ADHD-Friendly App Review: Sunsama

How do I love Sunsama? Let me count the ways! Here's what works, what doesn't, and who should and shouldn't use Sunsama, based off my testing of it this past month. 

Try Sunsama for yourself: https://try.sunsama.com/bdffli2mvave

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:28:16
Arianna
What's up, suckers? It's me. I'm back. And I've got another app review for you. And this one is amazing. I love this app, so I'm very, very excited to talk to you guys about it. But before I do that, if this is your kind of thing, I don't just do app reviews. I have been doing a lot of those lately, but I also talk about having an ADHD brain, working with it, making your day work for you with an ADHD brain.

00:00:28:23 - 00:00:52:28
Arianna
If that is your kind of thing, please make sure you like and subscribe. That helps really cool people find me, helps me find really cool people, and that is just the spice of life, is it not? Of course it is. Anyway, let's get to talking about Sunsama And first we're going to talk about what Sun Summer is and they actually have like their whole story on their website, which is amazing.

00:00:52:28 - 00:01:19:11
Arianna
You guys know how often I try to check for that and don't find it. So I'm very impressed. They've been around. They are a daily task planner, digital task planner that has been around since 2008 ish, according to their very own website. Their whole focus is to help you have a greater work life balance that's going to be less likely to run you into the ground and result in burnout.

00:01:19:16 - 00:01:57:09
Arianna
What do I love about Sunsama? How much time do you have so far of all of the apps that I have planned? When we are talking about a an app for keeping work tasks together to keeping things balanced, it is my absolute favorite. It is just all kinds of fantastic. So first off, one of the things that I always tell my clients to do when we sit down together is to try to sit and actually plan their day out, because if we just kind of go about our day with no plan, one of two things generally tends to happen.

00:01:57:11 - 00:02:23:09
Arianna
First. The first option is that we wind up running out of steam real quick because we kind of just don't know where to go next. And when our minds get confused, they also tend to get tired. And so then we get through the day without doing anything that we really wanted to do. The second option is that we wind up just kind of doing random things that we can think of off the top of our heads and wind up missing something that was actually a priority.

00:02:23:11 - 00:02:49:17
Arianna
So sitting down to plan our days ahead of time actually kind of forces us to be intentional and it forces us to actually think about the things that we are going to put our energy towards. That doesn't always work on the whole energy management front, but a lot of the time it actually does help because then you kind of already know in the back of your mind that you are planning on putting forth the time to do one thing or another.

00:02:49:19 - 00:03:09:05
Arianna
Sun Sama At the beginning of every single day at a time that you indicate, urges you to sit down and plan out your day. And it doesn't just kind of tell you to word vomit it out and then figure it out yourself. What it does is it asks you to plan out your day to add your tasks to make sure that you are

00:03:09:05 - 00:03:17:24
Arianna
checking all of your important calendars and important task management or project management software.

00:03:17:26 - 00:03:55:12
Arianna
And then it has you basically before you even figure out anything. Ask yourself in terms of priority, is there anything that I can actually do tomorrow? And it removes the shame of not doing everything that's on your mind today. And then it pushes you to time. BLOCK So that you have an idea of when during the day you're going to do these things, which is also amazing from an energy management perspective, because if you know that you're going to be tired in the morning, for example, you also get a chance to put the important things where they belong in the morning when you know that you're going to have the energy to do it so

00:03:55:12 - 00:04:14:25
Arianna
that is fantastic. You're also able to plan our objectives for the week. I sometimes when I'm feeling really up to it and really motivated on Sundays, I will be like, Man, there are some things I really want to get done this week and I tend to wish I could plan the whole week out or at least plan the important things for that week.

00:04:14:27 - 00:04:34:28
Arianna
So ensemble allows you to do this with the objectives option. And as you add tasks either in the moment or as you go through the week, it gives you the option to align those tasks with your objective, which makes it so that you kind of get to keep a close eye on the thing that you said you wanted to do.

00:04:35:03 - 00:04:54:17
Arianna
Kind of teaches you to keep your eye on the prize, and I don't know why, because there are a lot of softwares out there that have really cool uses. I don't know why I like since I'm on so much, but I do. I think it's because it is. So it's simple, but it's still pretty and it's very easy to figure out.

00:04:54:17 - 00:05:14:29
Arianna
There's no there's nothing really about it that's difficult to figure out all on your own and it doesn't need a ton of setup. I always bring amazing Marvin up because while I love their UI and I love the way that it looks, I will say that and comments have brought this up to me that the setup is a lot.

00:05:14:29 - 00:05:39:21
Arianna
So unless you're the kind of person who really loves to sit and just build new dashboards all the time, it can be a bit much. Since I'm a doesn't need a lot of setup to have it immediately working for you the way that it's meant to work for you, which is fantastic. It also allows you to set up different channels to keep track of your work that way, which is kind of like filters.

00:05:39:21 - 00:05:56:28
Arianna
But in my opinion, it's a little bit better because you're able to see everything, not just according to, you know, a filter that you've put on it, but what part of your life it fits into. It allows for color coding, which is a big deal to me if you've been following me long enough, you know that color coding is a huge deal to me too.

00:05:57:04 - 00:06:23:04
Arianna
And so when you're doing your time walking, you actually get to see those colors, those those assigned colors in order to help you keep track of what you're paying the most attention to that day. And it also even gives you like a little pie chart in case you had any doubt that shows you, hey, this is how much of your day you've been spending on these different parts of your life, which is also a great way to make sure that, you know, most days you've got a pretty even split.

00:06:23:07 - 00:06:50:12
Arianna
I think the the most special thing about Sun sama, actually is its dedication to keeping you grounded and intentional about where your time goes and how your energy is spent. I cannot stress enough that ADHD is really need to pay a lot more attention to where their energy is going. And I know that you might be listening to this saying, I don't really always have control over where my energy goes.

00:06:50:12 - 00:07:21:25
Arianna
And I hear you. But at the same time, in my experience, at least, a lot of us also tend to forget that we aren't made to be working 12 hours a day, 16 hours a day if we don't have to, and that we're especially not meant to go for weeks upon weeks upon weeks without giving ourselves time or giving ourselves an opportunity to work on things that we like.

00:07:21:28 - 00:07:47:14
Arianna
So what insomnia actually does is not only does it help you plan your day, but in the beginning of the day, it actually kind of pushes you to to reflect on the day before. And at the end of the day, it has something called the sun summer shutdown, which is great for a couple of reasons. The first being that it goes over your day with you, showing you what you got to which you didn't get to, what's going to have to wait till tomorrow.

00:07:47:21 - 00:08:10:00
Arianna
It encourages you to write notes on how you think your day went, and then it helps to set up an end for your day, a specific cut off. And so once you've done that, it helps you, especially if you've got ADHD. But anybody really it helps you with the cue to let you know you're done for the day.

00:08:10:03 - 00:08:38:10
Arianna
You have thought of all of your work tasks. You've gotten all of those things together. Now is the time to move on to the things that also matter outside of work. They also just added, like just recently reminders to take breaks, which is so important because if I had a nickel for every time that I have spoken to a client who forgets to drink water, go to the bathroom, eat, take breaks, I don't think I'd have to do this challenge anymore.

00:08:38:10 - 00:09:03:06
Arianna
So that is also a fantastic thing. I'm so glad it's there. It's in beta, but it is now available. And then this is I've kind of alluded to this already, but since I'm a integrates it with a lot of different productivity apps that you might use, including click up, Gmail, Asana, JIRA. And if I did not say that right, I apologize in advance, but it integrates with so many different things.

00:09:03:12 - 00:09:21:04
Arianna
So you don't even really have to go to any of those to check to see what it is that you should be focusing on today. You just integrate it, click on that particular app and it'll show you, Hey, these are the things that you have with a due date for it today and you just click and drag it over and it's part of your schedule for you to time.

00:09:21:04 - 00:09:51:07
Arianna
BLOCK Now, of course, you know, I don't like to glaze over the things that could be improved. And since summer is no different, there are a few things that were driving me a little crazy, but not enough for me to not love it. The first thing. The first thing being that with its almost flawless focus on energy and intentionality, with where the energy goes and what your day is supposed to be about and planning your week ahead.

00:09:51:09 - 00:10:14:01
Arianna
So summer does not have a direct way to indicate priority of tasks which can be worked around, but is also just a very bizarre thing to be missing in my opinion, especially since, you know, it's so ADHD friendly already. You would think that you could just add like one little flag or color or something to help indicate when something is urgent.

00:10:14:07 - 00:10:40:01
Arianna
And obviously there are ways to work around that, right? You could even do that with the channels option, but it would just be so much greater that existed Also since Armas phone app leaves a bit to be desired, they do have a mobile app. You are able to add tasks and move them around, but it is it is lacking in some of the same functional oldies as the desktop version.

00:10:40:08 - 00:11:04:23
Arianna
Namely, you don't plan your day yet you do have that option I think starting now in beta, but it is not something that is considered just like a native option and it would be so great if you could use this in some app the same way you use desktop. That would I think, be the cherry on the absolutely beautiful sense on the cake.

00:11:04:25 - 00:11:23:07
Arianna
And then, you know, this is more of a personal thing. But I do think that since I'm I could rock a habit tracker and it does not have one, which I really wish it did. And I kind of understand why because since summer is more of a work app, it is more to help you keep a work life balance.

00:11:23:09 - 00:11:46:07
Arianna
So the less personal things that you have to keep track of and then summer the better. But it would just still be really cool. I'm just saying. So in conclusion, I think Sun sama is probably one of the most ADHD friendly apps I have found out there that is a bigger named app during my time working with it.

00:11:46:09 - 00:12:13:06
Arianna
I can honestly say I got more done with it then I have with anything else that I have tested thus far besides maybe amazing Marvin It just something about helping you to dedicate your time to making sure that you're not so tired at the end of the day that you're not getting anything done really lends itself to you getting more finished by the end of a week.

00:12:13:09 - 00:12:35:05
Arianna
It's a really simple, yet beautiful situation that since I'm just knows how to run and it runs it in a way that works really well for brains like ours. And I ended every day satisfied with what I'd gotten done, even if I didn't finish everything. And there was something that carried over to the next day. I still felt good about what I had finished.

00:12:35:07 - 00:12:59:16
Arianna
Frankly, I feel that if you are looking for something that's going to help you not feel quite as stressed out at the end of the day or not make you feel quite as lost in what you're doing. This is a great app for you since it is available on the major platforms. That would be iOS, Android or Mac Windows.

00:12:59:18 - 00:13:30:05
Arianna
It is available for a 14 day trial, which I have a link for in the description. And then after that you have the choice of either paying $20 a month or you can pay a yearly fee, which comes up to about $16 a month or 192 a year. As for who should and shouldn't use Sun sama, I would say that some summer is amazing for business owners, be it small business owner or a business owner who has a large team.

00:13:30:08 - 00:14:03:05
Arianna
I think it's beautiful for anybody who cares about making sure that they and or their employees leave the day feeling like they're have got a much better balance going on every day. Anybody who spends a lot of time at their desk I think is also going to find a lot of value in Sun. Salma, if you are a stay at home parent or someone who is regularly away from your desk, I don't think that this is going to be the app for you.

00:14:03:05 - 00:14:20:08
Arianna
It's not going to help you out as much as it would the other people I mentioned, and I give a special shout out to students, I don't think that this is going to be great for students simply because of the price point. If it is something that you can afford, though, I think it would be beautiful for students.

00:14:20:15 - 00:14:42:12
Arianna
So if you are a student who can handle the price tag, I say go for it. Okay. I hope this was helpful. I love doing these. I can't wait to do my next app review, which I believe is going to be tick. If you guys have any questions, let me know if you use Sun sama, drop a comment and let me know what you thought.

00:14:42:15 - 00:15:00:11
Arianna
If you decide to try it, don't forget that my link is in the description to do so. Let me know what you think. Drink plenty of water. Take care of yourself and I'll see you in the next video. Or on the next podcast episode.