Forest

Forest is an app that helps keep you from being distracted by your smartphone. In the app you set a timer for however long you want to stay off your cellphone. If you remain in the app a tree will grow and you will earn coins, but if you leave the app your tree will die. The app gives you a positive incentive to stay off your phone.

The app is only .99 in the App Store. There is also a free version called Chicken Clock.

Habitica

Habitica is an app that allows you to make your life into a role-playing game. You create a customized avatar and gain experience points as you accomplish tasks. There are three types of tasks in the game: habits, dailies, and to-dos. Like Forest, Habitica incorporates a positive incentive to get your things done.

StayFocused

StayFocused is a computer application that allows you to block specific websites from your use during a set period of time, that way you can focus on your work.

Here's a link for more information about the app:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en

For more information about productivity apps and websites, you might want to check out Thomas Frank's YouTube videos. Here's a link to a few relevant ones:

Although his videos are aimed at college students, his advice should be helpful to anyone. The third video explains more about the Habitica app I mentioned.

Hope this helps!

That is a good question.

Some useful productivity tools are:

1. ProofHub: This is a project management tool that will allow you to collaborate with your team, assign tasks, and track progress.
2. nTask: This tool is perfect for managing tasks and projects. It allows you to create to-do lists, set deadlines, and track time spent on each task.
3. Zoom and GotoMeeting are video conferencing tools that allow you to connect with your team and clients from anywhere in the world.
4. Toggl: This is a time tracking tool that allows you to track how much time you spend on each task.
5. Simplenote: This is a simple note-taking tool that allows you to capture and organize ideas. It's a great way to jot down quick notes and access them from anywhere.
6. Figma: This is a cloud-based design tool made for businesses of all sizes, as well as freelancers, to craft, share, and collaborate on design prototypes.
7. Calendly: This is a scheduling tool that makes it easy to schedule meetings and appointments without the back-and-forth of emailing.
8. IFTTT: This app allows you to automate tasks and connect different apps and services together.
9. Pocket: This is a read-it-later tool that allows users to save articles, videos, and other content for later consumption.
10. Focusmate: This is a virtual co-working tool that helps users stay focused and productive by pairing them with a virtual accountability partner.

Even I was trying to find out the right answer on how to improve my productivity. After reading self-development books and watching many youtube videos, I came up with a perfect solution and yes! it worked for me.

Every day before going to bed, all of us think “Let me sleep early today, I should study hard from tomorrow morning. I should wake up at 6 AM, go for a jog, and then I will study”. You put alarm at 6 AM to 7 AM for every 15 mins. But what happens is “You wake up at 8 AM because u clicked SNOOZE button”. I know it happens for most of us. And our day starts with disappointment as failed in the first most task of the day.

So what really helped me in waking up early in the morning without fail is “I can’t WAke UP alarm” app (available both in IOS and Android). You have to set time and select the puzzles and number of snoozes. That's all you will definitely wake up.

I recommend you to do exercise daily for at least 30 mins as soon as you wake up. Never say I don't have time for exercise. (Our heart knows how productive we are..)

Choose a clean study space without any distractions.

There is this app called “Forest” (unfortunately not free for IOS users). ITs very effective one that helps you keep focused and avoid distractions from your mobile phone. A tree grows for every chosen study time. By the end of the day, if you see around 5 trees grown, you will get interested to study for more time. I loved this because we work for a lot of time but we don't find productivity. This app really helps you. You can also use POMORADO app

I recommend you to use any fitness watch, which reminds you to take a break and walk when you sit for long hours continuously. If not set alarm for every one hour.

I also started using “Y-productivity ” application in my windows PC where you can enter the list of tasks, subtasks and it will let you know how much time u have been spent on a particular task. It also has “Focus mode” which blocks all social media websites, YOutube, games or any other distracting website.

Also, I would strongly recommend you to maintain a journal for your daily progress. Try recording your progress every day by writing “satisfied or partially satisfied or dissatisfied” which will make yourself realize how productive you are and helps you improvising.

Above all this, procrastination comes only when you don’t love the work you are doing. All I can say is “do either what you love or try to love what you do.”

Step Set Go.

Yeah, I know many of you would be using this app but let me tell you that still this is one of the most underrated one.

To start with the most important thing, This is a Desi App, I mean it's Indian 😏.

It seriously deserves a lot more than what it is getting currently.

Ok, let me tell you what this app does basically:

It counts your steps.

What?

You might say then what's new in this? There are tons of apps which can count my steps.

But hey! Wait.

.

.

.

.

.

It counts your steps and then rewards you. Isn't that interesting???

You walk and this app credits you with coins and you can get free goodies, accessories and discounts on top restaurants, shops and other places.

And yes, it works.

Let me tell you in more detail:

The app basically rewards you with coins upon your number of steps. Generally 1000 steps = 1 Coin [Actually a little more than that].

But if you walk during the turbo hours, then you can earn even more. You compete with your friends and it's even more fun then.

There are events which really make the app usage way more interesting.

For an example, Let is say you walk 10k Steps daily and also claim the daily rewards, then on average you can earn 16–17 coins per day.

And then, you can get a free t-shirt every 6–7 months from them. Isn't it good?

So it basically takes care that you walk and just don't lay idle, scrolling your feeds, making you fit.

You should download this app for sure. Let us appreciate the developers for such a nice app.

Signing Off

Khwab Mishra

There are so many websites out there that can make your life easier, but few people know about them. Here are a few that we think you should be aware of:

1. Dropbox - This is a cloud storage and file sharing service that is loved by millions of people all over the world. It makes it easy to share files with other people, access them from any device, and collaborate on projects.

2. Uber - Uber is a ride-sharing service that can get you anywhere in the world very quickly and at a fraction of the cost of traditional taxis. You can book rides through the app or through their website.

3. Amazon - Amazon is one of the world's largest online retailers, and they make it easy to purchase products from their website or through their app. They have a wide range of products available, and their customer service is top-notch.

4. Gmail - Gmail is one of the most popular email services on the internet, and it's free to use for everyone. It's easy to setup and use, and it has tons of features that make emailing very simple and efficient.

We hope that this helps you find some websites that can make your life easier!

There are multiple productivity apps available on the play store and app store. So answering for best productivity apps from them is difficult, but I can say which I am using and like.

So here is the list of best productivity apps.

1. Evernote: Evernote is best as a note-taking app

2. Dropbox: Dropbox is one of the best file hosting service providers.

3. Google Calendar: Google Calendar is widely using an online calendar.

4. TeamViewer: TeamViewer can consider the best remote control and desktop sharing tool

5. Zoom: Zoom is a mostly used video conferencing tool (Risen to the top of the market during the coronavirus pandemic.)

6. Streak for Gmail: email management with Streak is the best way to keep your eyes on mail.

7. Buffer: Buffer is the best Social Media management tool for scheduling posts.

8. Trello: To-do and project management tool

I hope this answer helps you.

Absolutely, I'd love to share my personal journey with using QAdominator and how it transformed my productivity on Quora. Picture this: managing multiple Quora accounts felt like juggling flaming swords while blindfolded. I was overwhelmed, trying to ensure each account was active, engaging, and creating value. Enter QAdominator, my productivity knight in shining armor!

Initially, I was skeptical about using an automation tool. I mean, could AI really generate answers that matched my voice and expertise? To my surprise, the AI-generated answers were not only coherent but also insightful. It was like having a digital clone that perfectly captured my tone and style. This feature alone saved me hours of brainstorming and typing, allowing me to focus on other creative aspects of my work.

One memorable challenge was when a popular answer of mine started losing traction. Panic mode kicked in as I watched it slowly fade into obscurity. But thanks to QAdominator's answer monitoring, I was promptly alerted. The tool optimized the answer, tweaking it for better visibility. Within days, my answer was back on top, gathering upvotes faster than a cat video on YouTube!

Speaking of upvotes, the ability to automatically upvote my answers was a game-changer. It felt a bit like having a secret weapon in my marketing arsenal. My content's visibility improved dramatically, which was crucial for driving traffic to my site. And let's not forget the joy of downvoting those pesky competing answers—I mean, it’s all in the spirit of healthy competition, right?

Managing multiple accounts was another beast altogether. With QAdominator's proxy binding and organized account management, I could handle everything seamlessly without fear of IP bans. I went from chaos to Zen, with everything neatly categorized and under control.

But the real cherry on top? The detailed analytics. I could dive deep into the data and truly understand what resonated with my audience. This insight was invaluable for crafting future answers and content strategies.

To anyone feeling buried under the weight of managing Quora accounts, I can't recommend QAdominator enough. It's like having a personal assistant who's always on top of things. Plus, if you're thinking about trying it out, I've got a little treat—use my exclusive discount code JA45%OFF to get 45% off your purchase. Trust me, it’s worth every penny.

For more practical insights and tips, feel free to visit my Quora homepage. I'm always eager to share what I've learned on this wild ride and would love to help you boost your Quora game too. Happy answering!

One lesser-known tech tool that has greatly improved my productivity is Notion. Notion is a versatile all-in-one workspace that allows you to create databases, kanban boards, calendars, and much more all in one place. It has completely transformed the way I organize my tasks and projects, saving me time and helping me stay on track.

Another helpful tool is Focus@Will, a music streaming service that uses neuroscience to boost your focus and productivity. I find that listening to their specially curated music playlists while working helps me stay in the zone and get more done.

Lastly, I have also found Airtable to be a game-changer for managing and organizing data. It's like a more user-friendly version of Microsoft Excel, with powerful features for collaboration and visualization.

I highly recommend checking out these tools if you're looking to enhance your productivity and streamline your workflow. Happy organizing!

Google Keep

Google Keep is a note-taking service provided by Google. It is available as an android app, iOS app, and a website.

We can use this for multi-purposes. On clicking the plus symbol:

• Taking a photo and saving it as note
• Saving an image from gallery
• Drawing a text or symbol and saving it
• Making a list of items with tick-boxes, as I did in the above screenshot
• Recording voice and saving it
• Setting reminders

Each note you save appears as a box. You can change the size and color of the boxes and organize them in a neat fashion. If you love organizing things, this app is for you.

And did I tell you, you could search through all the notes? Yeah, awesome.

The best part comes here!

You can save anything on your mobile and access it right away on your laptop/desktop. All you have to do is, go to

“keep.google.com” and login.

This is the web version:

It is a very useful app. Seems minimalist.

See, a no of business applications have come up to gather data and to enable to analyse them.

But, main asset is human resource. They have the major role in increasing productivity.

Now-a-days human being is running after much after money, land, position. Moreover, due to competition, human being stay more in tension for the growth, career of children, All these affect mental and physical state.

That is why it is suggested to bring up a calm atmosphere inside the organisation. I suggest the followings,

1. People may go for small physical exercises, just before entering into work field.
2. Music may be played inside the workplace.
3. An small break may be given for doing meditation.
4. People may be given authority to decide on their problem and to find solution.
5. Freedom to choose the work gives satisfaction to the working staff. I had read that in an organisation, working people are given option to choose their workplace. The result is that production , profit has gone up.
6. Empowering workforce leads to increase productivity.

Apps don’t make you more productive. You do.

They can only help you if you do your part. Which is to actually finish your task. Therein lies to root cause which is procrastination or lack of motivation. Or something fundamental like you’re not supposed to be doing that yet until you have the resources to complete the task for example.

I’ve fallen into this trap of trying various apps and tools to ‘manage’ my productivity. Spent unnecessary money and dropping them not too long later. Now I use a few that works for my style and the main apps that dominate my routine are:

1. Notion for project management, tasks, notes and wiki.
2. Apple Calendar for scheduling.
3. Productive for habit tracking.

This combination works for me. I stopped looking for the all-in-one solution because there isn’t one, at least for now. Try a few that suits you then stick with them for a while.

Hi!

Here’s a couple of tools that I use regularly and adore - and think more people should use those.

• Grammarly - A spell-checker app that only gets more useful with new updates (and it stopped freezing Google Docs at last).
• Kontentino - There’s probably no easier to use social media scheduler tool on the market. And with their calendar dashboard, managing several accounts is a breeze.
• LiveWebinar - Whether you need to create a webinar or a regular team meeting, LiveWebinar has all the tools (and video quality) to help you with it.
• Raynet CRM - To keep your customers' data in order without several files or contact books.
• Youmap - My newest finding! With this app, you can create interactive maps and join communities related to a given topic.

Greetings,

I am looking for some ToDo app that would contain the following features:

1. Chrome extension

2. Android and Windows support (iOS support would be a plus point but not required as of now!)

3. Sync and Backup

4. Easily add ToDo

5. A reminder with motivation (sound and notification)

6. Focus timer (Pomodoro)

7. Summary of today’s tasks (lock screen, widget)

8. Progress widget on-screen (lock screen, widget)

9.1 I should be able to add individual todo as well as nested todos wrapped in a custom category. For example, I would like to add exercise, yoga, meditation and sleep in the Health category. I want to add revision, documentation, and implementation in Office progress category and new learning, documentation, and implementation in New learning category. Now, I would like to wrap both Office progress and New learning categories in one category - Career. So, I will have a total of 2 categories: Health and Career. Career category has two sub-categories: Office progress and New learning.

9.2 Second, I should be able to set custom time, duration and set for an individual todo as well as it's parent category. For example, I want to do exercise for an hour 3 times a week, yoga and stretching - every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Meditation - daily.

Now, as I have set 1 hour for exercise, whenever I start exercising, I would start the timer and I can stop the timer any time. Based on my stop time, I will get the statistics for set goals against achievements. Also, expected time (time that was set for particular todo) vs actual time (the time I have spent actually).

9.3 I should be able to see the statistics for each individual todo as well as of the parent category too. For example, I should be able to see the statistics of exercise, yoga, meditation, etc… individually as well as for the main category - Health also.

9.4 Not limited to individual todo and category, but I should be able to see my statistics overall also. For example, suppose I have 3 categories and 5 separate todos without any category. Now, based on each todo and category, I should be able to see my overall progress - that is how well I am on my track, how many things I am completing - the overall progress, overall performance.

10. Statistics:

10.1 Time taken so far or being taken for each task (Time tracking - start-stop for the task, time spent on a particular task, estimated time according to past performance, etc…). Here, note the estimated time, average time - which is, how much time I am taking or giving for a particular task. For example, suppose I have started meditation and based on my start and stop timing, you would tell me that on an average how much time I am spending for meditation.

10.2 Insights, Reports on how many things we have done so far, how many things are remained, how many times we have performed or completed a task out of a total set, goal, and growth for each todo, overall goal and growth performance.

11: AI:

11.1 I am looking for AI that gradually increases my habits, strength and would show me that with in-depth report comparing my past and present performance.

11.2 Sometimes, we set unrealistic and too many todos. Your AI should give me feedback on that and should show me how can I organize things in a better way.

11.3 Your AI should show me how much time I would take to accomplish my goals and how can I improve that if required. For an example, if according to my past performance, I would take 5 years to reach my goals - there should be a slider or some kind of easy UI using which I would set the time 3 years and your AI would show me a complete schedule of the day using which I can achieve my goals in 3 years.

I hope you could get all of my requirements. Is there any app that would fulfill these requirements?

Being in a hectic life, we tend to forget alot of things and need to stay updated and aware about certain things. So the certain apps that I use to increase my productivity are:

First is DailyHunt , early morning when you wake and the first thing not only me but many people do is check their phone messages and also news! Yes, this app will help you to know about national and international matters, rather than fetching for the newspaper, when you have your digital newspaper right in your hands. You get to know about 10 to 12 topics in just fifteen minutes! The best way to read faster and save time is through this app. DailyhuntApp

Second is Popshot , usually people use WhatsApp or email to send any important links or images to your colleagues, but I just started using this app it's very useful to communicate with friends and colleagues. The reason using this app is because of its interaction through live screenshots. Very useful in sending any website link or videos through this app and no need to save it in your phone gallery. All these screenshots get saved in the web gallery. PopShot

And Third is Todoist , you might have heard about this app. I feel that this app needs to be there in every phone if you have a tight schedule and tend to forget many things. In this, you just need to jot down the schedule for the day or week and this app will give a reminder according to timings set by you. Like you are going to meet a client or friendfor lunch and you are in the office with a big workload, then this app will give you a reminder. Todoist

So these are the basic apps that I feel should be there to give you a push and help in making your day even more productive.

I find Google Calendar to be the number one app for time management. If there is something I need to do I put it on there. I can access this from all my devices. I also set up alarms and reminders to keep me on task.

I also use Acuity Scheduling for setting appointments. That is where my clients and people that I network with can go to set up an appointment with me. This saves on a lot of back and forth in email. This will also integrate with my Google Calendar.

I use Trello to manage my tasks for both business and personal. This helps me organize my projects in a way that saves me time. All my work projects go into workflows and have everything I need for that project in one place. I can access this from all my devices.

I use Slack for communication in my business. It keeps everyone working on the same project in an easy to search timeline so that no message get lost. This saves time because we are not all sending emails to each other.

And I use video a lot for all kinds of communications. I will use Zoom and Loom the most when it comes to communication by video. It just depends on the type of communication and message I need.

There are a ton of great apps out there. You just need to find which work best for you in your business and life.

I hope this has helped you.

Diana Wilson

Google Keep!

Reasons:

1. Simple to use. Sure it is basic but it works
2. Take notes via Android Auto voice, Android device, Chromebook, Windoze
3. Access via Android, Chromebook, Windoze. For Android and Chromebooks, after sync, it will be accessible offline via the app
4. Grabtext. Spotted an interesting quote? Snap a picture and then convert to text using Grabtext feature. Even works for handwriting
5. To do lists. Along with notes, these can be shared so that others can view and check off items. Great for shopping lists. Items can be checked off so everyone stays on the same page
6. Notes can be dragged into Google Docs/ Slides for that head start on an assignment
7. Notes can be tagged/ colour coded
8. Notes can be pinned so that it always stays at the top
9. Search using Google’s powerful search function. Never lose that precious bit of information
10. Free! Yes you heard that right. Google Keep is part of consumer Google Accounts and free to use

Give Google Keep a fair go. It is a better way

Do you spend time sifting through credit card and bank statements.. may be a better portion of a relaxing Sunday morning? Then this app can be a highly useful productivity hack.

FinArt - It automatically tracks all credit cards & bank accounts ( spending, payment due dates, amount, current balance etc.) based on transactional SMS from the bank without intrusively asking for account passwords.

It is super easy with this app now. It auto categorizes the spends into different categories. So I am always on top of my expense trends at given moment and making any purchase decision is a breeze.

Here are the apps that have helped me, and a rare tip on how to practically guarantee increased productivity.

Apps I use:

1. Evernote (To-do list and writing dreams and thoughts)
2. Gmail (They finally implemented the snooze feature!)
3. Google Sheets (monitor my productivity)
4. Quora (New ideas and writing content)

They all are high-quality apps and serve their purposes well. Countless reviews prove their effectiveness.

The important part is how to effectively get in the habit of using the app in the long term, to increase productivity (in this case at work).

There are many ways to form habits. For apps, there is a simple solution.

Place the app in the access bar on the bottom of the home screen of your phone.

Smartphones have a “sticky” bottom bar (and 99% of apps have the navigation bar on the bottom) because it’s the easiest place to see and reach.

You ever download apps but forget and never use them?

Put them on the bottom bar and you’ll never forget.

Also, think about the apps you currently have placed on the bottom bar. Do you really need them there? Remove apps you don’t use all the time.

It takes time to get used to an app. If you’re still using it after 66 days, good job. Otherwise, toss it.

It’s also critical to choose apps that are available on all the devices you use, you don’t want to be spending valuable time learning how to use different apps for each device when they essentially do the same thing.

So choose apps that are available where you plan to use it, and place them where you can most easily access them (usually the navigation bar at the bottom).

Happy habit building!

The only most useful app that I don’t think is very well known is my sleep app . I use a RelaxMelodies app to help me sleep at night as I suffer from tinnitus that never quietens or ceases . It has my constant anxiety alert and active and in overdrive . I can’t be in a totally quiet setting or a noisy setting as it is a information overload that can be debilitating at times . The app plays all night while I can get some sleep . It is on a low setting so as just to hear it and break the quietness of the night . In the summer keeping a fan on does close to the same but I do think this does better . I can set it to have multiple sounds and effects playing at the same time like I'm on a riverbed on a summer afternoon , the birds are chirping and the crickets are cricketing . I can change the mood to anything I want and for people like me it is a godsend for a smartphone . It only uses about 10% of my battery at night and doesn’t need internet or anything to run in the background ( airplane mode ) . This is my most used app and without it there would be a hard time to match it’s functionality with a sound machine and price . It I don’t think is really seen for what it’s abilities and usefulness are to people in my situation . It’s available on Apple , Windows , and Android app markets .

Command line, terminal or whatever people call it.

I don’t care if it is the old command dos prompt, Unix shell with sh, tcsh, bash, fish, zsh or any of the many others, Powershell also.

Knowing how to do some things in a command shell gets the job done so much faster than people might think possible. Need to rename a few thousand files but only those with certain text in the name or given a date range? Need to also run filters and move them elsewhere? Takes no time at all in a command shell.

You have tens of thousands of files of source code and you need to find the text

Type=”text”

But only if the line above or below has a specific attribute, easy.

Need to find all files that contain the text iPad, iPhone or iMac, easy, upper case, lower case, easy.

Knowing my way around command prompts makes me not only more productive but it basically allows me to do my job efficiently.

I’ll give you an example. I had a CSV file, comma seperated values. Like name,address,age (not the file in question).

I thought a co-worker knew a bit about command line, the client needed some changes to the file so it could be imported into another program. The file had a few thousand items, nothing serious. He took the job of doing this, I told him to use some command line tools and this would be very simple. Then I did some other things. The next day, he wasn’t finished, he was typing everything to the database, one item at a time. He had already spent like 14 hours on this. We decided to let him finish, two more days.

Then I and another co-worker took him aside and asked him if this had been fun? No it was absolutely dreadful he said. We then trained him to use command line tools to get the work done. He knew nothing about them. But the saddest part, he could simply have made a program to do this, but he did not think this through, probably thought he would be quick at this.

Now, this was in parts our problem as we simply thought he had the chops to do this simple thing, but he never said anything. But after the training, he did become a lot better and it was worth it. I guess you need to do something dumb like this to realize there are better ways to do this.

Anyone who has never done mistakes, has never done anything of value.

From my point of view, some people do, some of them no. Concerning me, I do. I presume such apps could help to be more productive than a person is. Moreover, these apps help to clean the mind which is also important for efficient production. In addition, you wouldn’t forget what you need to do, since they help to allocate time correctly. Some people prefer to use the paper option, others use apps or websites.

I really enjoy using Any.do. Colorful and functional app. Always rescue me. Has everything that I need and even more. Furthermore, I use Grammarly to check my writing. This app helps me to check my spelling, saving me time, and I’m confident in the quality.

Some of my friends told me that a time tracker is a useful app that additionally helps to be a productive person. Such an app will show you what you spend the most time on when completing your tasks. I haven’t tried it, but I’m going to.

On the other hand, these trackers only slow down one guy I know so he doesn’t use them anymore. Therefore, I assume that it is individual for each person. Some apps that are useful to me maybe useless for others.