Become Tech Savvy Series

First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning, however you can also use the series overview if you’d like to go buffet style.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

Much like we discussed last week about Macs, one of the great things about the iPhone and iPad is that they often last a long time (although users typically update iPhones more frequently than iPads and Macs). While this is a hallmark feature of a quality product, your iPhone or iPad performance may also decrease the longer you own it.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning, however you can also use the series overview if you’d like to go buffet style.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

One of the best things about a Mac is that they often last a long time. While this is a great feature of a quality product, your Mac’s performance may also decrease the longer you own it. And even if you have a new or relatively new Mac you’ll likely find some value in the tips below.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning, however you can also use the series overview if you’d like to go buffet style.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

Staying up to date with software can sometimes be a confusing and frustrating task, these issues are usually caused by the various ways that different software is designed to update and where it was installed from. The good news is that Apple is continually improving how updates happen. With its latest operating system, macOS Sierra, there are some sharp features to make updating software more smooth and seamless. This won’t apply in all instances, but still helps provide an overall improved user experience.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning, however you can also use the series overview if you’d like to go buffet style.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

Last week we covered building confidence and ease with iPhone and iPad navigation by dialing in to five different features and how they work. We’ll do the same today looking at macOS (previously known as OS X) which is Apple’s operating system for Macs.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning, however you can also use the series overview if you’d like to go buffet style.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

Now that we’ve got the priorities of backing up your information and password management addressed it’s time to focus on becoming more confident in the everyday use of your devices. In today’s post we’re going to focus on the iOS user interface.

If you’re not already familiar, iOS is the operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Apple is often known for having the most friendly and easy to use mobile operating system on the market. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a learning curve or that everything is obvious.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning and checking out the series overview.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

Up until now we’ve addressed the foundation of becoming tech savvy with how to get in the right state of mind and transforming limiting beliefs. For strategy we’ve naturally tackled the two most important priorities first, getting automatic backups in place and getting a handle on password management (part 1, part 2, and part 3).

Before we move on to other topics like the best ways to navigate a user interface (UI) or shortcuts in macOS and iOS I want to wrap up the first portion of this series with a focus on how to save your information manually.

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First time checking out the Tech Savvy series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning and checking out the series overview.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

In our previous article we took a look at how to get started with password management using 1Password. Today we’ll look at using Apple’s iCloud Keychain, and answering some of your common password management concerns.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning and checking out the series overview. In our previous article we took a look at how to approach and manage passwords. Today we’ll jump into applying those ideas with 1Password.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

In last week’s post, Michael went into a high-level overview on the importance of password management and preparing to implement a strategy. A lot of the frustration with password management stems from how overwhelming it can feel to get started. With so many usernames, passwords, sites, and accounts out there, the prospect of organizing it all can seem like climbing a mountain.

So while there is a decent amount of work to get things going, it will pay big dividends in time savings and reduced frustration. We’ll help you see this is really doable by breaking down the process step by step.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning and here is the series overview. The previous article in this series is How to set up automatic backups in macOS and iOS.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this is designed as a resource you can give to those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

A big benefit of our hyper connected world is that we have access to almost any service or system almost anywhere in the world. Because we can access accounts and information without being physically present, unique identification is required for internet accounts. With the large amount of unique accounts most people have, it quickly becomes clear why password management is one of the biggest frustrations people face with technology; there is a lot of information, it changes, and is often simliar but different from account to account.

Like having a solid backup strategy (which we covered last week), implementing a good password management plan allows you to save time, stay more secure, and worry less. This will allow you to focus your time on what’s important and also position yourself to continue building your tech skills. In this article we’ll address how to approach password management, the what, why, and good software options.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting with the first article and here is the series overview.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this is designed as a resource you can give to those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

So far we’ve covered why you can and should be tech savvy, how to get in the right state of mind, and how to transform your limiting beliefs and set some stakes as you work towards the goal of using technology with confidence and ease. These aspects are the hidden forces that hold us back from achievement, so with all of them addressed we’re all set to move forward with our strategy.

First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting with the first article. Also, here is the series overview.

Note for the already tech savvy, IT professionals, and regular readers: this is designed as a resource as you help others or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

Now that you’ve got the hang of operating in the positive state of a growth mindset, let’s look at how the stories we repeat shape us.

Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny. -Gandhi

This quote paints a clear picture that it’s the small thoughts and words we repeat day in and day out that create our habits and actions, which in turn create the results we see after a year, decade, and our lifetimes.

If this is your first time reading this series you’ll get the most value by starting with the first article. Note for the already tech savvy, IT professionals, and our regular readers: this is designed as a resource as you help others or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

The foundation and most important factor in becoming tech savvy (or learning anything) is your mindset. Research shows that people with a growth mindset are more likely to achieve success in part because they believe they can. Alternately, people with a fixed mindset, who believe they can only achieve according to ingrained talent or aptitude are more likely to give up on their goals.

Become Tech Savvy is a series designed for anyone who wants to learn how to use technology with confidence, ease, and minimal frustration, as well as those who want to help someone else with technology. No matter your age, experience, background, or current skills, this series will provide a unique strategy for mastery.

For the already tech savvy and IT folks, this will be a helpful resource to share while supporting others as we’ll deconstruct the big barriers that keep people from becoming tech savvy. Follow along for why anyone can and should become tech savvy and why this series is unique.