Life can be overwhelming, especially for people with disabilities. Even simple daily tasks like going through a stack of mail can wear you out. The Brain Education Strategies Technology (BEST) suite of apps is here to help.
Essentially four apps in one, the BEST suite helps users make their lives more manageable and ultimately improve their initiation, time management, productivity, self-esteem and more.
Here, you can take a questionnaire to determine which app would be best for you to learn first. But for our purposes, let’s start with PaceMyDay.
Managing Energy
The PaceMyDay app allows users to monitor how they feel throughout the day to help them evaluate and optimize their energy. For each daily task, users will set their “optimal duration” — the period of time for which they feel they can focus and still have energy left. Once that period is up, they are encouraged to take a break before jumping back into the task at hand. They rate their energy level before and after each task to determine when they should take a breather and when they should push through to completion.
The app includes a logbook in which users can write notes and reminders for certain activities to which they need to return. Users can customize the app by breaking tasks into different categories. The wakeup questionnaire helps them determine which activities will be most realistic for them to accomplish in a given day.
Setting Goals and Strategizing Tasks
The ReachMyGoals app is a bit broader, monitoring users’ progress on bigger projects through weekly check-ins and goal-related reports. It provides a step-by-step guide on how to create goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely (SMART). The Successes and Challenges Journals are great, comprehensive reports that users can share via email with clinicians or caregivers.
The StrategizeMyLife app helps users develop strategies to complete tasks and reach long-term goals more effectively. You can rate strategies in order to prioritize them and avoid implementing the less effective ones. You can also create a list of your favorite strategies.
The CompleteMyTodos app helps users set start and due dates, and it organizes projects by coding them with different colors, images or emojis. You can filter tasks by due dates to avoid getting overwhelmed by everything you have to do. You can also set alarms to remind you about certain daily tasks. The best part about the BEST apps is the fact that they communicate with each other, and you can integrate features from all of them to help you daily and in the long run.
