Productivity is something we all want to achieve. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Many people start out motivated and end up giving up. It is mainly because they’re either not using the correct productivity tools or are not using the tools properly, be it productivity tips and techniques, apps, or other software. Today, I’ll be discussing nine such tools that have helped me become highly productive and hopefully will help you as well.
Notion/ bullet journalling
Both Notion and bullet journalling were created to help people organize their life and have everything in one place. You can plan your day, write your to-do lists, write your shopping lists, note down deadlines, and even track your habits using Notion or a bullet journal. Basically, these are all-in-one productivity tools, which might seem like a bad choice for some people but a great one for others. I compared these two methods in one of my earlier articles, and as I mentioned then, both are very effective tools, one being more advantageous depending on your lifestyle. I prefer Notion even though I used to use a bullet journal (which I covered in my previous article), but your choice depends on what you wish to achieve with it. For more insight on which one to use, you can check out my article here.
Google calendar
If you want a platform to plan your day, I definitely recommend Google Calendar. Even though there are many alternatives on the play store, the simple and neat design of Google Calendar makes it easier and more pleasant to use. Once everything became online, my days became quite unorganized. So I decided to give several calendars a try, and Google Calendar was a keeper! There, you can add events, tasks, and deadlines with the duration, location, and even links (if it’s an online meeting!). You can color-code these and even customize how and when they repeat.
Pomodoro method
This is the first productivity technique on the list. The Pomodoro method is quite famous and used mainly by students. This is how the basic Pomodoro block works: you work for 25 minutes, rest for 5 minutes. This 30-minute session collectively is called one Pomodoro block. You can repeat this block four times before taking a long (usually 1 hour) break.
This method is said to work very well. But you can modify these blocks if you feel like it doesn’t work for you. I, for example, felt like 25 minutes isn't enough for me to get into the "work mode". So I tried 50-10 blocks, and they worked a lot better for me. How you space it out is really up to you. The main purpose of this method is to make sure you take breaks at appropriate times so that you don’t burn out.
Notes/ Google keep/ Google Docs/ Evernote/ Onenote
We all know the advantages that come with digital note-taking. It's much easier to update, store and retrieve your files. If you want to write anything, be it an article like this one, a poem, a letter, or an essay, and you don’t want to write several drafts by hand before coming up with the perfect one, you can use one of these apps. All these apps are great, but their main purposes are different. You can use Notes or Google Keep on your mobile device to quickly jot something down. You can use Google Docs or Evernote to write something like an essay, and you can use Onenote to take school notes. Of course, just like any other app, you can always change it up a bit and use them for any of those purposes. Your main goal is to keep all your written work in one place.
I have used all the above apps, but only Google Docs and Google Keep stuck with me. As I mentioned above, I use Google Keep to jot down random thoughts and google docs to write articles. In fact, I’m writing this article on google docs right now!
Block Site/ Freedom
In this digital world, it’s easy to get distracted by social media. To avoid this, you can use app and website blockers like Block Site and Freedom. On Freedom, you can add limits to your app and website usage and block particular apps and websites after your time is up. On Block Site, you can select specific apps and websites and choose when to lock them so you can focus well during your productive hours. Both Freedom and Block Site have web and mobile versions, and both are great methods you track and limit your distractions. I would also recommend using a screen time tracker like StayFree so you know how you spend your time on your devices.
Eat the Frog
Eat the Frog is another technique that can help you to be more productive during your day. So first of all, you have to find your "Frog", which is the task you dislike the most. It’s the hardest task on your to-do list. The one that you have been putting off the longest. The one that you NEED to do. Once you find the “Frog”, do it! Take small steps at first and try your best to finish it. That’s your main goal for the day. Once you finish the “Frog” you will feel accomplished and motivated to do more. If you keep doing this, you will manage to get a lot of dreading tasks off your to-do list. Make sure to find your frog as early as possible, so you don’t have to stress out at the last moment trying to find it.
Forest/ Yeolpumta (열품타)
Both Forest and Yeolpumeta are time trackers you can use to track your study time. Forest is a simple app. It helps you focus by planting virtual trees. You can set the timer to as long as you want. Once you start the timer, your tree starts to grow. If you stop the timer before the time is up, your tree dies! When and how long you studied during the day, week and month are shown in daily, weekly, and monthly reports. Your trees are stored in a garden. The simple design of this app is what catches many people’s attention. Forest is a very famous study time tracker, and it’s indeed very effective as well.
Yeolpumta(열품타) is a less famous app. There, you can add different tasks, and when you’re doing a task, you can start the specific timer for that task. It records how long you performed each task every day and how long you worked during the day and week. Despite not being well known, Yeolpumta is very effective as it also has a simple design and is easy to use. Both these apps are available for mobile devices, and Forest has a web extension as well.
The Eisenhower Matrix
Our final tool is a technique called “The Eisenhower Matrix”. This method helps you to prioritize your tasks, which contributes hugely to productivity. You have to make a matrix as shown below:
Then you have to include all your tasks in one of the four cells. The first cell contains the tasks that are urgent and important. You should do these tasks ASAP. So they are your biggest priority right now. The 2nd cell has tasks that are important but not urgent. You can schedule them for later. The 3rd cell has tasks that are urgent but not important. You should try and delegate these tasks. The 4rth cell contains that are neither important nor urgent. These are the tasks that you should remove from your to-do list. This way, you can categorize and find which tasks you should do first.
So I hope these tips helped you the way they helped me. Using the proper tools plays a huge role in increasing productivity, and I hope you can use these tools to aim for higher productivity. Happy working!
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