Have you ever caught yourself binge-watching cat videos on the internet, stalking Facebook friends, or window shopping online for hours? In the absence of someone looking over your shoulder, it’s very easy to fall into the vortex of distractions. By the time you realize it, the day has ended, and you’ve got no work done. Oops!
Whether you’re a freelancer, a solopreneur or an entrepreneur, a self-starter, or someone who needs external pressure to get working, you want to improve your productivity level. And why not? It directly impacts your success and career growth. It also affects your personal and social life.
If you find yourself wanting to be productive but are unable to be productive, it’s time to stop worrying. We bring you fifteen tried and tested apps that would help you measure and maximize your productivity. These apps are easy, convenient, and fun. Let’s dive in.
1. Evernote
Evernote can help you leverage your smartphone to become your most productive self. The app is fully compatible with your phone and systems. With its powerful syncing feature, you can eliminate the back and forth between devices and save time and energy.
Take notes easily on your phone, take pictures for recall, and set reminders. You can also record audio notes and share them quickly and add file attachments to your messages. Keep specific notebooks for the different kinds of notes you take. Also, use the app to forward emails of your notes, whether to yourself to others. So whether you want to share weekly reports of your tasks or tally with meeting notes, the app comes in handy.
Just download it on your phone or your system. Sync it across all devices using a single account. It comes integrated with several mainstream platforms like Outlook, Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Calendar. You can use a single click to attach and share notes, speeding up your work process. Cut down on text messages that are harder to follow up with. Also, minimize back and forth emails to make your workflow smoother and faster.
2. Asana
If you want to track and enhance your team’s productivity, Asana is one of the top-notch productivity apps you can try out. Not only does this software help you measure your productivity, but it also acts as a task management tool, simplifying your work systems and speeding up the work process.
You can sign up and invite your team members through simple email links to your group. The app lets you create projects and assemble to-do lists. You can set messages for each task, minimizing email chains. You can also upload files on the app and monitor the changes, comments, and updates for each project. You can view the workload of different team members and delegate tasks accordingly.
The app also has a version fully compatible with your smartphones so you can track your productivity and follow up on tasks while on the go. Using this tool, you can centralize your work process and bring your team to one (virtual) table. It helps you supervise the work and ensure maximum productivity across the board. You can try this app and tailor it per your requirement at an affordable customized rate.
Asana is one of the top-notch productivity apps you can try out along with other tricks that may come in handy in optimizing productivity.
3. Dropbox
We know how sifting through tonnes of files eats up your time and inhibits your productivity. Dropbox is a very effective tool that brings together all your work-related files in one place. If you are tired of sorting through a pile of files and trying to determine the latest version, this app will come in handy.
You don’t have to keep switching between different platforms or email files to team members or yourself if you’re a forgetful person or use several devices. Just upload your files easily on Dropbox and use it easily from all locations. Share the file or keep it private - it’s entirely up to you. You can opt for their enterprise plan and make the most of their features if you own a business.
You just need to download Dropbox on your system or phone and get started. You can share heavy files easily without the hassle of compressing them or compromising on quality. The biggest advantage is that you can streamline your entire workflow and ensure maximum productivity across the board with the integrated time management tool.
4. Bitrix24
If you want an all-rounder app that caters to several ends of your needs, try out Bitrix24. This is a convenient tool with several useful features that allow you to collaborate with your team and take your productivity to a whole other level.
Bitrix24 integrates such variable options as instant messaging, project management, and employee management. You can also use the platform for handling your documents and scheduling tasks. It’s a one-in-all solution that eliminates the need to switch between different apps for different work-related needs.
The app also has incredible CRM features. If you have a customer-focused business, avail yourself of this tool and handle all your contacts and communications efficiently. You can issue invoices, send emails, and conduct calls all from one platform. Keep your clients happy and increase your productivity easily. The app also has a mobile phone version so you can stay productive no matter where you are. Try out the free account, and if you like it, sign up for the premium plans.
5. World Time Buddy
The modern workplace doesn’t necessarily have all the team members in one place at one time. More and more companies are opting for remote or hybrid setups, where working from the office is paired with working from home. In this case, it becomes a nightmare to coordinate from different locations and sometimes different time zones. However, you need to ensure the workflow remains smooth, and for that, you have to align the work timings across the board. If you’re struggling to come up with a time slot to organize a single conference call, World Time Buddy is for you.
World Time Buddy auto-detects your home location and allows you to monitor different time zones around the globe. All you need to do is enter different places and your team’s operational hours to find the best overlapping time slot for your next collaborative meeting. You can switch between different time zones, schedule online webinars, plan conference calls and share time slots to make your work genuinely collaborative in nature.
Say goodbye to hundreds of back and forth emails. Choose the easy and accurate method by using this app made for your coordination needs. You can download the app easily from Playstore. You can also add it as an extension to your Google Chrome browser, allowing you ease of access at all times.
6. Google Drive
Being on the same page with your team is a surefire way to ensure productivity, not just on an individual but on an organizational level. Google Drive is one of the best tools for collaboration and information-sharing when you’ve got several team members.
Use Google Drive to manage all your documents in one place. Furthermore, you can create and share different types of files such as documents, spreadsheets, and presentation slides, among many others. This tool enables you to invite comments and feedback from concerned stakeholders and make changes accordingly.
The documents are instantly updated so that everyone can access the latest version of the document. Plus, having it on the cloud means you’re not wasting time constantly emailing documents that may or may not arrive in the recipient’s inbox. It prevents lags, miscommunication, and redos, saving time and effort.
You don’t need external app downloads for this app. Most phones come integrated with Google Drive. All you need is a Gmail account and an invitation link, and you’re ready to start working productively!
7. WeekPlan
No matter which industry you work in, planning is the cornerstone of success. Team managers must devise a concrete action plan in order to achieve desired objectives. A smartly crafted action plan helps different sets of employees stay focused and achieve milestones per the set timeline. WeekPlan is a powerful tool that can help you prioritize, plan and execute your goals timely!
Week Plan’s Quadrant View is inspired by one of the top bestsellers, ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.’ This feature helps you prioritize your workload to utilize the time at hand optimally. Use WeekPlan to work according to task priority and assign work per role. You can also create weekly or monthly calendars in order to have a clear vision of project completion.
WeekPlan also helps you identify HITs (High Impact Tasks) and shows you how to incorporate them into your action plan to derive more significant results. The tool guides you in setting quarterly targets and breaking them into HITs. Through Week View, you can evaluate weekly performance and current standing with respect to the metrics set to measure your productivity.
WeekPlan is compatible with iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, and many other devices. This helps its users to stay connected and aligned with set objectives on the go. With more than 1000 integrations with different apps, connect your carefully orchestrated plan with the tools of your choosing.
8. Pomofocus
Based on the pro time system technique called Pomodoro technique, Pomofocus is an app designed to help you focus whether you’re at work or studying. Pomodoro technique is all about breaking your day into short time slots of around 25 minutes. In these short time bursts, you focus solely on the task at hand, increasing your productivity exponentially.
If you have minimal or no supervision, you might struggle with self-discipline, as is fairly the case with most adults. You might allow yourself to be distracted and led off track several times during the day. This is where Pomofocus helps you out! It ensures you don’t waste a good working day on leisure or unproductive activities. It tracks your time which, in turn, helps you keep up with priority tasks. If you’re a team lead, you can use this app to stay updated with your team’s work status. You can use it to track your team’s productivity and working hours even if they are working from home.
Know the saying ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?’ Well, Pomofocus not only tracks your working hours but also ensures you have taken proper rest by allotting breaks in between work time slots. Pomodoro timer splits working time slots into two phases: 25 minutes work and 5 minutes rest. The rest time can be utilized to take a break from work, scroll your social media timeline or take a power nap.
Some other apps like WeekPlan come integrated with Pomodoro timers, so you can get your hands on one app and integrate its rich features with your work plan to track the time you spend on allotted tasks. Pomofocus is available online. Just sign up via your email and start using the app whenever you need to. It’s uncomplicated and fast.
Similar to WeekPlan’s time tracking solution with a built-in Pomodoro Timer, Pomofocus is a feature-rich app that’s available online.
9. Zoom
Zoom is one of the best collaboration tools that can be deployed in a workplace setting, especially if you have a global or remote team. Ideally, you want to conduct your work with minimal supervision. However, at times, collaboration becomes necessary due to the interdependency of different tasks. In this case, if you don’t have a reliable platform to collaborate with different team members despite their location, your productivity takes a hit.
Use Zoom to tackle this problem. You can use this app to organize meetings and stay connected to your work no matter where you are. You can also invite your team on a conference call for daily task updates. Need help with one of your tasks? No worries. With Zoom, you can share your screen with your team and get assistance with the task at hand.
Overall, Zoom is a must-have tool for coordination and collaboration when working from home remotely. Just download the app and install it on your mobile phones or systems - it is supported on both. Create an account directly on Zoom or use your Gmail or even Facebook ID. Schedule a meeting and send out invites via quick links to whoever you want to join the meeting. It’s simple and super easy.
10. Feedly
It’s easy to get distracted with news, industry-related information, and other content that interests you. While you may need to read a lot as you conduct work-related research, it’s essential to filter the useful from the useless. If you get distracted by a tonne of details or suffer from information overload, it will impede your productivity. It’s better to use wise strategies and mark a time in your calendar to catch up on your reading.
In the meantime, add your favorite content sources to ‘Feedly.’ The app will collect all the latest articles for you to read during your scheduled reading time. You can pursue your favorite content amid your work breaks. This way, you never miss a thing, and you don’t waste precious work time either.
The app comes with Leo, who acts as your personal AI Assistant. You can train Leo to save your favorite and most necessary information sources. Whether you read tech articles, health industry, research publications, or blogs, you can use Feedly to bring them all together on one platform. The software is also secure, so there are privacy concerns. You can search and save whatever you want on the app using your account. Declutter your news feed, share insights with your team, and stay productive all the way through!
11. Focus\@Will
Music can sometimes be distracting. A song might get stuck in your head, and you might find your brain replaying it on a loop. You can also get distracted from tasks at hand and end up singing the lyrics out loud with the vocalist. If you are easily distracted but can’t work without music, then Focus\@Will is for you.
Focus\@Will is a multi-channel music app designed to bring you music that helps improve your focus and boost your productivity. The app promotes itself as a neuroscience-backed tool. It leverages the fact that most humans can focus only for 20 or so minutes at a stretch. Sensory stimuli - whether noise, smell, or touch - can distract you and obstruct your workflow.
Under such on-ground circumstances, how do you improve your concentration abilities? Use Focus\@Will, an accessible online platform that provides a tailor-made tracklist to help you retain your focus. All the tracks you listen to are edited and re-mastered to soothe your brain’s fight or flight mechanism, which in turn helps you concentrate. You can take a free trial, and once satisfied, sign up at an affordable rate of $52.49 per year.
12. CyberGhost Chrome Proxy
Some sites restrict their content access with respect to user location. Your ISP might also block specific websites and limit you from accessing content required to execute the task at hand. Use this proxy tool to evade geographic restrictions and barriers put in place by your ISP.
CyberGhost proxy is an add-on for the Chrome browser, which enables its users to mask their real IP with the one representing the connected location. All you need to do is install the proxy on your Chrome browser, select a region and connect the tool. The tool allows you to connect from the United States, Netherlands, Germany, and Romania. With the help of this app, you would be able to bypass content restrictions, and access desired information no matter where you are.
13. AdBlock
Have you ever tried to watch a YouTube tutorial only to find yourself waiting for the ad to finish before you can get started? Don’t let online ads distract or annoy you while you’re trying to work. Install the AdBlock extension on Chrome and eliminate ads from the content you consume online.
AdBlocker performs the crucial function of decluttering your browsing experience. Don’t let a product advertisement distract you from work at hand and take you down a shopping rabbit hole. Admit it; all of us have been there. It’s important to stay focused while working in order to ensure efficiency and productivity. AdBlocker helps you achieve this objective. At the same time, it improves your system’s security and ensures it remains risk-free. It also helps pages load faster on your browser, so don’t face unnecessary lags and delays that disrupt the work process.
Just download AdBlocker from its website and install it in your system. Enable the extension on Chrome and improve your online experience tenfold.
14. LastPass
How many times have you hit a “reset password” because you just couldn’t remember your own passcode? This happens to the best of us. We use several tools and apps to execute daily tasks throughout the day, whether we work from home or in an office space. Forgetting login details and wasting time retrieving such information is a nuisance. It’s also entirely human. However, there are ways to sidestep this issue.
We would highly discourage you from taking the old-fashioned, risky route of saving your passwords on a spreadsheet or something that someone else can easily view. Instead, use an app designed solely to cater to this need. LastPass is your online login vault. Create, store, access, and even share login details via the tool. All you have to do is install the Chrome extension.
The tool would prompt you to save new passwords and auto-fills login details for you the next time you log in to a service. It saves time and ensures your work process is not impeded by pesky things like forgetting passwords right when you need them the most. The app has a free option available for users who want to maintain passwords on a single device. You can also choose from two other options - Premium and Families - at a very affordable yearly rate.
15. Todoist
Nothing works miracles for your productivity like to-do lists. They provide you with a very visible action plan, let you prioritize tasks, and feel accomplished every time you cross one item off them. If you love lists and want to make the most of them, try Todoist.
The app is designed to boost your productivity by helping you handle your projects and manage your tasks efficiently. You can set your daily to-do list with a few clicks. You can also automatically set tasks with recurring due dates, saving yourself the hassle of typing the same thing over and over. Determine priority level, set reminders, and favorite your most important tasks. It’s super easy and does wonders to improve the workflow.
You can download the app on your system or phone. Sign up and reap the advantage of the powerful syncing feature. Todoist also comes integrated with popular apps like Google Calendar and Dropbox. You can observe your productivity trend every week and import data into the app for quick and easy view at all times. Download it free on your phone or iOS and start working!
In A Nutshell
Enterprises around the globe are transitioning out of traditional tactics and adopting new ways of working. Don’t lag behind when it comes to tracking and increasing your productivity. Leverage the power of technology and use the apps we have shared with you to boost your productivity no matter where you work.
We know that if equipped with the right tools and tactics, companies, as well as individuals, can achieve more than they predicted. So, try out the top productivity apps we have recommended to fulfill your personal and professional needs and experience enhanced productivity without a hassle.
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