (75%).

- Podcast versions of BBC radio programmes such as Desert Island Discs and Kermode & Mayo’s Film Review feature regularly in Apple’s iTunes podcast chart. TV broadcasters are increasingly interested in podcasts as a source of material for TV shows, or as an extension of established series (such as ITV’s podcast Love Island: The Morning After).

Starting Your Podcast

So, now is a great time to get into podcasting.  What's more, because it's yours, you can do with it what you like.  You own it.  You can record to your own schedule and not answer to the regulators or senior bosses.

Plus - there is no age barrier to running a podcast.  Young or old, everyone has a voice, and it can be quite cathartic to sit and talk; get things off your chest.  It's like a self-service therapy!!

However, you do need to consider your audience.   Content is king - you'll hear a lot about that when researching podcasts; simply because, without great content, you won't have an audience.
You need a reason to 'tune in'.  Either download or stream the episodes.

You also need to get over the anxiety of talking to yourself.  Which is, basically, what you're doing when you sit down to record.  The anxiety that what you're recording isn't good enough, and even greater anxiety that nobody will listen.

Of course, if you don't promote your podcast, then no-one will know it exists, and you will end up with very few listeners; just those who fell over your podcast whilst browsing.  But put in some serious promotion and the numbers will grow.

One of the biggest issues with podcasting, is PodFade.  It's easy to get started, but it's easier to stop.  Life gets in the way and you stop doing it.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of podcasts that start with great intentions, but fade into the background as the episodes dry up.

It's hard to keep going. You have to really work at it.  I've missed publishing for a couple of odd weeks; and I felt really guilty.  But who was I feeling guilty for?  You?  I doubt anyone noticed I wasn't there.  I felt quilty for me.

The other point that might stop someone starting a podcast is because they don't think they'll be any good!  To quote Zig Ziglar....

"You don't have to be great at something to start, but you do have to start in order to be great"

If you're thinking about podcasting; just pick up your mobile phone, download the Anchor app and record and publish. 
It's all there, in your hand, and I highly recommend giving it a go.

Imposter Syndrome

Leading on from this, and especially the point about feeling inadequate to start a podcast, comes the subject of Imposter Syndrome.

This is a psychological term referring to a pattern of behaviour where people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud.

This feeling of being a fraud is not uncommon. It has been estimated that nearly 70 percent of individuals will experience signs and symptoms of impostor phenomenon at least once in their life. 
This can be a result of a new setting, academic or professional. Research shows that impostor syndrome is not uncommon for students when entering a new academic environment. Feelings of insecurity can come as a result to an unknown, new environment. This can lead to lower self-confidence and belief in their own abilities.

Certainly, this is something that I can relate to.  When I start a new contract, there's always this feeling that 

The Symptoms:
A lack of self-confidence, anxiety, doubts about your thoughts, abilities, achievements and accomplishments, negative self-talk, feelings of inadequacy, dwelling on past mistakes and not feeling good enough — these are all signs and symptoms of imposter syndrome.

The Cause:
Nature and nurture together create the tendency to experience feeling 'not good enough' or the Imposter Syndrome. However, the feeling remains latent until it is triggered by something external to us; something we react to; something that tips us into actively feeling not good enough.

Overcoming:
The first step in overcoming Impostor Syndrome is to acknowledge what you're feeling, and why. Start by keeping a journal. Whenever you experience feelings of self-doubt or inadequacy, write them down, and explain why you're feeling this way. Be as specific as possible about each situation.

The next steps are:
Step 2: Realise The Truth. ...
Step 3: Choose Someone To Confide In. ...
Step 4: Turn It Around And See The Gift In Your Imposter Syndrome. ...
Step 5: Set Goals And Expectations You Know You Can Achieve. ...
Step 6: Accept Where You're At And Revisit In 90 Days.

Thank You

I hope you’ve found this episode interesting.

If you have any questions about getting started with a podcast, feeling like an imposter or, indeed, anything else, then please get in touch via Twitter @prodmatters

Don’t forget to follow me where you normally listen to your podcasts.

Thank you very much for listening and until next time, remember, Productivity Matters.

Equipment I use to make my podcasts*:
Blue Yeti Microphone - https://amzn.to/2R2am1N
Pop Filter - https://amzn.to/2OVMbQP
Professional Microphone Boom Arm - https://amzn.to/2P4EIio

Please help to support this podcast - click here to make a donation which will help me to keep creating great content.

It's very much appreciated.  Thank you.

*If you purchase from these links then I may receive a commission.  This does not affect the price you will pay.  Thank you.

Give Me (LastPass) Strength

Intro

Hello there.

I’m Julian and I'm really pleased that you've chosen to download and listen to this episode.  I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to little 'ol me! 

If you're new here, then welcome to the Productivity Matters podcast.

On this episode, much has been in the news lately about the apparent lack of care being taken with online security.  So, as a subject close to my heart, I’m going to take another look at how you can take steps to be safe online.

First of all, just checking… yes, my phone on silent and my MacBook is on Do Not Disturb.  Let’s do this...

I’ve talked about online security in the past, and thought that, following recent headlines, I’d do a follow up. 

It seems that, on the whole, we’re not learning lessons and we are exposed in ways we simply can’t imagine.  It seems to be a case of ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude.

It’s strange, because you look after your house keys and the keys to your car/bike/van etc.  You’ll lock belongings away safely; but it appears that, generally, we’re care-free when it comes to passwords.

National Cyber Security Centre

A recent study by the UK National Cyber Security Centre found that the most common password found on accounts that had been breached was 123456. 

It was found 23 million times. Second most popular was 123456789, then “qwerty”, “password” and 11111111. 

The NCSC study also asked people about their security habits and fears.

It found that 42% expected to lose money to online fraud and only 15% said they felt confident that they knew enough to protect themselves online.

It found that less than half of those questioned used a separate, hard-to-guess password for their main email account.

This last point is very worrying as your email is the one place a hacker could get access to everything! They could use it to find out all about you, then target scams specifically at you. 

Take this real life example where a scammer convinced someone to part with thousands of pounds.

Because they had the password to the users email account, they discovered they're in touch with a builder about some work. 

The scammer then emails you, pretending to be the builder, asking for money. 

You pay. That’s it. 

The banks take the stance, currently, that because you authorised the transaction; known as an Authorised Push Payment, then you’re liable and they don’t have to refund you. 

It’s harsh, and steps are being taken to address this; but through taking care with your online security reduces the risk of this happening.  The onus must be on us to take care with our money.

Another issue is that, apart from being easy to crack, it’s a fair bet that these password are being used for multiple accounts. So, if one of your accounts had been compromised, then the hacker can just use your username and password against other sites to see if they get a hit!

How?

So. How can you protect yourself online?

The first step is to use a different password for each online account you have. 

This might seem onerous, but your online life is on the line and you need to protect it.

This will reduce the impact of a hacker accessing your accounts.  Where possible, use different usernames too.  You need to make it as hard as possible for the fraudster to get access to your information. 

Password Strength

Using a different password is good.  But, if it’s easy to guess; like a surname, maiden name, dogs name etc; then this will be easily found out by the fraudster and… BINGO!!

The passwords need to be hard to guess and there are a couple of ways to do this.

The simplest method is to come up with a phrase and create a password using the first letter of each word.

So, you might use the phrase “My favourite place in the world is at home with my family”.  Your password would then be ‘MFPITWIAHWMF’

That’s a great password.  Now, mix it up with some upper and lower cases.  You could replace certain letters with numbers; for example replace the ‘I’ with a ‘1’ and replace the ‘A’ with a ‘4’.

Now you have ‘MFP1TW14HWMF’ (or ‘Mfp1tw14HwmF’)  Maybe you can introduce some special characters - ‘Mfp1tw1&HwmF’.  

You still need to create separate passwords for all your accounts, but if you make them memorable, then the difficulty in remembering them is reduced.

This is quite difficult to articulate on a podcast, so don’t forget to read the transcribe on my blog; details in the show notes.

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

However, you probably have lots of online accounts.  There’s all your online shopping accounts. Financial accounts. Your email account (or accounts).  Your Netflix or other streaming service login.  Your social media accounts too.

I’ve checked, and I have 286 different accounts.  Not all of them are used regularly; but they are all accounts stored somewhere online.

Of these, only 6 of them have the same password.  I really should take a look at those!!

How do I do it?

I use a password manager, called LastPass.  There are others on the market, such as Dashlane and 1Password; but I’ve been using LastPass for years and have been very happy with them.

LastPass is cross-platform, so I can use it on my MacBook, iPhone, or anywhere else I access the web.

When you create an account, you set up an access password - this should be a hard-to-guess password, as it’s the only one you’ll need in the future.  It’s so important (and secure, not even the guys at LastPass can retrieve it) that if you lose it, then you’ll lose access to all your passwords.

The next time you log in to one of your online account, LastPass will ask you if you want to store this in your vault.  If you say ‘Yes’, the username and password will be stored securely.

The next you go to the login page, LastPass will recognise the site, and will prompt you to select the details from the vault.  Simply select the details, click login and you’re done.  

Now, you’re going to set up a brand new account and you reach the field that says ‘Enter password’.  Instead of using your usual string of letters, you can now ask LastPass to generate the password for you.  I’m not going to talk through all the steps, but at the end, your new account will be stored in the vault, and all is safe.

LastPass also gives you the space to store images; so you can create Secure Notes, with passport information, driving licence information etc, and store images of your current documents.  All safe.

In an emergency, (if your passport has been stolen) you can access these easily, wherever you are.

Another great feature of LastPass is the ability to store credit and debit card information; along with your address details.  The next time you shop online and need to get your card (which is in your wallet, in the kitchen, and you really can’t be bothered to get up) then use the Form Fill functionality to retrieve the necessary information and your purchase is complete.  You can set additional security against these; so that you have to enter your LastPass password to access them - adding an extra layer of protection.

Housekeeping is a breeze and you can take regular Security Challenge to test your password strength.  You will be told how old your passwords are, and in some cases, LastPass will automatically update them (for certain sites) with just one click.  It’s a real timesaver.

It’s definitely worth looking into, and there’s a link in the programme notes to get you started.

I have literally scratched the surface of password security, and it will take a little effort to get your house in order.  But, it must be worth it, to know your information is secure and away from the prying eyes of the fraudsters.

Two Factor Authentication

There is one further level you can go to secure your passwords; and that is 2FA - 2 Factor Authentication.

This is being offered by more sites now, and means that access to your accounts are only available when you have the password and a physical entity at the time of logging in.  Your mobile phone is probably the key here; although it could be a token too.

When you log in, you’ll use LastPass as usual to pre-populate and send your login details, then you’ll be asked to enter another piece of identification, generated on a device you physically have with you.  This way; even if the hackers get your detail, they cannot access your account.

You still need to be vigilant.  Password managers won’t save you from accessing ‘dodgy’ sites and entering your information.

Try Before You Buy

As I mentioned, this is a subject close to my heart.  It seems the simplest thing to do; but it’s amazing the number of people who, at the very least, don’t use separate passwords.

Click here to try LastPass free for 30 days, and after that it’s approximately £30 per year.  I think that’s very reasonable for peace of mind.  You can even take advantage of their family plan, for up to 6 people, for about £36 per year.  True value.

Don’t become a statistic. Don’t be one of the 15% who aren’t confident in online security. 

Take the first step and see how LastPass can help you. 

Thank You

I hope you’ve found this episode interesting.

If you have any questions about online security or anything else, then please get in touch via Twitter @prodmatters

Don’t forget to follow me where you normally listen to your podcasts.

Thank you very much for listening and until next time, remember, Productivity Matters.

Equipment I use to make my podcasts:

Blue Yeti Microphone - https://amzn.to/2R2am1N

Pop Filter - https://amzn.to/2OVMbQP

Professional Microphone Boom Arm - https://amzn.to/2P4EIio

Try LastPass free for 30 days - LastPass

Please help to support this podcast - click here to make a donation which will help me to keep creating great content.

It's very much appreciated.  Thank you.

If you purchase from these links then I may receive a commission.  This does not affect the price you will pay.  Thank you.

Taking Up The Slack

Hello there.

I’m Julian and I'm really pleased that you've chosen to download and listen to this episode.  I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to little 'ol me! 

If you're new here, then welcome to the Productivity Matters podcast.

On this episode, I’m going to take a look at Slack - a communication tool.  As you may know from previous episodes, I love using automation to make things as efficient as possible, and the use of Slack, and the integrations it provides is just one more way to help.

Don’t go away.  Just going to do this….

Communication in business, in fact in any walk of life, is key to understanding.  Whether that’s understanding a business message, or receiving the latest company information, or just discussing what’s happening from a social point of view; it’s clear we need to be consistent and communicate often.

In our personal space, we have access to the likes of WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage, Snapchat and good old fashioned text messages.  We also have the ability to message in apps such as Instagram and Facebook.  It’s interesting that the biggest messaging apps are all owned by one company - with WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger all part of Facebook!!

In the business world, the primary place for communication is LinkedIn - a site that has given me access to various different roles over the years.

However, when it comes to communicating internally; between you and your colleagues, then there is a very different set of tools available.

First off, there’s the various web chat services, such as Webex, GoToMeeting, Skype or Zoom.  These are ideal for multi-site meetings, to discuss and share screens to keep conversations flowing.

Then there’s the in-house chat; HipChat springs to mind (for JIRA users, this integrates very nicely for a joined up collaboration), there’s Yammer and there’s also Slack.

I’ve had previous experience of HipChat, having used it quite heavily with one client, and also GoToMeeting and Webex.  However, I have recently been introduced to Slack, within the last year, and I must admit to liking the way it works.

Whilst I use Slack supplied by my clients, I have also set up one for Productivity Matters.  Now, this is just for me; there are no colleagues to interact with, but this has become a great way for me to keep up with certain information, as I’ll explain in a moment.

Slack is a cross-platform application; available on Mac, Windows, Linux, web, Android, iOS and Windows mobile.  It’s a real-time, cloud based tool - so you will need an internet connection regardless of the app you use.

Slack works using Channels - which are like areas for a specific subject.  They act as a stream for information in that area.   It’s important to be selective about the channels you join, otherwise you’ll be bogged down in messages you don’t really need to see.

You can set notifications, do not disturb and even statuses, so your colleagues can see if you’re available or not.  You can also use keywords as a way to set alerts; so whenever that word is used, you’ll be notified.

Now, Slack is free to download and use, with as many members as you need; but there are restrictions on the file storage, of just 5GB, and audio / video calls can only be made between two people not groups.  Also, only the last 10,000 messages are included in the search functionality.  Free accounts can also only be integrated with up to 10 third party apps.

Apart from the normal person-to-person chat; with which you can include links, documents and much more, one of the huge benefits are the apps that you can integrate.

I just love the various ways you can do things, automatically, using different apps; and I’m going to talk through how I use some of them now.

First of all; Zapier.  This is a great integration tool, that can trigger events based on outcomes, and then send the output as a message.  I have a number of Google Forms that I’m using for the Cub Scout group I run.  These forms are for capturing information relevant for our upcoming camp.

When a form is completed by the parent, a Google Sheet is automatically updated.  Using Zapier, I can look for a new line in the Sheet and then send a message to a channel in my Slack account.  Within the Zap, I have included the Cub name and parent name; along with any specific response, in a preset message.  This means that I can see who has responded, and any pertinent information immediately, without having to continually check the Google Sheet.

How about this one; also using Zapier (in fact most of my integrations use Zapier).  When I add a file to Google Drive, I have a Zap that will move it to a specific folder - this saves me having to navigate to the folder at the time of uploading it.  Once the file move is complete, then I receive a message in Slack confirming the move has taken place.

Both of these take the form of ‘bots’ - automated messages in Slack.  I created my own Slack account specifically for this purpose and it’s working really well.  It saves me having to check all the different places.

Of course, there’s much more available, such as receiving news items from RSS feeds directly into Slack.  This can get a bit onerous and after a while I removed these.  I just felt they were creating more noise, than actually being of benefit.

Other integrations, that are available directly with Slack, are Giphy, to send some visual effect to your messages.  You can add a poll; so you can ask your users to vote on a subject.  There are also integrations with calendars, such as Google and Outlook.

There are tons of integrations available, and with Zapier, this runs to many, many more.  In fact, you can also integrate with IFTTT.  I’ve set one up with Tado, the smart heating system.  When the temperature drops below, or rises above, a temperature, I will receive a message in Slack.  Why?  Who knows! It does mean I can check if the heating is on, or not, and take action remotely (or even if I’m at home).

I’ve often extolled the virtues of ToDoIst, as my to-do list application; and Slack has integrations with that too.  It’s more useful when there are other people involved, but it’s a good one to have.

It’s even possible to set reminders, that pop-up at the requisite time.  It’s all about having the right tool in the right place to get the job done.

If you haven’t used Slack before, and want to see what the fuss is about, then I’ve added the link in the show notes.

Now, as previously mentioned, Slack is free to download and use, with as many members as you need; but there are restrictions on the file storage, of just 5GB, and audio / video calls can only be made between two people not groups. 

For up to 10GB of storage and the ability to do video / audio calls between groups, then you’ll need Slack Standard; which currently costs £63 per person per year (or £6.30 per month, if you just pay monthly).

I hope you’ve found this episode interesting.

If you have any questions about Slack or anything else, then please get in touch via Twitter @prodmatters

Don’t forget to follow me where you normally listen to your podcasts.

Thank you very much for listening and until next time, remember, Productivity Matters.

Equipment I use to make my podcasts:

Blue Yeti Microphone - https://amzn.to/2R2am1N
Pop Filter - https://amzn.to/2OVMbQP
Professional Microphone Boom Arm - https://amzn.to/2P4EIio

Please help to support this podcast - click here to make a donation which will help me to keep creating great content.It's very much appreciated.  Thank you.

If you purchase from these links then I may receive a commission.  This does not affect the price you will pay.  Thank you.

Getting Started with GTD

Intro

Hello there.

I’m Julian and I'm really pleased that you've chosen to download and listen to this episode.  I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to little 'ol me! 

If you're new here, then welcome to the Productivity Matters podcast. A podcast all about apps, products and services that help you be better at getting things done.

On this episode, I’m going to take a look at a number of things, so without further ado, let’s get started. 

So, as you may know from the last episode, I got married. It was almost two weeks ago (wow! doesn’t time fly) and it was a really magical day. Everything went according to plan, the venue looked fantastic and the bride was / is beautiful. 

We used apps to help manage all the tasks and meetings, and you can hear about it in the last episode, “We’re Getting Married”.

Now, it’s back to reality...

Getting Things Done

I’m currently reading Getting Things Done... the productivity methodology by David Allen. 

Yes. Whilst I’m a great advocate of being as efficient as possible, using apps, products and services, this is one area that I haven’t looked at. Until now. 

I’m about halfway through the book and already it’s having a effect on my thinking and I’ve made some tweaks to my workflow to better use it. I’ve also listened to some of the GTD podcast episodes to try and soak it up, as well as read some interesting blogs on the subject. 

In summary, GTD is based on storing, tracking, and retrieving the information related to the things that need to get done. Mental blocks we encounter are caused by insufficient 'front-end' planning. This means thinking in advance, generating a series of actions which can be done later without further planning. Our mind's "reminder system" is inefficient and seldom reminds us of what we need to do at the time and place when we can do it. Consequently, the "next actions" stored by context in the "trusted system" act as an external support which ensures that we are presented with the right reminders at the right time. 

I’m also amending the way I use ToDoIst to fit it into the GTD method. I’ll update you about that in a future episode. 

You can buy the book here

Getting Things Done

Apple Shortcuts

Shortcuts. It’s the app that was born out of Apple buying Workflow and integrating it into iOS. 

It’s recently been updated, adding more functionality. 

For those that don’t know, Shortcuts is a way to create small apps and launchers to get things done more easily. The best thing is you don’t need to know any coding language.

For example, you may want to take a selection of pictures, create a gif and then send it in a message.  With Shortcuts, you can do this very easily.

You use a wizard to create the flows.

I’ve created quite a few, one to record blood pressure, a couple to automatically post blogs and the best one is a script to quickly commentate on my sons football (soccer) match. 

I start with entering the name of the opposing team. A quick welcome includes the current weather conditions. 

Each action can be called from a menu and the name of the boy taking it. When a goal is scored, I enter the new score. 

Each of these are then sent to the WhatsApp group; as they happen. I do it for fun, and the parents seem to like it. So much, that they don’t even come to watch !! Maybe I should stop. 

It’s fine in good weather; but if it’s wet out I tend to be less frequent with updates!

The new update adds several new actions, the biggest of which is the ability for Shortcuts to work with the Notes app. There are now actions for Create Note, Append to Note, Find Notes, and Show Note. This is going to make both the Shortcuts app and the Notes app a lot more useful.

If you haven’t had a play, then spend some time looking at all the things that Shortcuts can offer… it’s not built into the OS, you will need to download the app, but it’s free and it’s definitely worth investing a little time to see what it can do for you.  There are plenty of pre-built Shortcuts, that you can use, and then maybe edit to build upon them for your needs.

Apple Shortcuts

Drafts 5

Drafts is a great way to capture text and has been on my iPhone for about a year. Earlier this week the developer released a version specifically for the Mac. It has all the great formatting functionality; the only thing missing at launch is the Actions - but they are on the way. When that happens, it opens up a whole new way to interact with Drafts and other apps. 

I use Drafts 5 to update a Google Sheet.  When I take a payment from a parent at my Cub group; I have a pre-formatted page, where I enter the date, amount and reason - I then run an action, which in turn calls a Zap from Zapier; and the sheet is updated.

The same for creating my monthly invoices.  Again, using a similar page to the one I just mentioned; I enter the date and number of days to be invoiced; and when I run the action, a Zap will enter this onto a new line in Sheets. A Zap, from Zapier, then picks this up and creates the invoice inside my invoicing software.  Brilliant.

One final example - returning to the Cub pack; if I want to send a group message, I can write it in advance in Drafts, and when it's time, I'll send it directly via WhatsApp, to the group.  It means I can create the message without fear of sending it in error; and if I have a task in ToDoIst to remind me to send it - then, job done!

Drafts 5

Cardhop

Cardhop - the contact manager from Flexibits, that was released on MacOS about 18 months ago, has today launched their iOS app; available for iPhone and iPad

I’ve been using it for a while, and jumped in straight away when I saw this available in the app store.  It costs £3.99, in the UK, and I believe it’s $4 in the US.  I’ve been waiting for this, as I just don’t like the standard Apple contacts app.

Like the Mac app, the iOS version of Cardhop makes it fast and easy to add a new contact or look up an existing one and it’s simple enough to use that it you may actually want to manage your contacts.

There have basically been no good contacts apps for mobile.

As I mentioned, Cardhop comes from Fantastical creator Flexibits, and is great because it lets you deal with your contacts quickly. 

At the bottom of the app, there’s a single search box that controls everything. Type a name / address / company / etc, and if there’s a matching contact it will be presented to you.

The natural language capability of Fantastical 2 is also prevalent here.  You can type commands; so typing “email Jane” will let you tap her name to immediately open up a new email - and since you can select your default email app, it’ll open it there too.

The search box also lets you add new contacts. So, start typing the name of someone who isn’t in your contacts list, it’ll automatically begin creating a new entry. You don’t have to go field by field to fill in their details, either: if you type “John Smith 01611234567 john.smith@productivitymatters.co.uk 1/1/01,” it’ll recognize those individual details as a name, phone number, email address, and birthdate, and plug them into the appropriate fields.

When you launch the app, you’ll be presented with your favourites; which is obviously blank to begin with, but is easy to add and re-order to suit you.  Click on a contact and you’ll see all the information you have for them.  Bear in mind the the app doesn’t create its own contact list.  Instead, it syncs with major contact list providers like Google and Microsoft Exchange.

Beneath the name, you’ll find the quick action buttons, which you can designate yourself in the settings.  Call, video, message, email and more, are all available.

What’s really good, is that when you are looking at a list, simply swipe the name to the right to access these quick actions, without opening the contact.

I mentioned you can email from the search, but it doesn’t stop there.

The really clever bit is in the shortcuts that you can type into the search box… enter WhatsApp Karen, and the contact card will appear, with the WhatsApp logo.  You don’t even need to enter WhatsApp - just wa and the name.

Enter Call and the contact name, and the telephone button will appear for each number you have for the contact.  Type Message and the contact name to go into iMessage.  Whilst it may take some getting into the habit, it’s a great way to interact with your contacts.

Cardhop for iOS does have one feature that the Mac app doesn’t: a business card mode. If you turn your phone into landscape, it will automatically pull up a business card with some basic contact info about yourself along with a QR code. If someone else scans the code, it’ll automatically import whatever contact info you’ve chosen to share about yourself.

I’ve only downloaded it today, but it’s already replaced the stock contacts app… Thumbs up from me for this one.

Cardhop

Thank You

And that’s it for this episode.  

Shortcuts, Getting Things Done, Cardhop and Drafts 5… I’ve covered quite a few things here and details of them all are in the show notes.

I hope you’ve found this episode interesting.

If you have any questions about anything, then please get in touch via Twitter @prodmatters or any of the other social places.

Don’t forget to follow me where you normally listen to your podcasts.

Thank you very much for listening and until next time, remember, Productivity Matters.

Equipment I use to make my podcasts:

Blue Yeti Microphone - https://amzn.to/2R2am1N

Pop Filter - https://amzn.to/2OVMbQP

Professional Microphone Boom Arm - https://amzn.to/2P4EIio

Please help to support this podcast - click here to make a donation which will help me to keep creating great content.

It's very much appreciated.  Thank you.

If you purchase from these links then I may receive a commission.  This does not affect the price you will pay.  Thank you.

We're Getting Married

Intro

Hello there.

I’m Julian and I'm really pleased that you've chosen to download and listen to this episode.  I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to little 'ol me! 

If you're new here, then welcome to the Productivity Matters podcast.

This is a bit of a special episode as I’m going to talk about planning a wedding.  In fact, planning my wedding.  

So, I’m just going to pop the champagne open and pour myself a glass…. would you like one too?  Alright then.

Enjoy it, as you listen to this weeks episode

Getting Married

Yes.  I’m getting married.  This coming Sunday in fact.  And if you’re listening after the event, then it’s the 17th March.  It’s an amazing feeling; and we’re both very excited.  In fact everyone is very excited.

Karen, my fiancée is a wonderful lady (lady?)

Does the word ‘lady’ make you think of an older person?  At what point does someone go from being a young man/woman, to a man or woman.

Should I say that my fiancée is a wonderful woman?  Wonderful girl?  'Girl’ sounds too patronising?

Whatever - Karen is wonderful.  In every sense.  She’s beautiful, caring, generous, loving and I can’t wait to marry her.

We’ve been together for over 7 years, and the time has flown.  7 years?  Yes - this is the 7 year itch - in reverse… haha!

Between us, we have 5 children; and before you start shouting at me - they don’t all live with us, all the time.

I Do

So, whilst this is all very exciting, it’s a really, lovely, tenuous link to talk about some of the apps we’ve been using to help prepare for the  big day.  

These won’t come as a surprise to regular listeners, but explaining them in a real-world scenario may help you to better understand the benefits they bring.

Karen is not a huge fan of using lots of different technology - a pad and pen are more her style.  Which is absolutely fine, and it works.  It just makes it more difficult if you need to share tasks and information.

So; what have we been using?

ToDoIst

First of all; as with all big events, there are to do lists on top of to do lists!  Whilst I use Todoist (and totally love it) I wasn’t going to ‘force’ it on Karen, so we set up a shared Reminders list on iCloud.  Now I can see all the tasks, when they’re added and, more importantly, when they’re checked off as complete.

I would have liked to have these in Todoist - however, since I use Fantastical 2, I set the specific Reminders list to show in my calendar, so I only needed to see one list; and it’s easy to add to a Reminders list from Fantastical 2 as well.

I did create my own list, in Todoist, for some things that I needed to do - like write my speech, sort out my clothes etc, and in this way could keep my individual tasks separate from the main tasks.

Calendar

Of course, there are many people involved in planning and delivering an event as big as a wedding, those who are providing services; such as the caterer, florist etc etc.  Meetings for all these were all managed using a shared iCloud Calendar.  

Again, as I use Fantastical 2 on my MacBook and iPhone; the calendar is available there, and I could continue to use that without any changes.

So, Fantastical 2 has proved itself very versatile in bringing together two applications together to minimise the number of apps that are needed.

With all the emails flying back and forward, I use Spark email, and the integration with Todoist helped me to save time, by just adding the emails to the relevant service, for following up later.

Evernote

Now, as the groom, I needed to write, and deliver, a speech.  I agonised and spent a rather inordinate amount of time going over it, finessing it.. and I needed a tool to keep it with me everywhere, so I could access it whenever I needed to. 

That tool was Evernote.  

I have been an Evernote user for over 8 years now, and whilst I have tried others, such as Bear and OneNote, Notes on Apple devices and Google Keep, regardless of the bad press that Evernote has received over the last few months, it’s still the service that I naturally turn to for taking notes.

A big benefit of Evernote is the Web Clipper. It's a fantastic way to take clips from pages on the internet and save them for later. Maybe you're researching a new car, or holiday or anything you like; you see something on the internet that you want to keep for reference.

The Web Clipper, which is installed as an extension on you browser, will let you either capture the entire screen, just a snippet or a text version and save it straight into your Evernote. You can even set the notebook you want it stored in, along with any notes and tags.

I use Evernote in conjunction with Scannable, so it was useful to capture invoices and important information we received, to store them in a single place.

I also use it for work, to capture notes from meetings, as well as somewhere to brain-storm ideas.

The search functionality within Evernote is second-to-none. If you've scanned in documents, the OCR capability for documents, means that when you search for something, Evernote won't only look at the notes that you've created, but also inside the documents (whether word or pdf). It will also search any text that's part of a photo.

This means, that even without the notebooks, if you're looking for something, then there is a very high probability of finding it just entering a key phrase or word.

This does mean that the number of results returned from this search could be daunting; and another reason why you could use the tagging functionality to help filter and focus on what you're looking for.

Evernote also has Templates; ideal if you’re using the same format for many notes.  When you start a new note, opt to use a template, and the screen will be pre-filled with tables, or format, for you to complete.  Great for agendas, or journal keeping or a telephone message pad etc.

Back to my speech… 

Google Sheets and Docs

Another HUGE part of planning a wedding is managing the finances!  Weddings aren't cheap and keeping tabs on the expenses is a must, to make sure you don’t go mad.  Of course, this is relevant for all things in life, not just weddings!!

I created a Google Sheet into which I added 4 columns.  The reason for the expenditure, the total expected cost, the deposit paid and the final column is a calculated value based on B-C (the expected cost minus the deposit paid).

Because this is a Google Sheet, I could share this with Karen, so she could also update the figures.

We also created the guest list and the table plan in Google Sheets.   We used Google Docs for some Reserved signs we wanted to put on some chairs.

Wrap Up

Planning a wedding is a lot of fun, and we’ve really worked as a team to make sure it’s going to be a day to remember.

Here’s a recap of the productivity tools we’ve used to help us.

Todoist and Reminders

Apple Calendar and Fantastical 2

Google Docs

Google Sheets

Evernote

Wedding Phrases

Whilst I was pulling the details of this episode together, I got to thinking about phrases to do with weddings.  The most common one, that I can tell, is to tie the knot.  

Where does that phrase come from?

There is a suggestion that this expression derives from the nets of knotted string which supported beds prior to the introduction of metal-sprung bedframes. The theory goes that, in order to make a marriage bed, you needed to 'tie the knot'. Like many such folk-etymological explanations, there's not a shred of evidence to support this idea.

It isn't clear whether this expression derives from an actual knot used in marriage ceremonies or whether the knot is merely symbolic of a lasting unity. Knots have a   place in the folklore of many cultures and usually symbolize unbreakable pledges. Actual knots have certainly been used in marriage ceremonies for some time and the tradition of trying the wrists of the bride and groom with twine continues today in marriages in the use of sashes which are placed over the principal's wrists. The word 'knot', although not in the phrase 'tie the knot', has been associated with marriage since at least the 13th century. The Legend of St. Katherine, circa 1225 used the Middle English 'cnotte', that is, 'knot', to mean 'the tie or bond of wedlock; the marriage or wedding knot’.

What about - Plight my troth.  A very old-English saying.

Troth is faithfulness, loyalty, honesty. Troth is not something you just trot out. It is something that is a commitment. It is something you plight. So the magic spell could be I promise you I will be true.

Other, more common, slang terms include Getting hitched and Getting spliced

Podcast of the Week

Before I finish, it’s time for “Podcast of the Week” - my weekly look at another podcast that you might find interesting / enjoyable.

I don’t normally do national radio podcasts; but one I listen to every day is from BBC Radio 2 - it’s the daily pop quiz, called Pop Master.

Hosted by Ken Bruce, this quiz is part of the weekday, mid-morning show, and pits two listeners against each other to get the highest score, to get the chance to win a digital radio.  The podcast splits this segment and presents it in a nice, roughly 15 minutes, episode.

As I said, I would normally promote an independent podcaster, but since this one is a lot of fun to listen to; especially as I try my best to answer as many questions as possible, then I thought I’d include it.

That’s Pop Master, from BBC Radio 2 - it’s available wherever you normally listen to you podcasts.

Thank You

And that’s it for another week.

I’m going to prepare to tie the knot and plight my troth!!  

I hope you’ve found this episode interesting.

If you have any questions about anything I’ve mentioned, or anything else, then please get in touch via Twitter @prodmatters

Please don’t forget to press the subscribe button in your podcast app of choice, then you’ll get a notification ding when a new episode has been released, so you won’t miss another episode.

Thank you very much for listening and until next time, remember, Productivity Matters.

Equipment I use to make my podcasts:

Blue Yeti Microphone - https://amzn.to/2R2am1N

Pop Filter - https://amzn.to/2OVMbQP

Professional Microphone Boom Arm - https://amzn.to/2P4EIio

Please help to support this podcast - click here to make a donation which will help me to keep creating great content.

It's very much appreciated.  Thank you.

If you purchase from these links then I may receive a commission.  This does not affect the price you will pay.  Thank you.