Technology has been simplifying and enriching lives around the world for decades, from the internet fostering widespread and instantaneous communication to wearable devices allowing you to track every meaningful aspect of your life. Many tech gadgets exist that, beyond their application to your personal life, can also be extremely useful in a work context. From enabling you to track your fitness to reminding you to close your garage door, here are some cool tech devices that will enhance your professional life.
Smartwatches
Whether you want the simple but efficient functionality of the Pebble smartwatch or the all-in-one toolkit of an Android Wear or Apple Watch device, a smartwatch can be a great way to reduce your dependency on your smartphone at work. Phones tend to be huge sources of distraction and can lead to lost productivity. You can set which notifications reach your phone, allowing for only important emails or messages and blocking distractions like Facebook and Twitter. Having a device on your wrist that will allow you to quickly glance at any notification that hits your phone without having to pull out a potential distraction source is a great way to focus on what matters most - your work at hand.
Fitness trackers
One of the most unhealthy parts of office life is lack of mobility. At the end of your next workday, take the time to think about how much of your day was spent sitting in front of your computer and how much was spent standing and walking around. There’s a reason why scientists and doctors are calling sitting a disease - overdoing it increases risks of diabetes, heart disease, and premature death. Having a fitness tracker like a Fitbit, Jawbone, or Misfit will allow you to take control of your office fitness by allowing you to set activity goals and reminding you to get up and walk around every once in a while.
It might sound counterintuitive to say that you should be walking around or standing more. After all, if your job is centered around a computer workstation, that’s usually where you’ll get the most work done. But there are productive activities you can do while walking around, such as brainstorming through some of the tough problems you’ve been struggling at your desk or decompressing from a long, stressful, high-focus task. A fitness tracker will remind you to get up off your seat. How you use that time is up to you.
Smart home devices
Forgot to close your garage door in the morning? Or maybe you left the air conditioning or heater running and you’re worried about the gas and electric bills at the end of the month. Small things like this tend to add up to a lot of stress at work. Just when you need to focus most on your work, you might find yourself getting frustrated or anxious about something you forgot to do in your morning routine.
With modern smart home technology, you no longer have to stress out and worry about forgetting small but important things at home. There are a ton of devices that will allow you to control your home right from your smartphone or computer. Nest Thermostats will allow you to turn your heating or AC off remotely (and set them to turn on just as you leave work!). Forgot to lock your door, or left your key at home? An August Smart Lock eliminates the need for keys by letting you lock or unlock your door from your smartphone, wherever you may be. If you left the garage door open, Garagio enables you to close it from anywhere in the world.
A smart device exists for most home tasks, and combining the functionality of each device will allow you to automate your home and avoid unneeded stress at work.
Sleep monitors
Got a tough time sleeping? It might be resulting in a lot of problems at work. Not getting a good night’s rest could be draining your energy on the job, leaving you working below peak efficiency every day. There are ways for you to adjust certain behavior, such as when you go to sleep, what you do before you go to bed, and what you eat during the day that could help you sleep better and get more rest at night. However, without proper data about the quality of your sleep, it won’t be easy to know what works and what doesn’t.
To help, there are a slew of sleep tracking devices that can help you gather crucial information about your night’s sleep. Fitness trackers like Fitbit and Jawbone also serve as sleep trackers, but if you want something dedicated and highly accurate, you can try Beddit, which tracks your heart rate and breathing as you sleep and gives you data on how deep your sleep is. Use these gadgets to help you analyze your nightly sleeping patterns, make the changes you need to increase the quality of your rest, and be more awake and alert on the job.
Smart backpacks
If you’re an on-the-go professional, you may often find it difficult to keep your laptop, tablet, smartphone, and other devices charged outside the office. This can often prevent you from operating at peak efficiency, and the frustration of a low battery can only add stress to your day. Fiddling with multiple cords, struggling to find outlets at the airport or in a coffee shop, and even not having the right power adapters in a foreign country can put you in a tight spot, especially if you need to respond to a work emergency while away from the office.
That’s where smart backpacks come in. These are backpacks with built-in battery packs and charging ports, allowing you to plug all your devices into a single power source that will last you the whole day. Smart backpacks from providers like TYTL and AMPL will ensure that you always have your devices charged up and ready to go, whether you’re freelancing from a coffee shop, taking a flight for a business trip, or spending the day working outdoors. And the best part is, they’re light and comfortable, allowing you to carry everything you need without struggling.