Team D rocks, our creativity and productivity flow has got to be A+ to back up our dreams. Here’s a roundup of our favourite apps for work and play.
Danielle LaPorte, Author + Speaker
Voice Memos: Record and email or text short audios
Voice Memos on the iPhone. This is my new thing with girlfriends. I’ve started to send Voice Memos back n’ forth with a bunch of my besties. I can record a Voice Memo while I’m waiting to board a plane, or have some time on my back deck, alone. Record. Text. Love! We’re having lots of laughs and baring our souls — as usual, but even more so.
I also make voice memos for my team when I’m just too bushed to type another word, or an email just won’t convey it. Super efficient. And… all of the MP3s of my blog posts? Yep — I just use Voice Memos. Easy breezy. For directions on how to make and send Voice Memos on Macs, CLICK HERE.
Just Press Record: The ultimate mobile audio recorder
It TRANSCRIBES immediately after your voice recording. And you can forward files. Game Changer.
Voice Dictation: Speak at your Mac gear instead of typing
I had an iPhone for three years before I realized what the itty bitty microphone icon on the bottom left of the keypad was for. Voice dictation revolutionized my communication productivity. I ramble out poems into Notes. I talk out gushy texts. Then I, gasp, discovered that my MacBook and iPad had the same itty bitty microphone function, and I started voicing out emails and blog posts. Heaven. For directions on the voice dictation tool for Macbooks, CLICK HERE.
Spotify: Curated music, playlists galore
I’m in deep like with Spotify. I get exposed to a lot of new music and old music that I forgot I loved. The playlists are sharply curated. My favourites (which accurately sum up my personality): not so guilty pleasures, seriously thankful, and sweet letting go.
Angie Wheeler, Creative Marketing + Strategy
Easy Spending: For budget tracking
This app is just what it says — easy! The interface is simple and gives me the information I need and no more. Easy spending helps me spend in a conscious way — last year it helped me cut my grocery budget by 30%!
Simple Note: For note taking and idea curating
I have been using Simple Note for 5 years now. I love this lightweight app — the simple and clean interface, the syncing across devices, and the tags and the reliability. I have tags for all the projects I am currently working on, for books I want to read, for ideas that are brewing, for inspiration I come across and more. It does not have all the bells and whistles that Evernote has, but its simplicity works for me.
Victoriya Bobbitt, President
Trello: Work collaboratively from all over the world
It is great for visual learners. I use it to outline product components before I map the tasks in Asana.
Google Keep: Save what’s on your mind
It syncs across all your devices and allows for easy on-the-go access to the information you need.
Evernote: Take notes, sync files across devices, and more
Evernote is one of my favourite apps to help boost my efficiency at work and in my personal life too. I love the way it allows me to quickly open a new note, capture thoughts, facts, or resources and save quickly. My Evernote notebooks include lists of interesting websites or digital resources, meeting notes, drafts of writing projects, notes related to course work, and much more.
Renee Masur, Desire Map Content + Community
ASANA: Help teams track their work + manage projects
Forever and always. Never forget anything ever again.
My Flo: The period app
I love this app because it tells me a bit about where I am in my cycle each month and how that affects my productivity, energy, and hormones for those few days.
Dee Bailey, Marketing + Communications Manager
Unroll.Me: Decluttering your inbox made easy
If you are like me, then your email might be filled with at least 40% of emails that you could do without. Unroll Me’s mass unsubscribe email tool gets you one swipe away from a cleaner inbox and is seriously efficient.
Viber: Make calls, send messages, and so much more (for free)
This app makes working with a team that lives around the globe a breeze. Free international texting + calling anytime. With video, picture messaging and so many emojis (cause emoji’s matter, right?).
Tracea Ahearn, Director of Operations
Calm: Brings clarity, joy and peace to your daily life
Great guided meditations and mood-based background music. But I mostly love it for the sleep stories that help you fall asleep then turn off your phone when they’re done.
Coffivity: Coffee shop white noise
Great for productivity and focus. Can run online or download to run it offline.
And then there’s our #1 team favourite: The Conversation Starters App. Because every time you truly connect with someone in conversation, your consciousness expands.
I’ve started a new list for Creatives & Career lovers. It’s called Hey! Fire Starter People! I mail out 2x a month. Simple. Hopefully useful. Try it out HERE.
PS: We’d love to hear about your favourite Apps! Meet us and other Fire Starter People! in The Fire Starter Sessions Facebook Group.
Danielle LaPorte is an invited member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100, a group who, in Oprah Winfrey’s words, “is uniquely connecting the world together with a spiritual energy that matters.” She is author of White Hot Truth: Clarity for keeping it real on your spiritual path—from one seeker to another. The Fire Starter Sessions, and The Desire Map: A Guide To Creating Goals With Soul—the book that has been translated into 8 languages, evolved into a yearly day planner system, a top 10 iTunes app, and an international workshop program with licensed facilitators in 15 countries.
Named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes, millions of visitors go to DanielleLaPorte.com every month for her daily #Truthbombs and what’s been called “the best place online for kickass spirituality.” A speaker, a poet, a painter, and a former business strategist and Washington-DC think tank exec, Entrepreneur Magazine calls Danielle, “equal parts poet and entrepreneurial badass…edgy, contrarian…loving and inspired.” Her charities of choice are Eve Ensler’s VDay: a global movement to end violence against women and girls, and charity: water, setting out to bring safe drinking water to everyone in the world. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her favourite philosopher, her son. You can find her @daniellelaporte and just about everywhere on social media.
