Organize Your Apps to Improve Your Well-being
By: Mindy Pierce
Tags: Organization, Wellness Tips, Life Lessons, Technology, Wellbeing

Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash

We can’t get away from technology. Nor do we want to. But, more stories come out every day about how it’s affecting our personal well-being. From disturbing our sleep (scrolling before bed) to increasing stress (checking work email on vacation) to building insecurities (ahh, the social media “perfect life” dilemma) to shopping at our fingertips (a flash sale!), we. are. bombarded. But that doesn’t mean we have to give up our connectivity in order to achieve a better level of personal well-being. What we can do is organize our apps to help us focus on what is important. Let’s make this easy — we’ll segment your well-being into 5 categories: Physical, Emotional, Social, Professional, and Financial.

Physical

Your physical well-being, from exercise to blood pressure, is usually what people think of first when it comes to health. How often are you working out? What are you eating? What medication are you taking? I’m sure you have goals coming out of the wazoo in this category — from fitness to health. Apps that belong in this category: MyFitnessPal, Aaptiv, Strava, Exercise Timer, Nike, Peloton, or the new Apple Fitness+.

Emotional

Your mental well-being is one of the most important things you can focus on. Whether you need to de-stress, want to attempt meditation, or just take a break, put your apps like Headspace, Calm, or Breethe here. My daughter loves Moshi, so I have hers in this category, too.

Social

If this folder is the biggest of all, you know you need a folder. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Pinterest, Twitter, GroupMe, Snapchat, Houseparty, Marco Polo, dating apps, news apps — you get it. If it’s social, it belongs here.

Professional

Maybe you’re looking for a new job, or perhaps hoping to hone your skills in something new. Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Udemy, and Business Insider are a few you can pop into this category. Maybe your job has specific apps, like Workday, Slack, Zoom, Office 365, Trello, or others. Put them all here.

Financial

Online banking is better than ever these days. Putting all of the tools at your fingertips, including any apps you may use to look for deals, like Woot or Retail Me Not. Interested in investing? Put Ellevest, Robinhood, Public, Stash or Diversyfund here.

Putting the things that matter front and center

If your goal is to decrease your social media time, take your “Social” app folder off of your home screen. Replace it with “Emotional” if you are hoping to bring some balance into your life.

Maybe you frequent a good ol’ fashioned website that doesn’t have an app yet but is mobile-responsive (meaning it adjusts to the size of your screen depending on your device). Click on the menu dots on the browser, then select “Add to Home Screen.” It then becomes an icon like an app. Drag that site into the appropriate well-being category.

Doing this work is kind of like cleaning out your overly-stuffed inbox: seemingly overwhelming, but it’s worth the time. Oh, and while you’re at it, turn off unnecessary notifications. Your well-being will thank you.