Make 2017 Your Most Productive Year Yet With These 7 Tools
Let’s be honest. Remaining productive these days sometimes seems impossible. Multitasking is so ingrained in your daily life (how many tabs do you have open right now?) that you don’t even realize you’re doing 10 things at once and thus procrastinating in some sense. And while the internet and social media are crucial to any business, they also allow for a lot of distractions.
The good news is that technology also offers countless tools that can help us combat these distractions and stick to our priorities. We’ve compiled a list of 7 services that will make you your most productive self, both in and out of the office.
1. Google Drive, accessible and free through any Google account, allows you to work on documents and spreadsheets and then share them with others who can also view and edit (if you give them editing privileges). This is a great service if you often collaborate with colleagues and if you tend to work on different computers, as you don’t need to worry about transferring files.
2. Trello uses boards, lists and cards to help both individuals and teams organize projects and track their progress.
3. Evernote will help you manage all of your notes across multiple platforms -- whether to-do lists, reminders, or visual sketches -- and share them with whomever you like.
4. 1Password will prevent you from getting locked out of all of your accounts because you keep guessing the wrong password. Rather than trying to remember 15 variations of the same letters and numbers (plus capital letters and exclamation points), you can create one master password -- and store the rest of your info behind that password in a protected space.
5. Slack, a messaging app built for teams, streamlines communication so that you can more effectively collaborate with multiple (or individual) people on projects through channels, messaging, and calls. You and your team members can divide up tasks, and everyone can view what’s going on in a given project.
6. TopTracker, an app specifically built for the freelance community, allows individuals and teams to track their productivity on a given project. It’s designed in a way that makes all information visible at a glance, and it offers summaries and reports of projects so you can easily identify areas for improvement.
7. Calendar! This may seem like a no-brainer, but we know some of you are still not in the habit of regularly marking up your calendar. Whether you like an old school planner in which you can handwrite your schedule or you use the Gmail or Outlook calendar that’s integrated with your email account, vow to use a calendar more often this year -- especially if you tend to forget about appointments and double book yourself.
If you feel like you’re already slacking on your 2017 resolutions, start getting organized with these tools. Here’s to a more productive year!
Fairygodboss is committed to improving the workplace and lives of women.
Why women love us:
- Daily articles on career topics
- Jobs at companies dedicated to hiring more women
- Advice and support from an authentic community
- Events that help you level up in your career
- Free membership, always