Digital and technological advancements are helping professionals to maximize their job performance on a daily basis.
Email facilitates seamless and instant communication, mobile marketing can significantly enhance website conversions, and social media has established itself as a powerful customer service channel.
Yet for every way in which digital tools can help you to excel in your role, they can also serve as a serious hindrance.
Digital distractions are omnipresent – from the overwhelming desire to check your smartphone during the working day, to an overpowering need to access personal emails. If you want to procrastinate, a variety of online deflections are only a click away!
1. Focus Booster
If you haven’t heard of it, the Pomodoro Technique is an approach to time management that was developed in the late 1980s. The method is centred upon the concept of ‘chunking’ your working day into short focus periods, traditionally 25 minutes.
These intervals, or Pomodoros, are followed by short, scheduled breaks, which eliminate the likelihood of stress or burnout from overworking.
Focus Booster is a time tracking app that you can use to adhere to the Pomodoro Technique, maintain your focus and work smarter.
The app allows you to customize. the length of both your Pomodoros and break times. Sessions are automatically recorded so you don’t have to manually track your time, and can quickly see how long you’ve worked and on which tasks your time has been spent.
The simple dashboard also lets you quickly produce reports for analysis and invoicing, helping you to work even more efficiently. A mini timer widget is always visible, yet unobtrusive, so you can see when your next break is.
Its compatible in web, Windows, and iOS. The starter package is free, while the professional package is $5 a month
2. Offtime
Even when your focus is strong, distractions can easily filter in and offset your workflow. 18% of users can’t go more than “a few hours” without checking Facebook, and 61% of users check their newsfeed at least once a day.
Meanwhile, 28% of iPhone users check their Twitter feed before getting up in the morning. It’s unsurprising, then, that some of the biggest obstacles to productivity include social media and online games.
Offtime helps to counteract these distractions with a digital detox of sorts. The app has the ability to restrict access to tempting apps such as Facebook and Twitter, and allows you to block calls, texts and notifications for a chosen time period.
You can customize your connectivity with different settings for work, family, or yourself (the aptly named “Me Time”), choosing the apps to which you need access and when.
Offtime also provides you with analytics that provides you with a valuable insight into your phone usage. Find out what you’re doing, when, and for how long, and you could receive a much-needed wake-up call and productivity boost all in one!
Compatible with Android and iOS. The light version for iOS is $3, the Pro version for Android starts at $3.
3. Wunderlist
Creating to-do lists is one of the simplest but most effective actions you can take to instantly improve your productivity. This will help you to prioritize your workload and enable you to break down your day into more manageable, bite-sized segments.
The Wunderlist app’s mission statement is to help you tick off all your personal and professional to-do’s.
Not only does its clean interface make it easy to create and organize essential lists, you can set due dates and reminders so no task will go uncompleted and you can avoid missing deadlines.
The app also allows you to share your lists and collaborate with colleagues, on projects or campaigns, to whom you can assign particular tasks.
You can maximize productivity by forwarding your emails to Wunderlist, where they’ll be turned into actions, and also by adding anything you see online straight to your lists.
Finally, you can access your Wunderlists from anywhere, using any device.
All of your lists are saved to the cloud, so you can make a list using your smartphone during your commute, and bring it up on your laptop once you’ve made it into the office, a simple function that can significantly enhance your productivity.
Its compatible with Web, Windows, iOS, Android and the light version is free, while the Pro version is $4.99 a month.
4. Engross
Whether you want to improve your focus while working from home or need to manage a hectic life on the go, Engross may help.
The app includes a Pomodoro clock, a planner and calendar, and reminders alongside statistical analysis of how you use your time. Using Engross lets you block out notifications and functions from other apps to keep you from being distracted.
The simple, minimalist design of Engross means the application itself can save you time compared to more complicated apps. Its free and available in Android and iOS.
5. Evernote
Designed to help you keep track of notes, tasks, and events, Evernote provides all-in-one scheduling help. Evernote lets you integrate text, images, audio files, PDFs, and other documents so you can work anywhere.
Note-taking templates, a web clipper, and handy resizing and recoloring features make organization easy. Because Evernote captures information across devices, it lets you sync and search your schedule and notes quickly.
Evernote’s free app provides note-taking and web-clipping options, while personal and professional accounts allow you to store more content, work offline, and integrate the app with Slack, Salesforce, and Microsoft Teams.
Free with limited features, $8/month personal account, $10/month professional account, $15/user/month Endnote Teams account and available in Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac
6. Forest
Forest lets you plant a virtual tree when you want to focus. While you do your work, that tree grows. Walk away before your work is done, get too distracted, or fall victim to procrastination and your tree dies.
To help you figure out your focus needs, Forest offers a personality test to get you started.Forest doesn’t just grow electronic trees, however. The app partners with the tree-planting organization Trees for the Future to plant actual trees using virtual coins sent by users.
Free Chrome extension; $3.99 for iOS; free for Android with in-app purchases and available in Chrome, iOS, and Android.
7. Freedom
Freedom blocks websites and apps to help you stay focused. You can also work offline and block the internet entirely to keep yourself from wasting time or schedule times for your blocklist to kick in.
Freedom provides ambient noise and lets you track session history and make notes about the tasks you complete. By syncing Freedom across devices, you may free yourself from distractions anywhere.
Premium Freedom features include unlimited sessions and devices, recurring scheduled sessions, and partner discounts.
Free trial, $8.99/month, $3.33/month for a yearly subscription, $159.99 to purchase and available in Android; iOS; Mac; Windows; extensions available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.
8. Habitica
Habitica turns building productive habits into a game. Rewards and punishments motivate and inspire you while engaging with other users builds a community of competition and accountability.
To use Habitica, you import your tasks, habits, and to-dos as monsters that you need to conquer. You maintain your avatar’s health and level up by completing tasks. Subscribers can purchase gems to help keep the site running.
Free, subscriptions available; $9/month team subscription with +$3 per member and available in Android, iOS, and Chrome extension.
9. If This Then That (IFTTT)
A tool to integrate apps, devices, and services, IFTTT features smart home, social media, and cross-post content applets to streamline your online activities. IFTTT also lets you customize applets to meet your needs.
IFTTT’s over 700 automations optimize efficiency and eliminate incompatibility among apps and device. Integrated brands include Dropbox, Slack, Fitbit, and Twitter. For example, you could set use IFTT to automatically save new iOS contacts to Google Contacts.
Free access to IFTTT opens five automations at standard speeds, while Pro and Pro+ plans provide additional features. Developers can access IFTTT documentation and explore new strategies and connections for customers and users.
Free, IFTTT Pro for $5/month, IFTTT Pro+ for 10/month and available in Android and iOS.
10. Notion
Notion unites teams in a single workspace by letting you create living documents, customizable workflows and roadmaps, and shareable content. Notion allows individuals and companies to use and adapt templates for meetings, to-dos, weekly agendas, and onboarding.
Notion users have access to wikis, project management tools, calendars, and design documents. Additional resources include blogs, guides and tutorials, and webinars.
Free for individuals, Notion offers personal pro and team plans alongside enterprise contracts. Free, $4/month for personal pro, $96/user/year or $10/user/month for teams, custom pricing for enterprises and available in Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows.
11. RescueTime
RescueTime strengthens focus and removes distractions by tracking work you accomplish on your computer. It uses that data to give you insight into your focus habits.
RescueTime gives you goals and keeps you motivated throughout the day. By identifying strengths, RescueTime tells you the optimal time for focused work, alerts you if you’re accepting too many tasks, and lets you know when you’re losing focus.
When you sign up for RescueTime, it creates a profile based on the way you work. The RescueTime survey assesses the type of work you do, the setting, your work schedule, and your work goals.
Free with limited features, $9/month, $78/annual plan and available for Windows and Mac.
12. Todoist
A short- and long-term scheduler, Todoist helps you capture and organize tasks. Todoist provides sections and subtask categories to keep you organized, allows you to set up recurring tasks, and helps you prioritize tasks.
Notifications and reminders accompany labels, boards to help you see the big picture, and filters. Todoist provides task archives and weekly and monthly statistics to give you productivity and activity updates.
Free with limited features, $36/year or $4/month pro plan, $60/year or $6/month business subscription. Available in Android and iOS; Linux, Windows, Mac; Gmail and Outlook; Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari; wearables.
13. Toggl
To accommodate freelancers and individuals, small teams, and large groups, Toggl provides a desktop time tracker compatible with Macs, Windows, and Linux. The app features idle detection, reminders, timelines, a Pomodoro timer, and offline time tracking.
Toggl lets you track your activities on the go with Toggl Track, a browser plugin that integrates with tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira.
Mobile apps accompany desktop features, while more than 100 integrations let you capture billing and invoice information, track employee timesheets, and monitor payroll and budgeting.
14. Asana
Whether it’s to keep on top of your daily tasks, or effectively executive a specific campaign, effective digital marketers recognize the importance of project management.
Project management software is becoming increasingly popular, as it enables professionals to easily outline tasks, timelines and major milestones for their work.
Asana is one of the best apps for tracking work and managing projects, with its clean, user-friendly interface and extensive list of features and functions. You can easily view your progress for any project or working day.
Invite team members to a project and you can leverage Asana as a streamlined communications tool, which will ensure you receive only the most essential updates and enable you to share files and attachments.
Create individual tasks within projects, set deadlines and assign them to either yourself or two colleagues. You can even break up tasks into smaller sub-tasks, if you want to take a more granular, detailed approach towards your productivity.
Asana also lets you add new workflows as quickly as possible with pre-made templates, and when you realize that a single task has become a more fundamental undertaking, you can easily turn it into a project of its own.
Its compatible with Web, iOS, and Android and the basic version is free, Asana Premium costs $8.33 per team member per month.
15. Keeper
Considering that 63% of data breaches are due to weak, default or stolen passwords, and 60% of people use the same password for everything, it’s highly inadvisable to save passwords to devices that aren’t your own, particularly in a professional context.
Often, roles can require us to work remotely and from multiple device, and a key issue that can arise from this situation is a lost or forgotten password.
Keeper is a secure password management app and digital vault that can provide you with a consistently safe working environment and help you to maintain your productivity. You can log into websites and apps using a fingerprint scanner on your mobile device.
Keeper also creates high-strength passwords at random that will best protect you, your work, and your organization from hackers. If you prefer to create your own passwords, Keeper will measure their strength for you.
Along with fingerprint sign-in, the app also supports two-step verification and Keeper DNA, which uses personal devices such as a smartwatch to confirm your identity.
File sharing is also made much safer as you can do so securely with fellow Keeper users via the app. As with many of the apps listed, Keeper works across all devices, automatically syncing your records so they’re accessible both online and offline.
Its compatible with Web, iOS, and Android and for individuals, it costs £20.99 per year, for businesses, it costs £22 per year.
