PRODUCTIVITY
3 Apps to Make You the Smartest Person in the Room
With minimum daily time commitments
We have all been guilty of doomscrolling at least once a day, mindlessly scrolling through a mix of negative news and random social media content that leaves us feeling drained and anxious. To top it off, this habit often steals precious time and energy that could be better spent on more fulfilling activities.
By shifting your focus from mindless scrolling to intentional actions, you can cultivate habits that not only enhance your well-being but also set you apart as a more insightful and engaged individual. Let’s look at some of the apps that allow you to do just that, helping you transform your daily routine into a powerful tool for personal growth and development.
1. AcceleratEd
Non-fiction books pack a lot of information related to career, personality development, finance, etc but I do not like how they repeat the same message across 300 pages to drive home the point. This is where AcceleratEd shines. It contains 8000+ (at the time of writing) popular non-fiction books, magazines, and news journals — across genres like self-growth, mindfulness, business, tech, etc — all condensed into neat little key ideas (think of them like chapters) which can be read or listened to. They also have curated collections such as NY Times Bestsellers, Noble Prize Winners, Bill Gates recommendations, etc, for times when you don’t know where to begin reading.
As with other apps in the same category, you get one free book a day which worked well for me in the beginning. However, given each book takes max 20 mins to finish, I switched to avail their lifetime subscription offer. Speaking of cost, it is also the cheapest of the apps in this category.
In terms of features, the two standouts for me were the instant insights and book requests. The former is a concise one-paragraph summary designed to entice readers and encourage them to explore the book further. The latter allows you to request up to 3 non-fiction books per month which are not currently in their catalogue. So, if you are reading Thinking Fast and Slow in AcceleratEd, you can thank me.
2. Podurama
As part of my day-to-day, I engage a lot in external speaking events, and one area where I see room for improvement is spontaneity. It’s a skill that definitely improves with practice, and listening to podcasts helps sharpen my ability to think on my feet and respond more naturally in the moment. With hosts presenting diverse viewpoints on important, emerging topics across various fields in a dynamic and engaging way, podcasts offer a valuable opportunity to gain insights from their personal experiences.
For me, the biggest challenge in this area has been discovering fresh content, which often prompts me to seek out the latest episodes of my favorite podcasts. Podurama has been incredibly helpful in this regard with their 30-second trailer feature that allows me to sample a podcast episode before fully committing to an hour-long audio session. They also have the auto chapters feature which breaks down lengthy audios into bite-sized, easily digestible segments, complete with concise summaries for each segment. The added benefit is that each segment has the associated timestamp so you can seamlessly jump to specific segments in the audio player.
3. Vocabulary
Who doesn’t want to sound polished in their daily interactions! Vocabulary, as the name suggests, is a great tool for anyone looking to choose their words wisely in daily and business interactions. Each word comes with clear definitions, pronunciations, and examples that help you understand its meaning and use it confidently in your own conversations.
You can mark words as favourite so you can go over them again and again as a way to learn. You can choose the difficulty level, which is ideal for me as I prefer advanced options that other apps don’t provide. Although some advanced words could be more challenging, the app doesn’t have a thumbs-down feature to exclude similar words in the future.
And there you have it. Three apps to make you the most interesting person in the room — armed with an impressive vocab, intriguing facts on current topics, and insights from thought-provoking books. The best part? You can start at your own pace, with time commitments far less than what the average person spends on social media.
Happy Learning 🚀
