There’s an app for that!

The App Success vs. Excess

Apps, Apps, and more. Open the App store and there are Apps galore. Everything ranging from business to games, from tools to tricks, from usefulness to uselessness. It seems like there is an app for anything and everything related to digital technology. But there isn’t just one app for one particular task; there is a plethora of apps for each subject. For instance, as of August 2013 there were 2,883 ‘to-do-list’ apps. While I’m happy about all the available choices and innovation that arises from the competition, in all reality, each of us only need one ‘to-do-list’ application. When we only need one app and we have a multitude of them, not only available to us, but actually on our electronic devices, the problem becomes clear; we are living in an age of app excess. For many, app excess adds to the daily ‘noise’ by creating more visual clutter and bombarding us with unnecessary notifications.

Social networking is a perfect example. Today there are many social networking sights and applications, but there are only a few platforms that almost everybody uses. On these sights many people want to reach a vast audience with a certain product or message. Others want to create the next Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. But the same problem arises with social networking apps as they do with ‘to-do-list’ apps; that is, the more diversified the options, the more difficult it becomes for a person to be effective across those several platforms. Think about it, no one person can be across hundreds of platforms and be effective. They wouldn’t be able to effectively keep up with their updates or notifications.

Since having more apps means having more tasks, and having more tasks means having more problems, one viable solution is to turn down the ‘noise’. For suggestions on how to turn down the noise read my article here: (Aaron Link the article here!). Other solutions to living in app excess are:

· Recognizing the tools that will make you more effective and productive.

· Finding and keeping the apps that work for you while discarding the ones that don’t.

· Limiting the different streams of information and distractions to increase your productivity.

· Minimize visual clutter by removing unnecessary phone apps and desktop icons. Remember; “Out of sight, out of mind”.

In an ever changing pool of apps, along with subjective preferences, there is no way to determine the “best app” for a particular subject. There is only the best app for you. The best app for you is the one that suits your preferences and helps make you the most productive person you can be. Lastly, don’t spend too much time on finding that perfect app, because at most applications can only organize and prioritize the tasks that you need to accomplish. Remember, they cannot do your work or solve your problems… Too bad there’s not an app for that.

Aaron Boerger, CEO of DVI360, believes in effectiveness through minimalism. Follow him on the Twitter @aaronboerger.