Below are some things I use in everyday life that have made life so much more productive & so much easier! I’d recommend checking out everything I’ve listed.

If you’re aware of other things that could simplify my life of make it more productive, please leave your recommendations in the comment section!

Google Reader – Ever feel like there is way too much to read? Too many blogs, to many news articles, etc.? Google reader allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds and have all of your favorite news articles, blogs, etc. in one central place for you to read. If you’re not currently using this, you need to check it out!

Evernote – I just recently started using this, it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite things in the world. It’s a place where you can draft, edit, organize, and file text documents, audio files, pictures, and pretty much anything else you can imagine! You’re able to organize everything by Tags and Notebooks. I’d highly recommend looking into this and all the things you’re able to do with it!

Hootsuite – This is where I take care of my social networking updates. It allows you to schedule Tweets/Facebook updates in advance. You can schedule updates as far out in advance as you’d like, so you don’t have to waste time during the day thinking of what to say, etc. There are plenty of other benefits, but I’d recommend using this tool!

IMapMyRide - If you’re a walker, runner, or a biker, you need to get this app or use this website. It will track all of your workouts, map out your runs, keep your heart rate, allow you to listen to your ipod while working out, and even has voice updates that tell you how far you’ve gone, etc. This makes working out so much more fun!

Tap & Track - This is what I use to track all of my calories. It’s only for the iPhone, but it’s so convenient! You can find pretty much any restaurants nutritional info in this app, pretty much any food from the grocery store, and what you can’t find, you can add. If you’re watching what you eat, this is a necessity! I love it!

Mint.com – The best free way to track all of your finances. This will create reports for you based on your spending, allow you to make financial goals, give you options as to where you’re money could be making more money for you, etc.

YouVersion – This is free online Bible software. By far the best out there! Want to read the Bible through in a year? No problem – YouVersion provides a ton of reading plans for you to choose from. They will track your progress, allow you to tag and make notes with the scriptures, share verses, and allow you to read any version you want. There are mobile versions available! Get in the Word!

iPhone – This goes without saying, but the iPhone has made life so much easier. All of the things I’ve listed above are all available on my phone. If you have one, I bet you’d agree that you can’t really remember what life was like when you didn’t have one! I don’t care what anybody says, no other phone comes close to the iPhone. I’d recommend getting one, it’s worth it.

Google Analytics - Want to track traffic for your website? This is the best way! You’ll be able to find out pretty much anything you want to about who comes to your website, how many times, what they look at, etc. This is very helpful to see whether or not your website is effective, what articles interest people, etc. If you have a website and you’re not using this, you need to be.

Google Apps -  I use this to e-mail my ministry teams, share documents with them, share to do lists with them, create online sign-ups and track them, share calendars, have online team meetings, etc. I’d highly recommend getting your organization hooked up with the apps, especially if you’re a non-profit!

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I love the iPhone so I thought I’d share some of my favorite apps, in hopes that you’ll share yours with me! Here they are:

Awesome Note - I just got this one recently! I track my to-do’s on this as well as use it for taking notes in meetings, in church, etc. I love the filing system it has in it as well!

Holy Bible – I love this app by Lifechurch.tv! It’s free and you can read any version you want! I use YouVersion for my devotions, you can follow several different Bible Reading plans with this app. A must have!

Mint.Com - I use mint.com to track all of my finances! I absolutely love it. The iphone app just shows you the summaries of what you’ve spent and have coming in, and will alert you when bills are coming up or your checking account is low.

Facebook- This one is pretty obvious…

PS Mobile - Photoshop for the iphone! Awesome for editing pictures!

Echofon - My twitter app of choice for the iPhone.

X3Watch – You have to have accountability even on your phone these days! This is a browser that will e-mail my accountability partners if I look at any sites I shouldn’t be looking at. A must have!

TwitVid – Uploads videos to Twitter from your phone! Love it!

ImapMyRide – I love this app for when I go running! It keeps track of everything – pace, distance, etc. It records you’re route on a map, records all of your runs, allows you to listen to your ipod while running…I could go on and on! A must have for runners, bikers, walkers…

Analytics Pro - I use google analytics to track my traffic on my websites. I got this at the recommendation of Michael Hyatt. I absolutely love it – it’s better than using Analytics on my computer.

Google - Quick links to all of my Google Apps! I mainly use this for Google Reader!

Flixster - I’m a big movie buff! This shows you whats playing, trailors, upcoming movies, and tons of other things!

Around Me - I love this app for when I travel. Pull it up, click on coffee shops, and itll show you every coffee shop within a mile of you, grocery shops, restaurants, etc.

Sportstacular – My sports app of choice. It has everything I need – live scores and standings! Love it!

What are some of your favorite apps? What apps do I need to download?

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¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. – Colossians 3:17

Yesterday I covered how Social Media could ruin your life, today I want to focus on how it could benefit your life, in addition to changing the world.

Social Media Can Inspire the World – People often downplay tweeting inspirational quotes – does it really matter? Well, all quotes can do is inspire someone. When the inspiration turns to action – it makes a huge difference. My take: inspire as often as possible – you never know who you’re inspiring and what will happen if they act on that inspiration.

Social Media Can Encourage the World- Everybody needs encouragement. Social media provides an avenue to encourage everyone often.  Encourage everybody you can!

Social Media Makes the World a Better Place – Again, it comes down to who is using it. But what if we’re always encouraging and inspiring people with what we do through social media? You can’t tell me the world wouldn’t be a better place!

Social Media Can Expand Your Influence – You have an opportunity to build your reputation and increase your influence for good or bad with everything you do through social media. Build a great platform – I recommend reading Michael Hyatt’s Blog – he is a master at this. He posted about building your online platform here.

Social Media Can Cause Your Product or Business to Thrive - If you’re consistent and continue to provide products, ideas, inspiration, and encouragement that will benefit others, word will spread and you’ll benefit.

Social Media Can Spread Your Message around the World - What are you passionate about? What is the one message you want to communicate to the world? For me, I want people to know that the best life they could ever live is passionately living for God everyday. Everything I do is to spread that message. If it’s a message worth spreading, it will get around!

What am I missing? What other ways are social media beneficial?

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¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. – Colossians 3:17

Yesterday I said that social media is like money, it’s neutral. Whether or not the use of it will result in a positive or negative outcome is entirely up to the user. Today I want to focus on the negative aspect of social media. Here are my thoughts:

You Could Waste Your Life - How much time do you spend on Facebook? How much time do you spend on other people’s pages wishing you were them, could date them, had as many friends as them? How much time do you spend building a reputation online that isn’t even close to what your real life is? Just some thoughts…

You Could Destroy Your Reputation – Ultimately – this really comes down to how you live your life on a daily basis. If you don’t live a life of integrity and make unwise decisions, most likely whether it’s through pictures or people talking through social media, the entire world is going to find out, and what’s worse, once it’s out there, you can’t get it back.

You Could Miss Out on Your Dream Job - Resume’s are boring -> companies would rather google you.  What does Google say about you? Twitter? Your Facebook account? Your pictures? Social media will tell more about you than a resume ever will. If you were an employer and you saw your pictures or googled your name, would you hire you?

You Could Destroy Relationships - There is danger in how connected we can be through social media. Married people  could connect with lovers from high school, you can send love messages to people who are in a relationship and see if they’ll leave who their with to be with you… Basically: it’s a place that could lead to some very bad decisions if you don’t have boundaries in place or apply wisdom.

It Could Kill Your Business, Church, Organization - How often do you check what people said about a product or restaurant before you bought it or visited? When people visit your business, church, or organization, they will talk about  it. They will talk about it online and over time, the more people that talk, the more your companies reputation is effected through viral marketing of your customers. It’s either going to be good or bad, if it’s bad and you don’t do anything to change that… you’re not going to last very long.

These are just a few ways social media could ruin your life…..What am I missing?

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¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. – Colossians 3:17

I feel like this question comes up a lot. Is Blogging, Twitter, and Facebook a waste of time? Does it really make a difference? Does Tweeting inspiring quotes really have the ability to change someones life? I’ve asked myself this hundreds of times. My conclusion – Yes. It can make a huge difference.

Using social media could get you a job, get you fired, enhance your life or ruin it, connect you with the past, push you into the future, get you noticed or ignored, get you connected with a future spouse, or cause you to have an affair that ends in a divorce, ruin your reputation forever, allow you to waste your life, or allow you to influence millions of people and change the world.

The Catch? It’s entirely up to you. Social media is like money, it’s neutral, neither good nor evil. How a person uses social media will determine whether or not it will be good them.

I want to take a few days and talk about what I’ve learned through this “Revolution” and hopefully by the end, you’ll take what you’ve learned and make an even bigger difference in the world.

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If you would have asked me 3 months ago about the Kindle, I would have told you, “It might be cool, but I love actual books. I like the feel, I enjoy highlighting, and building my library.” Then 2 of my friends got them and got hooked, so I started looking into e-readers. After my research and talking to my friends, I decided I’d get one, and actually ended up getting one as a gift for Christmas. Here are my thoughts on the Kindle so far:

1.) It is very Convenient – No more packing 3-4 books in my computer case when I travel and no more going to book stores to buy books. It’s a great size and you can order practically any book you want and have it ready to read in seconds.

2.) Filing is Easy - Highlighting takes less time than it would in a actual book. The Kindle automatically takes all your highlights and saves them into a file called my clippings. When you plug it into your computer, you just open the file, and copy and paste your highlights into a word document.

3.) Battery Life – One charge will last for days – rarely have to worry about recharging it.

4.) Ability to Read Faster- After talking it over with my friends, we all believer we’re able to read faster with the Kindle.

5.) The Dictionary - The Kindle has a dictionary built into it, just point the cursor to a word and it’s definition automatically comes up. This will definitely help me expand my vocabulary.

6.) The Options – You can choose your font size, have it read to you audibly, make notes throughout the book, and a few other options.

7.) The E-Ink Screen - At first I thought it was lame that the Kindle didn’t have a color or touch screen. Someone explained to me that the reasoning behind it was to make it easier on your eyes so you can read as long as you want. I don’t enjoy reading on my computer or iphone that much, but I can read the Kindle for hours without any irritation.

8.) The Kindle is Redefining my Library - I literally am going to take my library and rip all the pages out of the books that I’d like to file, and then chuck them. Books will soon be a thing of the past, whether you like it or not.

Unless I have to for a class, I won’t go back to regular books, ever again! I love the Kindle and love the potential e-readers have for the future of everything we read.

Kindle Grade: 9/10  Buy it Here

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