An App for Making Memories

How to Make Memories Last Forever?

The Concept of a Digital Toolbox – Part 14

What good is making a memory that you can’t remember?

My brother, uses this phrase often, we’re “making memories.”  He knows how to put life and life’s moments into perspective.  It’s those times when we might not feel like doing things or participating, that we need a reminder that we’re “making memories.”  Each day is an opportunity to make a memory.

The Thought or Concept:
In Kerry Clark fashion, I take such notions an extra step, I might be a little extreme.  I have a plan for how we keep and maintain records of our special moments. We have a special folder in our family plan for keepsake items so that we can hold on to those moments we’d like to always remember.  However, the focus of this web-post has more to do with the photos we take.

It’s very easy to snap pictures and forget about them on our smartphones.  We even forget to share them on social networks from time to time. So what can we do about this?

The Practice:
Pamela and I have instituted three practices that involve the use of digital photo storage.  The tool we use is called Google Photos.  Let me share with you our practices that makes capturing memories a lot of fun.

• Make memories out of everything.  Make memories out of everything because memories can happen anytime and anywhere.  When we take pictures on our smartphone, they get uploaded to the cloud (Google Photos).  We take lots of pictures.  It’s easier to delete unwanted pictures than it is to retake images that happen in a moment.  We realized that digitally storing pictures works a whole lot better than physically storing them.  We also realize it’s just as important to get them off our devices to a safe place. For those of you who still prefer printed pictures, it’s easy to get them from the cloud, print the images, and even print picture albums for display.  We’ve many times created physical photo albums from vacations and special events to have laying around our home on display for others to enjoy. Look, we’ve decided to no longer be the ordinary household and find ways to document our memories, and I think it would benefit you to do the same.
• Create a historical timeline for the year.  This might sound strange and that’s okay; I like it this way.  Using our cloud photo sharing app (Google Photos), I came up with this crazy idea just last year.  Here’s the concept, I review our photo archives to see what major events occurred during our last year so that I might add that detail to our list of accomplishments to document in our family plan’s year-end review.  By using Google photos, I can see activities by year, by month, by weeks, and even days, but more importantly I can take note of the highlights of our life together as a family.  That’s worth having the app all by itself. This activity is one of my favorites, you can’t imagine what you’ve forgotten over a year; this practice of looking back is invaluable.
• Create photo shares for vacations and other events.  Have you ever been on vacation with family and friends and had someone take a photo you wanted?  Our family has and we’d pass around phones, send photos to others via messaging, or steal them as someone posted them on Facebook.  I’d had enough because I was usually the one who missed out on some great photos and memories. That’s when I came up with this uncommon idea of creating photo albums via Google Photos and sharing it with each family member.  It was a success. Google Photos gives notifications when photos are uploaded, liked, and commented on.  It’s like having a private social media network for your family. Talk about make a vacation spectacular; give it try.  One more note, we start a new shared album for every vacation with its name and date, so that everyone can add their own photos and interactions for the group to enjoy.

I believe I’ve sold you on the photo sharing app benefits.  Remember the point of it all is to make your life, your business.  Improve everything you do with a plan and evaluate the current plan you have.

Today is Friday!

I didn’t want another app on my phone, but I had a goal to improve how our family shares and enjoys everyone’s photos.  It led to us using an app that everyone had access to and one that was simple to use. You have one life to live and no one can make the best of it but you.  Thanks for reading and sharing this final installment of “The Concept of a Digital Toolbox” series.

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Our team has worked very hard putting it together. We designed it to help you and your family move the needle forward in making your life your business. Find out more about the Family plan here.[/su_note]