The word productivity is often thrown around quite conveniently but what does it mean? Productivity is defined as the level of effectiveness a person can demonstrate when trying to get something done. Essentially, productivity is the amount of output relative to the input you are putting in. There is no single standard of productivity that everyone can be held up to. The term productivity can extend to almost every aspect of our lives and it is essentially the driving force behind the results we produce as an individual.
Someone who is ‘productive’ is considered a valuable asset. Someone who isn’t ‘productive’ is considered a burden or liability. An individual’s productivity can be measured by different metrics that a workplace might deem important. Productivity plays an integral role in making our lives easier. Being able to not only get work done but also produce meaningful results.
In recent times, we have seen a sharp rise in remote working, tight schedules, and a general rise in the overall competence of the business. The world is a lot smaller and more connected than it used to be. There is something new happening every day. Each day brings with it a new trend or innovation that makes the world a different place.
As a business, it is imperative that you keep up with this. How do they do that? Through the teams that work for them. These teams are made of different employees who need to deliver on a certain expectation placed on them. But as human beings, things can get tough. Sometimes things are going on at home. Sometimes it is a general lack of ability to get stuff done. Sometimes the workplace can drain you. Sometimes you have too much on your plate, making it hard to manage.
The Best Apps to Boost Productivity
As they say, when the going gets tough you make the tough get going. This begs the question, how? Let’s take a look at a list of the best applications you can incorporate into your routine to boost your productivity.
Evernote
One of the oldest mobile applications to exist, Evernote has cemented its name in the world of note-taking. Over time, it has evolved from a simple note-taking application into something more complex and capable. By using Evernote, you have an all-in-one scheduling solution that allows you to note down important information, create to-do lists, and integrate images, audio, tech, PDFs, and different types of documents.
Evernote also offers a library of note-taking templates to get you going. There is a web clipper tool that allows you to save clipping from different websites right into the app. If you opt for their paid options, you can also integrate Evernote into different workplace applications like Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and Slack. Leveraging cloud storage, Evernote can be used across different devices concurrently. You can make a note on your phone and it will reflect on your tablet and computer as well.
Freedom
One of the biggest productivity killers is distractions. At work, these distractions could be our favorite social media, shopping sight, or anything we use to pass time. Freedom allows you to block any applications or websites that you feel are wasting your time. The best part, you can create schedules for when you want these websites blocked. For example, if you have a 9 to 5job, have Freedom block all distractions during these hours. Naturally, you won’t be working for the whole 9 hours but it helps if you make a habit to keep all unnecessary distractions away from you.
You can also keep track of how long you kept yourself free from distractions while making notes of your progress. Freedom is available across iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac, and as an extension for Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Microsoft Edge. It starts with a free trial which is converted to $8.99/month or $3.99/ month if paid annually. If you want to purchase it outright, $159.99 is the price to pay.
Todoist
One of the best ways to get things done is by creating a written schedule for it. When it is written, it becomes real and you can touch the reminder. Using Todoist, you can set short-term or long-term reminders. This reminder can be broken into subtasks to add another layer of organization. For example, if you need to complete a blog post, you can create a task for the blog. Next, you can create checklists inside this task to ensure you don’t miss out on anything.
Todoist allows you to prioritize tasks so you remember the stuff that matters in order of importance. It also allows you to see your productivity statistics and reflect on how well you’ve done this month compared to the last. Todoist is available as a free download, a $36/year or $4/month pro plan, $60/year, or $6/month business subscription. It is available on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, and also wearable devices.
If This Then That (IFTTT)
Using IFTTT can, quite literally, change your entire life. IFTTT is a platform that allows you to automate different functions across your smart home, social media accounts, and also other activities. There are hundreds of premade ‘applets’ to choose from but if that doesn’t work for you, IFTTT also allows you to create your own. For example, you can sync your home location with IFTTT along with your smart thermostat.
You can use an applet that would turn the thermostat down whenever you leave the house. This way, even if you forgot to do it on your own, IFTTT would do it for you. Another example would be where you could automatically save every new iOS contact to your Google Contacts. Bar the time it takes to set this up, it always works on its own in the background.
IFTTT allows you to automate several processes across different platforms, making certain aspects of your life operate on autopilot. For example, you can set an applet to create a reminder in Todoist every time you miss a call. This way, those missed calls will pop up as reminders later so you can get back. If you use Google calendar at work, you can use an applet that would automatically create an event in Todoist.
IFTTT allows 5 applets on your free account. IFTTT Pro for $2.50/month allows 20 applets on your accounts with faster speed, multi-action, and customer support. Finally, IFTTT Pro+ for $5/month allows you to go all-in with unlimited applets, connect multiple accounts, access developer tools, and also prioritize customer support among other perks.
Notion
If you work with a team of people and need a platform where all of you can access, upload, schedule, and create content – Notion is your best friend. Termed a digital workplace, Notion allows you to create roadmaps, custom workflows, and a variety of other shared content. Moreover, if there is a particular activity you need to work on, Notion has a library of templates to choose from for to-do lists, meetings, onboarding, expense tracking, vacation planning, and different agendas among many other things.
When using Notion, you have access to different project management tools, design documents, calendars, wikis, and tutorials. Furthermore, Notion is used by many people who share their workflows online. They also include tutorials that teach you how to make the most of Notion because, at times, the platform can get just a little bit overwhelming. There is a slight learning curve to it but once you get a hang of it, you can shift your entire life onto Notion. You can keep track of your professional and personal life on Notion. It also syncs all your data to the cloud so you can access your Notion on a computer, tablet, or mobile phone anywhere in the world.
Notion is available as a free download to use. Personal Pro starts at $4/month. Team starts at $8 per member per month. Enterprise starts at $20 per member per month. The higher up in the tiers you go, the more you can get out of it. Notion can be used to improve your productivity or work as a tool for you to improve your entire team’s productivity.
Conclusion
Productivity is a term to describe how effective you are with the inputs and circumstances you have been given. It is very normal to face situations where your productivity is hampered by factors beyond your control but this doesn’t mean you can’t do something about it. In 2022, there are several extremely powerful applications and services you can use to streamline your processes to make it easier to remember, complete, and get done with important things.
However, with all these tools, you must make an active effort to use them. They are only as useful and powerful as you let them be. If you want to improve your productivity, incorporate one or all of these into your life and see how things get done sooner rather than later as well as better.
To have it all tied in together, you need a strong and stable internet connection like the one from Mediacom. If you want to learn more contact the Mediacom Customer Service.
