Have you played around with a lot of the AI tools? There are a lot of possible issues with the results from AI (such as entirely made up answers!!), so use these tools with a LOT of caution and only as one tool in your wheelhouse. Still, some that could be useful include the following — and I’d love to hear if you know of any other!

AI Tools That Could Be Useful at Work

Zoom Summary

Have you noticed that new little button on your Zoom dashboard, Summary? If you click that button from in-meeting controls at the beginning of your Zoom meeting, the meeting summary will begin to be generated, and participants will see a notification informing that the Meeting Summary is active. When the meeting has ended, the summary will be finalized and sent out.

(You do need a certain level of admin access to Zoom, but participants can request Summary… if an admin is not present on the call, an email will be sent.)

It can keep notes on what is said, consolidate ideas into different categories, and keep track of to-dos and follow up tasks, including who said they would do them.

At the moment it’s available for users as a free trial – here’s more info on the Zoom blog.

ChatPDF

Chat PDF promises to “extract information or answer questions from large PDF files like manuals, essays, books.” You can upload a PDF of ANY size and, apparently, in any language, and then ask the AI chatbot to answer questions based on that source PDF by citing and highlighting specific paragraphs.

For professionals, you could use this to do an initial assessment or help you pinpoint a section to look at of a manual, a book, a contract, a financial report, or more.

AudioPen

AudioPen “converts unstructured voice notes into text that’s easy to read and ready to share.” As they note, “if you like thinking out loud, you’ll love Audio Pen.”

You can draft articles, emails, messages, and more, just by talking. The program will consolidate ideas into categories or even an outline form — not necessarily in how you spoke about them, but how might make sense contextually.

On the free version, you get up to 3 minutes to talk, whereas on paid versions you can get more.

Readers, have you used any AI tools for work-related purposes? (Personal?) How are you using them, and what are your thoughts?

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What are your favorite browser extensions for productivity, readers? Which ones do you use personally or for work — and how do you use them?

(Which ARE your favorite browsers? I use Chrome about 90% of the time, but sometimes Microsoft Edge…)

I’ve mentioned a lot of my favorites before…

My Favorite Browser Extensions

OneTab

I am one of those people who frequently has too many tabs open, and OneTab is a really handy extension that closes ALL of them at once but keeps a list of the sites. So when I’m overwhelmed, trying to shut down quickly, or some combination thereof, I just click the little OneTab funnel and everything in that browser condenses down to one tab with a list of the URLs I was on.

One important thing to note: It only works per browser screen, so if you have multiple browser screens open with multiple tabs, then you have to click the OneTab funnel on each browser screen. (Yeah… don’t ask me how I know this.)

Do I go back to my old links? No, almost never. Would I have kept them all open if I hadn’t used OneTab, out of fear that I’d lose something important and irretrievable? Yup.

You can get OneTab here. I use the free version, but I think there’s a paid one also. You can also use OneTab to import or export a list of links, which I also do (see my notes on LinkGrabber, below).

Evernote

As I wrote in my post with tips on using Evernote as an online planner, I really like to use Evernote to clip articles and otherwise use it as a “digital brain.” I shared more Evernote tips for moms over on CorporetteMoms, as I find it really helpful for keeping track of all sorts of information for my kids, from where they are currently to things that will be far in the future.

I use it for articles (such as health-related research), helpful Facebook comment threads, notes from conversations/appointments, paperwork that I want to keep digitized, and more.

(I actually HAVE been in the middle of a conversation with someone and said “OH, wait, let me check those test results” (or whatever) that I’ve uploaded to Evernote. Even with low WiFi signal I’ve had better luck using Evernote for this sort of quick recall than the general medical health app or something else. (You could also use the iCloud Notes app for this, but I find Evernote to be a lot more robust.)

Morphine

I found Morphine when I switched to Chrome, because I had used something called Leechblock when Firefox was my preferred extension. I still use it, mostly to limit my time on sites where I get sucked in (cough, Facebook)…

As I wrote in my review of Morphine in the past:

The idea is that you only “earn” time with the URLs you put in Morphine after you’ve been using the computer for more productive purposes for a certain amount of time. Perfect.

I used to have it set to 1 minute of play time for every 10 minutes of work time, but that left me with far too many minutes in my bank — so I switched it to 1 minute of play time for every 60 minutes of work time.

That was a bit too little (I’ve decided I need at least 3 minutes to look at Facebook, even using the Social Fixer plugin, because when I try to sneak a peek for one minute, and inevitably try to refresh it for another minute more, it would take me at least 30 seconds to find my place scrolling down the page.

(Huh — I totally forgot about the Social Fixer plugin, which hides sponsored posts and more from FB… It looks like it was recently updated, so I may have to give that one another try since my Facebook feed is chock full of totally random “suggested for you” posts. I get enough memes on my own, thankyouverymuch… )

You can find out more about it here.

Library Extension

I turned Kate on to this one, and she wrote a Library Extension review. I love it as an easy way to remind myself to use the library. If there’s a book I want, it’s almost certain one of my libraries has the ebook or audiobook.

1Password

I just switched to this one after my longtime password program/browser extension, LastPass, had a zillion data breaches. After some relatively lazy research, I decided to give 1Password a try.

I do like 1Password, but some of the extra security is a bit annoying, like having to log in frequently on my own desktop, as is how difficult it is to set the program up on a new device.

(I may just switch to a master password that only uses my left hand so I don’t have to take my right hand off the mouse… for some reason that’s always what annoys me most when I try to open it up.)

You can learn more about it here.

LinkGrabber

This is probably only useful for me, but this extension can extract all of the URLs from a web page so you get a long list of them. I then use OneTab to import the URLs and do blog-related tasks, like checking links when I’m updating posts.

(I used to have a VA do this, but at the time my VA was based in the Philippines and a lot of the links that weren’t working for her were just fine for me.) You can get LinkGrabber here.

Browser Extensions I’ve Used and Liked in the Past…

I’ve just kind of gotten out of the habit of using these browser extensions, but I still like them…

• Forrest — great if you enjoy gamifying your focus… For me because a lot of the sites I legitimately go to for work (Nordstrom, Amazon, etc.) are also often distractions, it just didn’t work the best.
• Momentum — great if you like keeping to-dos right in front of you, because they open in new browser tabs! I somehow was accidentally paying for two subscriptions, and they were very nice to refund me the second one when I realized, and then I hadn’t been using either of them so I just stopped. I may go back eventually. Here was Kate’s Momentum review.

Readers, what are some of your favorite browsers — and which are the best browser extensions for productivity and focus?

The post What Are Your Favorite Browser Extensions for Productivity? appeared first on Corporette.com.

Here’s a slightly odd question for today: We’ve talked a lot about task-batching, how saving up similar tasks to do all at once can save time and preserve focus. So with the rise of the hybrid workweek, let’s talk: Are you saving some tasks to do at the office, and focusing on others when you’re WFH? (To what extent does face time or “looking busy” enter into this?)

For example, I could see someone being 100% devoted to internal company messaging while working from home in order to preserve the appearance that you’re engaged and actively working. I’ve even seen TikToks where people rig a system to move their mouse around so they maintain their green “online” dot.

Obviously I would save printing or reviewing physical documents for the office… I hate phone calls in general so I could see benefits to saving that for the office, both for a “not in my space” perspective as well as “If I’m talking about work then I’m clearly being productive” perspective.

{related: how to make the most of face time at the office (CorporetteMoms)}

How about you guys? What tasks do you save for the office, and what tasks do you prefer to do at home?

Stock photo via Deposit Photos / AndrewLozovyi.

The post What Tasks Do You Do at the Office vs WFH? appeared first on Corporette.com.

I was hunting for a way to create an automated shortcut to an Apple Note (still hunting) and stumbled on a bunch of other shortcuts that seemed like they would be great to share here… so I’ve rounded up some of the best Apple shortcuts to help you at work!

(Hopefully not a shortcut for work, but did you know that if you’re being pulled over you can say, “Siri, I’m getting pulled over,” and it triggers 18 separate actions, including a darkened screen but constant recording, sending a message with your location to a friend, and more? Business Insider and CNet both have more details.)

As Business Insider noted:

Shortcuts are one of the most underappreciated features for the iPhone and iPad. Using the Shortcuts app, you can automate common tasks and daisy chain apps to work together with a single command. Some shortcuts are immensely useful and can come in handy multiple times each week. Others can improve and simplify the experience of using your phone, making you wonder why you didn’t start using the shortcut much sooner. 

You can run shortcuts directly from the Shortcuts app, but it’s a lot more convenient to start them by voice with Siri or by adding your favorite shortcuts as widgets to the iPhone’s Home page. A few shortcuts are special cases and are best run from the Share page within the app where the shortcut is designed to work.

You can also check out Apple’s guide to shortcuts.

{related: how to get your iPhone alarm to play a playlist}

Note that you have to have the Shortcuts app installed; it’s been preinstalled on a lot of the newer phones. Speaking of, if you take a lot of pictures (of kids, pets, whatever) and haven’t upgraded to the 3-camera system like the ones in the stock photo above, you are missing out — it’s so, so much better than the old one.

Two other important notes: Every source advises to beware untrusted shortcuts, as you won’t be able to install them without installing something else. The other thing is that if you’re creating an automation (like my morning wake-up playlist) I like to check it immediately after creating it by setting an initial time about 5 minutes from now.

Apple Shortcuts to Help You During Your Workday (Whether You’re Remote or In the Office)

All links go to the shortcut, so this part might be easier to read on your iPhone, although there are more descriptions of what the shortcut does if you open it in Chrome. The links seem to be a little finicky — they all go to the correct place but you may get an error message at first; keep trying.

• Create a PDF out of anything: This is already super easy to do in the Notes app, but you can make it even easier by making it a shortcut.
• Create Meeting Note: This looks up the next meeting on your calendar and add a new note if you don’t already have one so that you can write down any thoughts or tasks.
• Reflect on the Day: Keep a record of what you accomplished for the day and set goals for the next day.
• Start My Next Meeting: Instead of shuffling through your phone trying to figure out where you put the invite for your last meeting, this one automatically connects to the next virtual meeting in your calendar, creates a new nope in the Notes app, and turns on DND for the duration of the meeting.
• Check Spelling: This app improves on autocorrect by checking your spelling and then offering you your entire message with corrected spelling so you can just copy and paste it.

{related: the best Siri hacks to boost your productivity}

Apple Shortcuts for When You’re In the Office…

• Remind Me at Work will allow you to remember something once you physically arrive at your workplace by displaying a note on your screen.
• DND Until I Leave automatically puts your phone on silent until you leave your current location. (You could also do this with an NFC tag, but I still have yet to explore that world!)
• Home ETA compares your current location with your home address and automatically texts the contact of your choosing what your Home ETA is.

Other Cool Apple Shortcuts to Make Your Life Easier

• Create a GIF with your camera: In addition to being super fun with friends, I could see this being useful for quick tutorials (especially of the “how to get to the right screen/setting” variety) for friends or coworkers.
• This SOS “Express DoorDash” one looks really cool and gives you an easy and discreet way to message a trusted contact info like your location, what you’re wearing, and more. (The app is now on iCloud!) (Here are some of our other favorite personal safety apps…)
• Shazam++ gives you a bevy of options after you Shazam a song, including sharing it or opening it in Spotify.
• Search GIPHY and share supposedly helps you find the perfect GIF in seconds to share with friends… we’ll see about that.

Where to Find More Shortcuts and Automations

If you click on the Shortcuts app, then “Gallery” (lower right hand corner), there are a ton of different suggestions. I also had a ton of Automation Suggestions just for me, one or two of which I adopted. (This is how I eventually set up an automation to open a specific note at a certain time repeatedly!)

I’ll post a screenshot from my Gallery page below. Some other good sources include these articles from Mashable, CNet, Business Insider — and of course there is an entire Reddit subforum for shortcuts. (Keep an eye on Lifehacker also — as of this writing they only had a list of the best widgets you can put on your home screen, one of the other big updates with iOS 14.)

Stock photo via Stencil.

The post Great Apple Shortcuts to Help You at Work appeared first on Corporette.com.

Kat told me about a Chrome plugin called Momentum recently, and I’m so glad she did, because it helps me throughout the day. (My general feeling about it is “Where have you been all my [working] life?”) According to the Chrome Web Store, 3,000,000+ people have downloaded it too.

This tool is pretty simple, but really effective. Whenever I open a new tab in Chrome, it shows me the time, a greeting, a daily nature image, the temperature, and most importantly, my to-do list. (See above screenshot.) The image above doesn’t include some features I turned off, including links, search, most visited sites, and a daily inspirational quote. There are also keyboard shortcuts, but I haven’t bothered with those.

{related: how to keep track of work to-dos}

The key benefit of using Momentum is that MANY times a day, I’m presented with my most important to-dos. They’re unavoidable! I usually leave a Momentum tab open all day, too.

It’s extremely easy to use the to-do list function– just type in your tasks (and rename if needed), rearrange them if you like, and click the boxes to check them off. The completed tasks (which are always motivating for me to see, but you can hide them) are removed at the end of the day.

You can upgrade to Plus ($39.95/year, $4.95/month) for many more features, including countdowns (for dates and deadlines), sounds, world clocks, and custom photos and quotes. You can also integrate Momentum with apps like Todoist, Trello, Basecamp, and Asana.

Update: Momentum is also available for iOS!

{related: how to manage your to-do list at work}

Readers, have you used Momentum? Are you liking any other productivity plug-ins right now?

The post Tool of the Trade: Momentum appeared first on Corporette.com.

What do you plan or prep in advance, either on the weekend, the night before, or another set time — and how does it help your productivity, goals, and so forth?

While I’m getting better at some things, I was looking back at an older post and realized how far I’ve fallen from a few years ago in other ways!

So I’m curious: What do you prepare or plan on the weekend or the night before, in terms of meals, work, workouts, and more? If you’ve changed your habits in the past year or two, such as because you work from home more, what has changed for the better, and what for the worse?

{related: why I love Atomic Habits}

How to Get in the Habit of Weekend Prepping (Food and More)

Readers have had great advice on this over the years. A few important points:

It doesn’t have to be Sunday night!

One reader noted that

I find that Sunday evening is way too late for me to do this. Too late to actually grocery shop or pivot. I like to do this Thursday morning before work. I review my calendar for the next week and my weekend plans, figure out my meals and order grocery delivery, figure out when on the weekend I can fit in some chores.

Another agreed, noting:

I do this on Friday afternoons, when for me, work is generally pretty slow. I make my task list for the next work week and make my grocery and errand lists for the weekends, look at my bank accounts, etc. My husband grocery shops on Sunday mornings so I will do meal prep on Sunday night. But trying to do all that on Sunday made me resentful that I was spending valuable relaxation time on the weekends on the “life admin” stuff. Lunchtime on Thursday or Friday might be another time to to do this kind of stuff.

{related: four ways to make the most of your evenings}

It helps to find your pain points.

For example, if you buy meat but then stick it in the freezer instead of portioning/cooking it, what extra steps can you take when you get home instead? I know I’m one of those people who if I bring home a rotisserie chicken I have to “process” the entire chicken immediately when I get home — I typically sit at our counter with a baking sheet in aluminum foil in front of me as well as a big glass container. All of the dark meat and some of the white meat goes onto the baking sheet for a meal that night, and the rest of the white meat goes into the big glass container. We often bake the dark meat immediately, but if we don’t we just fold up the aluminum foil into a little packet and refrigerate until mealtime.)

Similarly, if you’re one of those people who is constantly throwing out wilted/fuzzy vegetables, the weekend is a great time to clean out the fridge with a big soup, stir fry, or salad, or to assess what you can/must eat in the next day or two.

You can make it social!

One reader noted:

One of my girlfriends and I get together every Sunday to prep breakfasts/lunches for the week, and sometimes an extra snack or dinner. She’s not in the law, so having her over to chat about life/movies/etc. is incredibly relaxing for me, and we can get everything done in an hour or two so it’s super efficient. If we have time, we also try to fit in a walk or some sort of workout. It’s my weekly sanity check and I think it makes the whole week go more smoothly.

{related: body-doubling tips for productivity}

If meal prep isn’t your thing, you can still prep other things!

Some readers have noted that they prefer resting on Sundays and just “slapping together” whatever dinner comes to mind. I know when I was in Big Law I often ordered food at the office so much that meal prep wasn’t really a concern. Still, readers have had success with planning or prepping other tasks, including:

• Laundry
• Sheets
• Planning social engagements or workouts
• Picking outfits (I can’t find the link now but a reader blew my mind when she noted that she put together little “packets” of workout clothes with top, bottom, shorts, and undergarments, so she could just grab a pack in the morning and go. BRILLIANT!)
• Reviewing big work tasks
• Packing snacks for the week: When I was at the law office I typically loaded my purse or tote up on Monday morning with the snacks I planned to eat throughout the week, like those little nut packets.

{related: how to stay energized at work}

My $.02: What I Plan and Prep in Advance — and How I Could Be More Productive

Successes: What I Plan and Prep in Advance

I’ve happily gotten into a good habit with meal prep on Sundays, at least. I

• Pick out dinner recipes to make for the week (or at least hit the store for prepared meals).
• Defrost 3-5 lbs. of chicken to bake, grill, or shred (these often just become tacos for the kids, or if I reheat them for myself I’ll eat them with Dijon or I’ll add cheese, pepperoni, and pepperoncini on top of the chicken).
• Soak one bag of Rancho Gordo beans: We generally cook them slowly on Mondays, and then I just eat them with hot sauce throughout the week.
• If possible I try to prep at least a day or two of veggies, such as cutting, chopping, roasting, whatever. I could probably work some mason jar salads into my life.

{related: variety vs routine, and how “boring is productive”}

Every night before I head to bed I try to make sure I’ve

• Picked clothes to wear the next morning: I tend to put on workout clothes first thing, but finding the right top/short combination is somehow taxing for me in the morning.
• Packed lunches for the kids (and done a general check to make sure kids have clothes).
• Reviewed our schedules for the next day.

Departures: Ways I Want to Be More Productive on Weekends (Again)

I used to have really productive weekends for work, both pre-kids and in the Nap Years. Here’s what I said in a post a few years ago about how I turned my Sundays into “Super Mondays”:

For my $.02, when I was working in BigLaw I liked resting/playing on Saturday and coming into the office on Sunday for a few hours if I needed to do some work. Because I was well rested and there was no one else in the office (or, at least, vastly fewer people, and everyone was there to work), my focus was so much better — I used to call them “Super Mondays” because I was so productive.

These days, I often try to get at least half of the short morning and afternoon posts written for the week on Sunday afternoons, putting in a few hours of work while my youngest son naps. If at all possible I also try to write a to-do list of my tasks for the week ahead, and put papers to review on my desk so I can get some focused work done before turning on the computer — easier said than done when your business is online! 

Ooof. Well, part of my problem is that we lost the naps as the kids got older, so I lost that pocket of “me” time on the weekends, but as they’ve gotten older and needed less supervision, there’s no reason I can’t reclaim that “me” time and use it for work, or at least the personal to-dos I never seem to get done. (Totally fine that I’m wearing contacts from three prescriptions ago, right? Riiiight.)

{related: how to get out of a work from home slump}

How about you guys — what do you prepare or plan on the weekend or the night before? Do you have planned ways to be more productive with your partners where you sit down once a month to review things (budget, schedule, dates, social stuff, etc.)?

Stock photo via Stencil.

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