Key Ways to Automate Personal Organization and Productivity

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Time is a lot like money — it is very easy to fritter it away, bit by bit. Just like with your financial spending, every little thing you do on a day-to-day basis adds up and ultimately takes away from your free time. Fortunately, thanks to technology, there are a number of mundane regular tasks and things that must be organized that we can delegate to automation; in turn, this will free up more of our valuable time. For example, check out the following ideas:

How to Decide What Can Be Automated

While you might want to automate everything possible in order to save time, it’s best to start with processes that you truly understand from start to finish and are normally able to manage pretty efficiently. It is also best to automate tasks that don’t require a touch of human finesse to finish; for example, while  there are plenty of apps that will remind you when your car is due for service, when it comes to actually making the appointment, it is probably better for you to call and explain any issues the car is having, as opposed to having the app automatically schedule it.

Bill Paying

Using automation to take care of at least some of your bills is probably one of the easiest and greatest ways to use this type of technology. You will no longer have to spend valuable time and money writing checks, buying stamps and taking the envelopes to the post office. Most banks now offer free online bill paying services that you can use to pay recurring bills automatically; check with your local branch and set up as many bills as you can. You can also usually set up this service with each provider — for example, contact your electric, water and car company to set up the payments. Another major bonus of this tip is that you will ultimately save money because you will never miss a payment and get dinged with a huge late fee.

Automate Your Home and Some Chores

All of the times you get up to turn off a light, adjust the thermostat and switch on the security system will add up to many minutes a day. Smart home systems will allow you to automate all of these systems. A smart thermostat can be programmed to turn down the heat while you and your family are away at home and school, and crank back up to a cozy level shortly before you all return. Lights can be programmed to turn on and off by themselves with a smart timer, and even some housework, like vacuuming, can be delegated to a robotic vacuum like a Roomba that can be programmed to run at certain times.

Use Artificial Intelligence/AI to Your Advantage

While we might not be ready to hand over all of our tasks to robots, artificial intelligence is definitely becoming more mainstream, and it can be used to help make our everyday lives streamlined and organized. For example, the Qualcomm AI platform is designed to make a number of devices smarter by adapting to users and their environment. This boost in awareness can make smartphones more productive and less time consuming for us to use; for instance, Snapdragon mobile platforms can make batteries run more efficiently — thus saving us from having to recharge our devices throughout the day — which allows us to do other tasks more efficiently.

Once you have automated a few tasks in your daily life, you will probably be on the lookout for other things you can turn over to technology. This will free up even more of your personal time to spend with friends and family instead of day to day drudge work.