Sure, Albert Einstein managed to develop the theory of relativity without the help of Evernote, Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa without a Pomodoro timer, and Abraham Lincoln kept track of his tasks pretty well with just a pen and paper. But what if they had access to the type of digital assistance we have today?
Perhaps they would have accomplished their goals sooner, made fewer mistakes or spent less time being stressed out and overwhelmed. Maybe they would have been far more productive. We’ll never know. What we do know is that the right tools can help you make leaps and bounds in your ability to complete daily tasks.
This is especially true when it comes to productivity apps, which are plentiful in number. In fact, there are so many available today that numerous categories have sprung up, including time tracking, scheduling, note-taking, focus, and task management. Let’s take a look at some of these to identify your best options for 2020.
RescueTime
Available for Android, iOS, Windows and Linux devices, RescueTime is a time tracking app that provides a range of valuable insights about how you spend your day. You can choose to classify a specific activity as “productive” or “unproductive,” as well as obtaining alerts when you exceed your time limit on a specific app or website.
If you’re not ready to spend $6 per month on the premium version, a lite option is available that’s free to use with up to three months of time-tracking, albeit without certain features.
Blocksite
Do you find it hard to focus on work because of all the distracting notifications from social media sites? Productivity apps like Blocksite can help you by blocking problematic sites like Facebook or YouTube, as well as adult sites and more. Blocksite also has a handy guide full of tips to help you increase your productivity at work.
Streaks
Just as important as focus are your habits. Whether it’s reading a certain number of pages per day or hopping into bed at the same time, Streaks will help you achieve it.
Its beautiful design aims to improve your consistency with statistics that showcase your streaks, as well as when in the week you’re most productive. The longer your streak, the higher your score. Miss a day and you’re back to zero.
Woven
Part calendar part scheduling app, Woven features a beautiful design and class-leading features to help you stay organized. When scheduling an event, it can notify you if you’re unavailable, as well as taking key factors into account such as travel time to determine whether you can make it. A range of event templates is available to speed things up.
One particularly admirable feature is the built-in design details that remind you of the value of time. For instance, the app greys-out your off-work hours to make your nine-to-five feel more bounded. Woven also offers sharing features so that you can collaborate with coworkers and friends.
Simple Interval Timer
A major aspect of effective productivity is being able to focus on the task at hand. Simple Interval Timer aims to help you achieve this using the Pomodoro technique or your own custom time management system. You can access all the app’s features for free, but a one-time $2.99 purchase is necessary to remove the ads.
While arguably best-in-class, these apps make up only a fraction of the powerful and effective productivity tools available today.
Technology is Your Friend
Don’t hesitate to do some digging and find other apps that will help you achieve more in less time. There are some great ones out there!
