In honor of our fifth anniversary, we are doing lots of lists of fives. Since I’ve been traveling lately, my list today consists of things that are essential to being productive and keeping sane while on the road.
- RunKeeper was the first smart phone app I ever download it. It helped me train for a marathon in 2009 and a half marathon earlier this year. I love it at home, and it is especially useful on the road when I need to keep training but don’t have the ability to map out running routes in advance.
- Got to have my tunes. While Pandora is great for background music, iTunes is still my go-to for when I am wanting to get focused on my workout, plug in the headphones and decompress on a flight or for when I want to get my dance on at the end of a long day. Perhaps I’m a tad particular about my tunes. I want them to sound good even when I am away from home. The Bose Soundlink speaker provides excellent sound, is compact enough to add to my carry-on bag and is just cute as a button.
photo from bose.com - Skype on my phone. Yes, I can video conference back to the office. More importantly, I can see my boy’s sweet face when I’m having a travel-induced bout of missing him dearly. Also, since he still doesn’t have his own phone, Skype allows us to text when he might already be on a video call with his buddies.
- Notes on my iPhone is a particularly handy tool for things like having Siri type this blog post as I’m driving, providing a mobile to-do list and allowing me to capture funny quotes as I hear them. Notes can be shared via text and email, so longer content converts easily when needed.
- However, there is still nothing like a real notebook. I love paper. I love cute notebooks. I love a lot of products from Carolina Pad, and I along with the other members of the Clairemont team are particularly obsessed with this particular notebook. I love it in Clairemont pink, and we also have it in blue and green. Every time I’m in Walgreens I stock up on these knowing that they are a Clairemont favorite. It fits perfectly in my bag with my MacBook and never runs out of battery power.
Can I get a high-five for staying productive while on the go? What are your favorite productivity tools, apps and products that get you through your day?