[3-minute read]
News, social media, and communication apps have us in a tight grip. Over 300 billion emails are sent every day, and that’s just one method of how we share information with each other. Constantly connected, we seem to be more disengaged and stressed than ever. As we begin to round off another year, we’ve collected ten apps and programmes to help you regain a sense of balance in your personal and work life.
Headspace
“Be kind to your mind.” So goes Headspace’s tagline. With jarring simplicity, Headspace presents an arsenal of digital tools designed to help you become a happier, healthier person. From meditation prompts to guidance on how to live more mindfully, Headspace is rich with compassionate strategies to lead you into a more wholesome place.
Try it for 14 days free here.
Headspace for Work
As the digital world becomes increasingly knitted with reality, it’s important to bring values of mindfulness, compassion, and reflective thinking into the workspace too. For that, Headspace for Work centres on cultivating healthier teams. Track impact and progress with the tool’s dashboard, and partner with your employees to build a balanced work experience together.
Learn more about Headspace for Work here.
Calm for Business
Like Headspace, Calm is also designed to help people find more serenity that’s grounded in science and practical guidance. With Calm for Business, build more resilient teams by promoting better sleep and reducing levels of stress and anxiety. Studded with resources and engaging material, Calm for Business is equipped to see your teams succeed.
Get started here.
MindDoc
It’s suggested that we have more than 6 000 thoughts a day. That’s a lot of opportunity to either tell yourself a bad story about your day, or a good one. With the overexposure of information, connection, and stimulation embedded into our daily experience, it’s easy to feel down about the state of the world and our place in it. MindDoc provides a safe, secure, and helpful place to take note of thought patterns, keep a journal, and answer questions about how you’re feeling. By tracking your mood and feelings over time, MindDoc will supply you with an overview of your emotional health, identifying areas that could be worked on, and providing the resources to do so.
Try it for free on the App Store or Google Play.
Asana
At work, there’s a lot on the go every day. Especially in a team, it helps to have somewhere to store all collaborative and personal tasks, making it easy to see who’s doing what when. Asana is an excellent resource for project management, giving team members flexibility and clarity on what their tasks are, when they’re due, and which files they need to get the job done. Cut out the back and forth and keep everything that’s relevant exactly where it needs to be: easily accessible.
Try out their free plan here.
Elevate
With all the time we spend on our phones, it’s easy to think that we’re actually learning something. That’s often not the case (scrolled yourself silly on Instagram recently?). Elevate will train your brain with educational games that upskill you wherever you are, for free. Voted Apple’s App of the Year, Elevate provides a digital space that’s actually beneficial.
Find it on the App Store or Google Play.
Freedom
We’ve all been there: check an email, click to respond, see a notification pop up, click on that, remember that you haven’t been on Instagram for a while, open that up, scroll scroll scroll, buy a pair of jeans… Suddenly, 30 minutes have gone by and Cindy still doesn’t have those documents you said you’d send. With Freedom, take control of your time and your capacity by blocking apps and websites you don’t need to be on during work hours. Sync across devices to make sure that you’re well and truly only able to focus on one thing at a time.
Get started for free here.
Space
Space takes Freedom’s aim onto a more pyscho-analytic level: why is it that we spend so much time on our phones, and what’s feeding the intensity of our inability to disconnect from the digital world? In short – why are we addicted to our phones? With Space, set goals to manage your phone habits, compare your behaviour with others, and access the resources that will help you refine your approach to screen time.
Get it on the Apple Store, Google Play, or the chrome web store.
Space for Business
Similarly to Calm and Headspace, Space has designed an offering tailored to work. Space and Shine Offline have partnered to create SPACE2SHINE, designed to encourage a healthy relationship between employees and technology with sustainable, long-term behavioural change at the centre.
Make an inquiry about it here.
Podcasts
Give your eyes a break and put your ears to work with podcasts. Beautifully produced, wildly imaginative, and vast, the landscape (soundscape?) of podcasts has transformed how we listen to and digest stories. From educational to comical, there is something for everyone.
Like any tool, technology can be helpful if used well. From meditation to mental maths, there are many ways to regain and maintain balance with the right apps. As you barrel ahead to the end of the year, use the recommendations here to carve out space for reflection and rest.
Did you learn something from this quick read? Would you like us to explore some of these digital tools in more detail? Tell us on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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