Admit it, many days, it’s hard to stay productive. Ever since we got smartphones and the Internet, it’s just so easy to be distracted by everything nowadays. Social media and those addictive games are always just a tap away.
But, your smartphone doesn’t have to be the reason for your lack of productivity. There are now some apps to help keep you focused, on-schedule and fruitful with work. Let’s review some of them.
Several software programs help professionals maintain more efficient and secure notes and billing. Even some apps offer benefit to those working on improving their mental health. — Camille Larsen, MA, NCC, Registered Psychotherapist
Evernote
Evernote has found itself in many top apps lists — and for a good reason. The app is designed some functions including note-taking, list creation, archiving and organizing. Users create “notes” on the app. These notes can be formatted as a text, a handwritten note, a photograph, a voice memo, or a webpage. Each of these notes can have files attached to them. These memos can then be organized into notebooks.
Additionally, Evernote runs on several platforms — desktop and mobile. That way, you can access your notes and notebooks from across all your devices. This saves you so much time that you could have spent transferring files. Evernote is available for free but more features are available with a premium account.
You can also create easily manageable categories for notes. You can send a note to messaging or Twitter, and you can copy a note and paste it into an email. — Stephanie A. Sarkis Ph.D.
RescueTime
RescueTime is a time-tracker and analyst application for desktop and mobile. It aims to give you reports on your daily habits so that you can weed out activities that keep you from being productive. It also allows you to block specific websites and apps to help keep you focused. In addition to that, you can set a time limit on particular activities. For example, you only allow yourself a cumulative 1 hour on social media during work time. RescueTime will send you an alert when you’ve capped this limit.
The app has gathered many positive reviews from users, business magazines, and tech critics. The app is available for free with premium upgrades that give you a free 14-day trial. RescueTime is also available for organizations who work with teams.
Slack
Don’t let its name fool you. Slack is productivity app especially for those working in teams. It integrates everything you’d need to stay connected to your organization. It comes with a chat box and message boards for communication. Likewise, you can have audio or video calls right on Slack. The app also integrates with other productivity apps such as Dropbox so your whole team can access relevant files all in one app.
Slack has been lauded by several businesses such as BuzzFeed, Airbnb, and Samsung. The app is available entirely for free.
Dropbox
Here’s an app that you’ve likely heard of before. Dropbox is an app that offers cloud storage and file synchronization. Since it’s available for both desktop and mobile, this is great for quickly accessing files across all your devices. Likewise, you can organize files into folders effortlessly. Dropbox also allows you to share specific data with colleagues easily. You can choose which files and folders to share with others.
Dropbox is available for free with 2GB of storage. This can be upgraded to a monthly or yearly fee.
Great mobile products replicate and amplify human behavior and interaction. They don’t replace human relationships; they enhance them. — Sydney Finkelstein Ph.D.
After reading this list, you can try using some of the apps above. Test if any of them helped you to be more productive during the day. You never know, one app may be the only missing piece to be the most productive and successful self you can be.