Honestly, I have failed all too often at doing that.

Imagine planning that big weekend with friends and finding the perfect rental to crash at, only to have members of that once big party drop out due to the difficulty of paying people back. Nobody wants to go to the bank, and our generation does not carry a checkbook. Hell, I can’t remember the last time I wrote a check for anything.

You could head to the bank (gross). You could shake the couch cushions (sometimes). You could even resort to breaking that piggy bank (don’t even think about it).

Instead, turn to tech. There have been apps in the past, but many have failed to take into account user experience and security, both of which are all too important. And let’s be honest – in this day and age, security and trustworthiness is big deal. There needs to be a better way to get the weekend planned, or the meal paid for, and ultimately have everyone’s money going to the right place. A secure, trusting way,

And there is. Now there is no financial excuse to miss out on that big weekend, dinner out, or even just paying what you owe a friend. Square, Inc., the startup that disrupted the small business payment industry recently released an app to instantly and freely share money from person to person. And with the ability to connect Apple Pay to the Square Cash App, it’s just plain easy. Now that is something I can get behind, even if it does mean I actually have to pay my share of the bill.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Square, Inc. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Split Your Checks the Modern Way with Square Cash appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

I asked my roommates if they had any tricks, and one suggested I check out the application Forest to supplement my attention discipline. He even went so far as to state that the success he had achieved on his most recent O-Chem test he could largely attribute to the app instilling concentrated periods of studying in him. Obviously I was fascinated, and checked it out immediately.

Forest goes back to the basics – rather than organizing your tasks through some efficiency algorithm, or feeding you self help tips that you already know, Forest simply asks you to set a timer, with the button “Plant” to initiate the timer. A seed on your phone screen appears, and begins to grow into a a tree, its final size corresponding with how long you’ve set your timer for (between 0 & 120 minutes). If you exit the application before the tree has finished growing, and let yourself be distracted, your tree dies and you must begin growth anew. This makes for a simple and incredibly effective tool for when you really have to buckle down. A quick glance over at your phone and now the idea of killing the tree, and your progress, isn’t worth checking for that Snapchat update – you’re in it to win it and that means staying focused.

The number of trees, and types of trees (different trees corresponding with different periods of time) are tracked and presented in a calendar. Your successfully completed time periods can be viewed in the form of day, week, and month breakdowns, and show the forest you’ve grown. I sincerely recommend this application for anyone who lacks discipline when it comes to their mobile device and remaining connected. Whether you’ve got an O-Chem test or are running a hedge fund, this is a forest that helps you grow your productivity.

The post The Forest App Grows Your Productivity appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.