As you may need guessed from the title of this text, I’ve one thing of an… obsession? with productiveness instruments.
I’ve ADHD (shout out to all the oldsters who had been identified as adults!) and I lean closely on techniques to assist me focus and keep productive. However — doubtless additionally due to the ADHD — I love making an attempt new issues.
Which suggests I’ve by no means met a brand new device I didn’t join in about 2.5 seconds.
I discover that the freshness of latest instruments helps encourage me to remain on job, too. Hey, a system is a system, proper?
So, confession: over the previous yr or so, I’ve tried a minimum of 57 productiveness instruments. (I tracked all of it in Notion, naturally — pop me a message if you wish to see the receipts).
And but, there are a number of apps that I preserve coming again to, or have caught with completely, on my tooling travels.
Earlier than we get into it, I wish to acknowledge that ‘productiveness device’ is a very broad time period. As of late, you’ll discover it utilized to all the things from e-mail add-ons to AI writing instruments and ChatGPT.
Whereas these different apps and instruments can undoubtedly assist increase effectivity, on this article, I’m zeroing in on productiveness instruments within the extra conventional sense — people who assist me keep organized, plan my day, and keep centered.
If that sounds prefer it is perhaps up your alley, let’s get into it.
Todoist
Greatest free productiveness device for managing your duties
Todoist — regardless of what number of instruments I attempt, I in some way at all times discover my manner again to you.
It simply… works.
Todoist is the planning device that I feel will make sense for the best way most individuals work. It has lists, it has kanbans, and a timeblocking calendar view (on the paid plan). Whereas there are some options I’d like to see added (the power to color-code time blocks is excessive up on my wishlist), Todoist is an excellent second mind for duties and tasks.
It additionally performs very well with a bunch of different instruments — you may simply add Slack messages as duties, for instance. Whereas it is extremely customizable, it doesn’t require a lot configuration to get in and get going. It additionally has nice templates primarily based on well-known productiveness techniques, like Getting Issues Executed, The Eisenhower Matrix, and extra.
It additionally works very well for groups, each company and in any other case. My husband and I’ve a number of tasks we collab on — and I do slightly take pleasure in assigning duties to him.
Just about all these options can be found on their free plan, however their paid plan is tremendous reasonably priced as properly.
My favourite options:
- Complete free plan
- Lovely net, desktop, and app variations
- Pure language processing, so you may sort ‘E-mail Hailley tomorrow’ and the duty might be added to your checklist for the subsequent day.
- ‘Karma’ — a easy gamification system that offers you karma as you full duties
Value: Free, with paid plans beginning at $5 per 30 days.
Akiflow
Greatest productiveness device for consolidating duties from in all places
Akiflow is just about the top of notification overwhelm.
It goes past job supervisor — Akiflow is a job consolidator. It integrates together with your e-mail, Slack, Notion, Todoist, Asana, Trello, and a bunch of different instruments and pulls them right into a single inbox as duties.
From there, you may arrange these duties into each folders and tasks after which map them out in your calendar. So, for instance, if I save a message in Slack, it can present up as a job in my inbox in Akiflow. From there, I can schedule it for a particular day,
One other function I really like (and that most of the productiveness instruments are lacking) is analytics. Each job that’s assigned a length or time-blocked in your calendar — and accomplished — is tracked. From there, you may get an enormous image have a look at how lengthy you spent on sure tasks, duties, or in conferences.
I discover it tremendous motivating to see how a lot work I managed to get by way of in in the future. It’s additionally actually helpful, if, like me, you’re engaged on a number of tasks outdoors your 9-5. With Akiflow, I can monitor what number of hours I spend on freelance work or my private social media content material.
It additionally has day by day planning and shutdown rituals, actually strong productiveness analytics, plus a calendar reserving function like Calendly.
Now, Akiflow is expensive however they provide a great deal of actually strong reductions for those who subscribe to their emails or do their 7-day trial, which is what has made it reasonably priced for me.
My favourite options:
- Quick and frequent updates and new options
- Each day ‘rituals’ that will help you get began and assessment your day’s work
- AI assistant, ‘Aki,’ which may also help you arrange your day
- An enormous checklist of integrations with different instruments
- Easy analytics that will help you get a way of how a lot time you’re spending in particular areas
Value: $34 month-to-month or $19 month-to-month paid yearly. Hold a watch out for normal promos.
Routine
Greatest productiveness device with a centered day by day view
In case your unending to-do checklist tends to get too overwhelming when captured in a system, I hear you. Typically the countless stream of bins to test can get somewhat an excessive amount of, prompting me to shut the app, and hit YouTube as a substitute.
That’s the place a device like Routine is available in. It’s a actually superbly designed app that integrates together with your calendar to tug in your occasions and even Notion to tug in duties.
It’s fantastic for time blocking, which performs properly with my favourite function, the centered right now view. It solely reveals you gadgets you’ve got deliberate for that day, which is nice for serving to cut back overwhelm.
It’s somewhat totally different from most job managers in that you may arrange your duties inside pages slightly than folders, the place you may create notes as properly, which is fascinating.
The one draw back for my unicorn mind with this app is that there’s no straightforward technique to color-code your duties in your calendar. Routine has a very thrilling roadmap, so I’m positively maintaining a tally of all of the options they’ve deliberate for this yr.
Better part — Routine has a complete free plan. It would price you nothing.
My favourite options:
- Centered ‘Right now’ view to cut back overwhelm
- Minimalist, clear interface
- Strong checklist of integrations to consolidate duties from elsewhere
Value: Free, with paid plans beginning at $10 per 30 days.
Toggl Observe
Greatest productiveness device for time monitoring
For those who’ve ever completed a workday and puzzled, “What did I even do right now?” — it’s me, hello — then it’s time to discover Toggl Observe.
It’s one of many easiest time monitoring instruments I’ve ever used, and it helps me keep trustworthy about the place my time is definitely going. You may monitor by undertaking or job, and even set billable charges for those who’re freelancing.
You may monitor your time retroactively or stay as you’re employed. Hitting the beginning button on a time-tracking job is like an immediate productiveness increase for me. As a result of my time is being recorded, I’m manner much less more likely to bounce between duties or fall down a TikTok rabbit gap.
The reporting options are surprisingly satisfying, too. Even for those who don’t monitor each minute, doing it could provide actually useful perception. Are you spending an excessive amount of time on a aspect undertaking, or duties which are technically outdoors of your scope?
There are another instruments on this checklist which have analytics, however nothing fairly on the extent of Toggl. You may drill down by time interval, undertaking, or job — and have a helpful bar/pie/line graph to associate with it.
The integrations are my absolute favourite. Due to a intelligent browser extension, Toggl Observe pairs with nearly any web-based device, so that you don’t even have to open Toggl to start out monitoring.
With the extension enabled, the little pink ‘begin’ button can seem on all the things from Google Docs to Notion pages to emails. One in all my favourite workflows is to timeblock in Todoist, then begin a Toggle job throughout the Todoist net app.
That manner, I solely have to log into Toggl to assessment the analytics.
My favourite options:
- Clean integrations with a mindblowing variety of instruments
- A number of methods to visualise your productiveness knowledge
- Capability to export reviews to share with managers
- Simply join your timed work to invoices — superb for freelancers.
Value: Free, with paid plans beginning at $10
Sunsama
Greatest productiveness device for conscious planning
I would like the instruments I exploit to be aesthetically pleasing. In the event that they’re not, I simply can’t convey myself to make use of them.
The bar is excessive, and Sunsama might be the most superbly designed on this checklist. It delivers on the promise of productiveness, too — Sunsama is all about conscious planning and being real looking about what you may truly obtain in a day.
It’s wonderful for lovers of time blocking who are likely to overestimate what they’ll get finished.
It encourages you to set estimated occasions for every job as a part of a very beautiful day by day planning ritual, and allows you to know when you’ve got an excessive amount of deliberate for the day.
It additionally has a light-weight stats and analytics function so you may see the place you spent your time, which I really like.
The one draw back to this app is the associated fee — it is available in at $20 per 30 days, $16 if paid yearly, however can you actually put a worth on productiveness? In all probability.
My favourite options:
- Guided day by day and weekly planning routines
- Easy analytics that will help you higher handle your time
- Strong checklist of integrations to consolidate duties from elsewhere
Value: $20 per 30 days, $16 if paid yearly
P.S. For those who’re searching for an analogous device on a funds, Ellie deserves an honorable point out right here! Ellie was constructed by an unbiased developer, it’s very nice to take a look at, and works in an analogous manner.
Mind.fm
Greatest productiveness device for entering into deep focus mode
screenshot of productiveness device mind.fm
After I have to get into deep work mode, mind.fm is my first port of name.
It’s a music app, however not in the best way you assume — mind.fm makes use of science-backed audio that’s particularly designed that will help you focus, calm down, or sleep.
In accordance with their web site, brainwaves function at totally different speeds (Hz) that scientists typically break down into 4 classes which are related to totally different psychological states — one in every of these is “energetic pondering, problem-solving, and focus.”
“Mind.fm identifies the optimum Hz vary for a given psychological state and interprets it into quantity modulations inside sure areas of our music,” the corporate explains. “This encourages your mind to extend the facility degree of brainwaves which are equal to or much like the patterns we have embedded within the music.”
Whether or not it’s a placebo impact or not, the ‘Focus’ mode actually works for me, significantly for inventive work. I discover I’m capable of get right into a movement state most of the time after I’m listening.
There are a handful of different apps and instruments that supply one thing comparable, however lots of them don’t provide the power to customise your sounds in the best way mind.fm does. Easy filters enable you to pinpoint what works for you, whether or not that’s cinematic sounds, acoustic guitar, singing bowls, or birdsong. (I’m keen on thunderstorms.)
It’s not free, however the subscription is fairly affordable. For those who’re the type of one who works finest with sound however finds lyrics distracting (like me!) mind.fm may assist.
My favourite options:
- Large number of sound filters that enable you to customise your expertise
- Use it to focus, sleep, meditate, and extra
- An app for each machine — there’s a model for desktops, telephones, and tablets. You should use in-browser too, for those who want
Value: $9.99 per 30 days or $69.99 per yr.
Focus Traveller
Greatest productiveness device for enjoyable Pomodoro classes
Focus Traveller is a Pomodoro timer, however manner, far more enjoyable. Within the app, you create a mountain-climbing avatar, who can solely scale the height when you’re working. Every time I have to remove my telephone as a distraction and add one other incentive to get working, I flip to this app.
I’ll prop my telephone up subsequent to my desk, sort in my job, and set my little mountaineer to climbing.
There’s ambient noise, mushy animations, and it seems like somewhat deal with each time I exploit it. Plus, for those who toggle on deep focus mode, your avatar will cease climbing for those who transfer out of the app.
For those who’re motivated by gamification or want some further incentives to remain off TikTok (🙋♀️), Focus Traveller is perhaps price a attempt. It’s not filled with analytics or integrations, however typically the little temper increase is what you want.
Plus, for those who work for lengthy sufficient in a day, your little avatar will have fun once they attain the summit. Yay!
My favourite options:
- Customise your avatar and terrain
- Easy, soothing background sounds
- Focus with buddies — you may arrange a ‘Journey Group’ if you wish to work with another person
Value: Free, although there’s a paid plan for extra enjoyable background choices, at $0.99 per 30 days.
Notion
Greatest productiveness device for note-taking and documentation
For those who’re serious about productiveness instruments, you in all probability already know. However this checklist wouldn’t be full with out Notion.
Notion is the productiveness equal of a Swiss Military knife. You should use it to create easy notes, absolutely formatted paperwork, and superior databases. At Buffer, a lot of our weblog content material is deliberate, written, and edited in Notion. (I’m drafting this weblog submit in Notion, because it occurs.)
Outdoors of that, I exploit it for all the things from writing podcast scripts to monitoring my weekly exercises. Heck, I even preserve notes about video games I’m presently taking part in in Notion.
Notion’s flexibility means it may be precisely what you want — however the draw back is that it does take a while to arrange the best way you need. Due to that, I select to not preserve my job administration and planning in Notion (although you completely can try this). I discovered that I wanted the readability of a separate, extra centered device. However most of my different work, private {and professional}, takes place in a single database or one other.
All that stated, there are such a lot of nice templates on the market, and as soon as you discover your movement, Notion turns into the device you didn’t know you couldn’t stay with out. Additionally, it performs very well with different instruments like Routine and Akiflow.
My favourite options:
- The power to attach databases for associated tasks
- A number of views that flip databases into kanbans, calendars, and extra
- Formatting choices that let you create stunning paperwork
- The power to ‘publish’ pages and share them publicly
Value: Free, with paid plans beginning at $10
Superlist
Greatest productiveness device for lovers of lists
Superlist remains to be pretty new, however it’s already making waves as a job supervisor and notes device. It’s designed by the identical of us behind Wunderlist (RIP), and it reveals — it’s smooth, minimal, and surprisingly highly effective.
I really like the way it handles subtasks and recurring gadgets, and the interface makes even mundane to-dos really feel enjoyable.
So simple as it appears, Superlist has some highly effective options tucked away, like AI assembly notes, and a voice assistant that may flip a ramble into actionable to-dos.
It’s not as complicated as one thing like Akiflow or Notion, however that’s precisely the purpose. Superlist helps you get stuff finished with out making you are feeling such as you’re managing an enormous system.
Plus, there’s a complete free plan that offers you entry to lots of this. In order for you a superbly designed, dead-simple job supervisor and/or notes app, Superlist is price exploring.
My favourite options:
- Shared lists that replace in real-time (hiya, household purchasing checklist)
- Pure language processing that will help you add gadgets quicker
- AI assembly note-taker that may mechanically add to-do gadgets to your checklist
Value: Free, with paid plans beginning at $15 per particular person per 30 days.
My high tip for instruments testing: If one thing on this checklist doesn’t fairly click on, don’t be afraid to cancel after the trial. The very last thing you need is in your productiveness system to develop into a chore in and of itself.
I extremely advocate experimenting with totally different techniques to search out what matches your mind finest (and retaining a grasp checklist of your most essential duties so nothing will get misplaced in between tool-hopping. I’ve been there!)
Did I miss your favourite device? There are numerous others I’d have preferred to incorporate right here, however this text is already somewhat lengthy! And since I’m monitoring this job, I do know it’s time to maneuver on to right now’s different gadgets…
In all seriousness, although, there are such a lot of wonderful ones on the market that it was powerful to decide on my favorites. For those who’d wish to advocate one thing else for this checklist, pop them within the feedback or discover me @kirstilang on Threads.
