5 Productivity Tools for Remote Work in 2021
When the new norm of remote work hit, many of us were put in a whole different playground. Many people had a clean separation between life at home and work at work. Now, across the world, we are all trying to figure out how to make remote work work.
For a giggle, check out apple’s WFH skit.
Here at the Sidekick office of 2, we used a few tools to make the most out of working from home. Here are 5 productivity tools that helped keep us productive, healthy, and structured.
Monday.com — Manage your projects
Monday.com is a project management platform that lets you organize and oversee all the details for any given project.
Some key features include sub tasks, status trackers, customizable templates, automations, and more. You can use monday.com for your own projects and you can also use monday.com with a team.
This platform is great for remote work because it keeps all your project details clear and organized so that your focus is on execution rather than detail management.
Loom — Send videos easily
Loom is a Chrome Extension and desktop app to send or record videos and screenshares easily. We use Loom almost every day to send designs for review or for engineering QA.
Loom makes it easy to collaborate and receive feedback quickly, almost like mini meetings without actually meeting.
Sidekick — Execute deep work sessions
Sidekick is used to take control of your time and put it towards deep work. By using a Chrome Extension and web app, you intentionally plan your day with accomplishing essential goals in mind.
Sidekick is perfect for remote work because at home, there’s a bountiful of distractions: the TV, the refrigerator, roommates, mothers, etc. Not to mention, the home has historically been used for play or for life — not necessarily, for work. Because of this, at home, we tend to be more distracted.
With Sidekick, you intentionally carve out hours for deep focus and as a result, you have more time for guilt-free play.
Forest — Minimize phone distractions
Forest is a Chrome Extension and mobile application designed to minimize your phone distractions and usage so that you can focus on other tasks, such as exercising or studying.
Because phones have been ingrained in our everyday life, it’s very difficult to avoid phone distractions when we need to. However, this mobile application incentivizes no phone time through the idea of raising trees and eventually, a forest — and many find this method very successful!
Headspace — Take healthy breaks
Headspace is the meditation app used by millions of people to get a dose of mindfulness or tranquility.
Headspace is perfect for taking healthy breaks. This is essential to remote work and work in general because a lot of times, we forget to give ourselves a break. This often leads to burn out and decreased focus and motivation.
With Headspace, you give your thinking mind a rest. You can meditate or follow videos on stretching and exercising. Most of the time, this is exactly what you need to recharge.
I hope you find some of these tools helpful in your life. As many companies adopt either a fully remote or hybrid model, it looks like a version of working from home is here to stay. Best of luck — we hope you thrive!
