We all want to be more productive. Productivity can trickle down and help you with other aspects of your life, such as your relationships, finances, and time with family and friends. How you spend your time is up to you! Here are 8 tools that can help increase productivity
1. RescueTime:
Offers a dark-light feature that automatically changes the colour of your screen based on how much time has been spent on a task for either 5 minutes or 1-hour increments. Red light shines if someone’s been inactive for 2 hours – perfect for those who work from home and feel like they’re never doing anything productive.
2. Freedom:
Sends you alerts for your goals and tracks how well you meet them. Send Freedom a text message and it’ll tell you how many hours per week you spend on the main areas of your life and as a result of that time, how much money you wind up with.
3. RescueTime:
Helps you manage apps that drain your battery or slow down your phone. It’s pretty simple — this is an extension for Google Chrome. You can launch it from your options menu by clicking the triangle at the top of the address bar, then choosing “Rescue Time.” You’ll be prompted to sign in with RescueTime, but once that’s done, it will look like any other extension.
4. Do Not Disturb:
Appears when you’re on an app that requires it. There’s also a Do Not Disturb button in the top right of the screen. It blocks incoming texts, calls, and emails until you turn it back on again, ensuring nothing distracts — or irritates! — you during work or personal time.
5. Sleep Cycle:
Works with the iPhone app to monitor your sleeping patterns by knowing when you’re in light sleep and deep sleep.
6. Bullet Journal:
A journal that tracks your daily activities incorporates the Moleskine journal. It’s been around for a while and there are many how-to guides online to explain it, but it’s basically a set of lists organized by date, plus notes on each day. A page is just a list of events called “bullets.” I’ve used this method for years and still love it!
7. Time Management:
Organizes tasks that need to be completed on a weekly basis — about once weekly depending on the skill level of the employee.
8. Out of Office:
This allows the user to inform team members that he or she will be unavailable for the day. Available throughout the year and in advance, an out-of-office message can remain in place for 24 hours after the message is sent. A daily out-of-office message can be left for 3 days.
What is productivity?
Productivity is a ratio of output to input, so it’s less about the time you spend working and more about the work you produce. It’s important to measure productivity in terms of output because input includes all the time spent thinking and planning — if you’re thinking about your workday on your commute home, that time is considered part of your output.
The tools above are great for managing your day-to-day productivity (and many people have found them very helpful with this) but since nothing can help with long-term productivity, the tools above are like bandages for an amputated arm — they can’t cure the underlying condition.
Why is productivity important?
Productivity as defined here is important because no one wants to go through life doing mediocre work. Some people want to do good work. Some people want to do great work. Few people are satisfied with doing average work. Only those who aspire to do great work want to be known as average performers. To improve your productivity, you want to work smart – effectively and efficiently.
What’s the difference between doing good work and doing great work?
People wonder how they can become more productive, but most people confuse doing good work with great work. Doing good means you’re producing quality output, but it’s not that remarkable. Great work is hard to accomplish in a day or even in a few weeks. It takes time and effort to achieve greatness in any given area of life because it involves incredible self-discipline, dedication, and focus and because you have something to prove. Some people have a driving desire for greatness that others don’t have.
How will I know that I’m becoming more productive?
The easiest way to tell if your productivity is increasing is by your output of great work. Chances are when you’re more productive, you’ll produce more great work than before. People who are efficient and effective in their jobs will often find themselves being asked for advice from people who either want to learn what they do or want their services
What is the difference between productivity tools and time management tools?
Generally speaking, productivity software tools assist an individual or a team in accomplishing tasks. Some examples include goal setting software, task management software, and time tracking software. Time management tools are often used to help a single individual better utilize his or her time to accomplish tasks. Some examples include Pomodoro timers and stopwatch timers.
Do you have the right productivity tool mix?
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Conclusion
Everybody has the potential to be productive and work smart. It’s important that you know where you are in this area and from there, the next step is to figure out how to take your productivity to the next level. Once you have those first two things figured out, then it’s time to put a plan into place. If you don’t have a plan in place, then it’s like trying to find your way out of a forest without a map but with good compass skills: You’re going to waste time and energy getting lost for sure.
