I love productivity tools. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a shiny objects disease. I have to watch it carefully because I am always looking for how to things faster, better, and more efficient.
We live in a wonderful time as we have many productivity tools to help us to be more productive. I get asked quite a bit the following questions:
- How are you using Evernote?
- What do you use to manage tasks?
- What tools do you use to get stuff done?
While I am always evolving, I thought I would share some of the top productivity tools that I am using daily. If you know my story, then you know I am quite the busy bee. I operate 3 separate blogs, along with creating two podcasts. Life is busy and I need tools to help me manage my chaotic world.
The Top 5 Productivity Apps I Use Daily [Podcast]
What are your favorite productivity apps? This is a question I get asked a lot from readers. In today’s podcast I am going to share with you my top 5 productivity apps that I use daily. I also get into how I am using these apps as well. Come join us as we discuss how to better manage your life.
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Links mentioned:
30 Day Get Productive Challenge
The Benefits of Morning Pages
Evernote
Wunderlist
Workflowy
SnagIt
Dropbox
In no particular order, here are the top 5 productivity tools I am using daily to get a ton of stuff done.
Tool #1: Evernote
I’d be surprised if you are just hearing about Evernote. I have been a premium user since the very beginning. I’m coming up with new uses everyday for this tool. Evernote stays open on my computer all day long. A few of my primary uses for Evernote include:
- Capture anything I want to read or remember later
- Write my Morning Pages in a folder labeled Daily Journal
- Collect blog posts ideas that come to me throughout the day
- Tag every story, illustration, or quote I find interesting
- Store logins and important info I might need to find later
- Catalog sermon notes from the messages I hear at my church
- and much more.
What I love most about Evernote is the different ways you can capture things. There are many ways to do this:
- If I am in a meeting and we have used the whiteboard, I just snap a picture and add to Evernote.
- If someone hands me notes on a paper, I snap a photo for Evernote and throw the paper away.
- If I get an email with an attachment, I just email directly into Evernote.
- If I see something new online, I use the Evernote web clipper.
- If I read an inspiring blog post in my Google Reader, I forward to Evernote.
Just get used to capturing everything into a default folder labeled INBOX, then tag the note and drag to a Cabinet/Archive Folder. It keeps it simple and I am able to find it later.
Tool #2: Wunderlist
There are so many things I could say about this app, but I’ll just share the highlights. First of all, I wish I could do task management with Evernote. That would be the ideal situation. Up till now, I haven’t seen a good alternative.
The same thing I love about Evernote, I love about Wunderlist. I can access it anywhere. I have Wunderlist on my iPad, iPhone, and as a stand alone app on my main computer. I can also access online if I am on a different computer.
I love being able to create lists. I have both permanent and temporary lists. The permanent lists are as follows:
- Blogging – these are tasks that I need to accomplish for my various blogs.
- Home – these are personal to dos that involve me getting things done as a husband and father
- Church – these are tasks related to my personal involvement in my local church.
- Someday/Maybe – a place for me to capture different ideas that come to me.
- Reminders – I use this for random things I need to remember at a certain time and I use the alert feature.
- Prayer requests – I share this list with my wife, who also uses Wunderlist. We can keep a running list of things we are praying for and people we are praying for.
- Projects (in waiting) – I don’t know about you, but I can’t get to all of my ideas when I want to. I keep the next project ideas close to me in this list.
I also love to use temporary lists for things I call “sprint projects.” These are things I am working on that have deadlines. I am able to get all of the parts of a project into one list and tackle them as quickly as possible.
Tool #3: Workflowy
I have loved Workflowy since the time I discovered it. My challenge has been to figure out where it works best among my current set-up. I think I may have finally landed on the best use of Workflowy for me.
I love to learn. At any one time, I am reading several books, listening to many podcasts, and participating on many online training video courses. I want to make sure I am capturing things I am learning. The best way I know how is by using Workflowy while I listen.
Workflowy is my note taker. It is easy to tab over some bullet points and capture what I am learning. I can keep everything neatly organized and find stuff later with thehandy search feature.
Tool #4: Snagit
I bought Snagit last year with Camtasia and I am so glad I did. It is a great tool that awaits me in my toolbar. If I need to capture a quick video or picture, it is ready to go. I also like that it makes for a great photo and video editor too. I can easily resize a photo or add text to a photo.
Tool #5: Dropbox
Another tool that can “be everywhere” for you is Dropbox. I often work at different locations and so it is nice to be able to access some of my files when I am away from my home office. I use Dropbox to store media files, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and much more.
There you have it. Those are the main productivity apps that I am using daily. I hope you gained some pointers that might be able to help you be more productive.
Question: What productivity apps are you using daily?
