Too much to do? 6 Productivity Apps That Will Help You
Everyone I come across these days is busy. There are so many different tasks, appointments, and things to keep track of day in and day out. It’s no wonder that we need a little help to make sure we stay on task and stay productive throughout the day.
In this blog I’d like to share a few of my favorite smartphone productivity apps with you, that will help you with your productivity and make your life a little easier. Download them to your phone, put them to good use and see if they can help you manage your busy life.
Productivity apps will help youincrease your productivity and make your life a little easier
And more than that I hope you realize that your phone is a handy little tool that can make your life easier and help you get more done.
Never Miss a Thing with Google Calendar
The first productivity app you want to try is a good calendar app. I like the Google Calendar app because it syncs across multiple devices and works with my laptop as well. This is great for keeping track of business appointments, social activities, birthdays, anniversaries and the likes.
You can even set up separate calendars for work tasks and project deadlines, your cleaning schedule at home and more. Yes, it takes a little time to get some of this set up, but once you’re in the habit of using a digital calendar like this you’re not going to want to go without. Plus recurring dates like anniversaries and birthdays only have to be set up once and you’re good to go for years to come.
You don’t have to worry about missing an appointment and there’s no need to keep a mental list of everything you need to remember this week. It’s all in your calendar and your phone will alert you of anything important. It’s amazing how much brain space this frees up, helping you stay productive all day long.
Make A List: Remember The Milk and Wunderlist
If you’re already a fan of to-do lists, you’re going to love the next two productivity apps. If you’re not using lists yet to get through your day, I strongly encourage you to give it a try.
Working from a daily to-do list is one of the best things you can do to boost your productivity. It gives you focus and helps you move right along… ticking of items as you go.
While you can certainly work with pen and paper and carry that around with you all day, why not make use of your smartphone instead. There are plenty of great list apps out there. Two of the best on the market right now are Remember the Milk and Wunderlist.
Both productivity apps have easy to use interfaces and allow you to create to-do lists that will sync across multiple devices. They also allow integration with third party software, but Wunderlist has the advantage here over Remember the Milk with more integration with services like Google Calendar and Dropbox for example.
Remember The Milk has a free option with a paid upgrade and excellent customer service. The basic free option will work for most users but upgrading is always an option.
Wunderlist has a free trial and then a monthly fee. If you need the extra integration, this may be worth it, otherwise give Remember the Milk a try first.
If you’re already a fan of to-do lists, you’ll like Remember the Milk and Wunderlist
Keep Track of Everything with Evernote
Another great app to have in your arsenal is Evernote. The Evernote app and software service has been around for quite some time. It’s a great way to keep track of anything and everything. Think of it as your digital file cabinet that stores, organizes, and lets you access everything you save from your smartphone, your tablet, or your computer.
This comes in very handy when you’re out and about and need to access an important document, or look up the recipe you clipped to make sure you are getting all the right ingredients.
If you’re a writer or blogger, Evernote is a great writing aid as well. Check it out at Evernote.com and see if this app can help you simplify your life — at least the digital aspect of it
Check out Evernote and see if this app can help you simplify your life — well at least the digital aspect of it
Communication at Your Finger Tips with Gmail and Google Contacts
How often do you change cell phones? And how often do you send emails from multiple devices? One of the handiest little productivity apps is Gmail and the integrated Google Contacts. No more digging around for contact information in multiple planners and digital accounts. It’s all there at your fingertips.
And speaking of Gmail, it’s a lot more powerful than you may realize, particularly when it comes to the smart phone app. You can add multiple Gmail accounts (let’s say you have a private one and a business one) and even forward or import emails from other accounts into Gmail. That means all your emails — not matter what account they are — can be managed right from your smart phone.
One of the handiest little productivity apps is Gmail and the integrated Google Contacts
That’s a huge time saver. Instead of having time set aside to read and answer emails, you can use all those little pockets of time while you’re waiting on a meeting to start, brewing coffee, ordering lunch, or waiting in line at the grocery store to deal with email.
And since you always have your phone on you, you can quickly glance at messages as they come in (if needed) to see if something’s popping up that you need to deal with immediately.
Gmail also has different inboxes and a nifty label system that allows you to filter your emails as needed. Have purchase receipts auto filed with a “purchases” label and you’ll know exactly where to look for a receipt if needed.
Plus with an app that’s supported over multiple devices, you can head on over to your laptop to type up a longer reply when needed. And if you really need some quiet, focused time to knock out a project, silence your phone and email won’t interrupt your day.
Don’t Try to Remember All Those Passwords
Let’s wrap this up with one more app that will save you lots of time and keep all your various accounts more secure. Yes, I’m talking about a password management app. I recommend RoboForm. For a yearly fee, you can store and access unlimited passwords to all your online sites.
RoboForm has great multiple platform support making it easy to access your passwords from your favorite internet browser on your laptop, desktop, or tablet. And of course there’s a smartphone app as well. This comes in handy not only when you want to check your bank status or log into your favorite shopping site from your phone, but also when you’re traveling and suddenly need access to a particular password. Just look it up on your phone.
And with a handy password generator, you end up with much more secure passwords then the ones you come up with from the top of your head. But how does this save you time?
The first and obvious one is of course that you no longer have to go hunt down passwords wherever you may have written them down at the time. I don’t know about you, but I’ve wasted hours doing that in the past. With a password manager app all your passwords are right there at your fingertips. The only thing you need to remember is your master password. And since you’ll be using it every day to access your password manager app, that’s easy to do.
The second way you save time is a little more subtle but it adds up quickly. RoboForm has this neat browser feature where you can just hover over the icon, and start to type the site you want to log in at. It pulls the site up for you and enters your username and password for you. It may only save you a few seconds of time, but if you multiply that by 20 logins to various things per day… that’s a lot of time over the course of a year.
Best of all, it’s convenient and keeps all your passwords safe and secure.
Conclusion
I hope these suggestions have been helpful and if nothing else they inspire you to look at your smartphone as a productivity tool. The main think I want you to remember is that you should make any productivity apps — whether it’s one of the ones I mentioned here, or something else you come across — work for you.
You want it to make your life easier and simpler, not the other way around. Spend some time every few months evaluating how well the apps you’re using are working for you. Do they save you time and make you more productive?
Take time every few months to evaluate the apps you use. Do they save you time and make you more productive?
Or do you end up wasting time with the app? If so, don’t feel bad about ditching it and finding something that works well for you. Make them work for you and tweak the apps you use until you come up with a system that helps you stay productive and makes your day go smoothly. That’s really what using your smartphone to increase productivity is all about.
Which productivity apps do you use? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Till Next Time
Mike Gardner is The Time Doctor
