Productivity has become the buzzword in the post-pandemic world. We live in the zenith of modern technology — everything is available with one click.
But it also means more distractions, time anxiety, and overwhelming emotions. Being productive is now a life skill to stay organized and perform your best. Using tools to help with productivity means taking this one step further.
Productivity tools are specially designed to simplify your workflow and limit distractions. These apps and tools are also beneficial in maintaining good health, managing time, and improving your overall quality of life.
Tools to Help with Productivity
Here are our top 10 tools to help with productivity in 2023 so that you are more efficient in your professional and personal life.
1. Loopin
Loopin is a powerhouse of productivity that transforms your calendar into a collaborative workspace for meetings with automated updates and task management across multiple platforms.
Forget the hassle of switching apps and missing context during meetings, for Loopin keeps your team on the same page and in the same window.
You can jot down talking points and notes during brainstorming sessions, schedule a productive day with time-blocking, and automate tasks like following up, sending out meeting reminders, and keeping the team aligned.
This productivity tool can collate tasks from different work apps like Slack, Gmail, Notion, Zoom, Asana, Trello, etc., to show all your pending tasks in one place. Loopin is an ideal productivity assistant that’ll simplify your workflow to save time from redundant tasks.
2. Clean Email
A cluttered inbox is one of the biggest productivity roadblocks. You can lose track of timelines and meetings in a messy mailbox, with multiple reminder emails making the situation more drastic.
Clean Email is a bulk email organizing tool that can smartly club similar emails for better cognition. It can also block unwanted senders and unsubscribe from bugging newsletters you don’t remember subscribing to.
Clean Email has an Auto Clean feature that automatically deletes emails fitting some specific criteria. You can sync it across your mailboxes — Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, Yahoo — and access features like mute, read later, block and unclutter to get the most out of your inbox.
3. one sec
Games, social media, and streaming platforms are engineered to hold your attention for a long time. The same doesn’t hold for work; you must try to stay attentive. one sec can help you control time and block distracting websites and apps.
It can also sync the blocks across all your devices so that you can always focus on work. You can schedule your focus sessions and even plan them daily or weekly. one sec ensures that you do not switch to a social media app to respond to that one comment and then fall into the trap of scrolling through endless reels and shorts.
4. RescueTime
RescueTime is a sneaky productivity tool that keeps running in the background whenever you use your PC or Mac. It intends to measure your focus by calculating the time you spend doing everything on your computer. The detailed time analysis can help you understand what distracts you and for how long so that you can work on improving.
You can also set targets and alerts on RescueTime to help you develop a good work ethic. The time logging feature is also helpful for freelancers and contractual workers to track the hours they invest in a specific work. Focus Sessions can also automatically block the sites that negatively impact your focus, thus maximizing productivity.
5. Otter.Ai
A smart AI transcription tool, Otter is a great assistant for meetings across platforms to get live captions, sync transcription with recorded videos and audio files, export text, add images, and create a collaborative workspace for the entire team.
Otter also develops a custom vocabulary bank to incorporate your frequently used words. It can also help summarize meeting notes and share information within seconds. Otter is a great tool for working professionals and also students who need to attend virtual classes and make notes.
6. Endel
We all listen to music to shut down the chaos. But what if this music helped us focus better through noninvasive neurostimulation?
That’s the idea behind a great productivity tool — Endel. It promises to help you work better by playing sounds that blend into the background while gently stimulating the brain for increased attention.
The audio brain stimulation tool is backed by science to create music that positively impacts brain activities. Backed by neuroscience, Endel can also reduce stress, improve sleep quality and health and help with the users' overall well-being.
7. RoboForm
Creating secure passwords is getting increasingly difficult, and remembering them is almost impossible. Add in the expert advice to set up different passwords for all your accounts, and you might as well be tearing your hair out. To save you some trouble, RoboForm is the digital vault for all your passwords.
Remember to set one very secure password for your RoboForm account. This productivity app will generate randomized, strong passwords for all your other accounts — social media, website, work tools, etc. It can also sync across your devices for ease of access and facilitates easy sharing with family members and teams.
8. CleanShot X
The best productivity tools are the ones you didn’t think you needed.
CleanShot X is a powerful screen capture tool that helps you share screenshots and screen capture videos with multiple customizations. You can create animated GIFs of the screen capture, record with an in-built camera and sound recorder, make videos from images, annotate screen grabs, and much more.
If you keep creating guides and showcase steps to your workflow, CleanShot X can help document it with a few clicks. There are pre-installed templates to get you started with visual documentation. This tool is vital for professionals and can quickly become your favorite ‘invisible’ app that just fits into your workflow.
9. Hypefury
In 2023, people are brands. Everyone requires marketing tools to enhance their organic reach to the maximum of their target audience. But committed posting on social media can drain your time quickly, and Hypefury can assist you here.
It can help you design a social media strategy that is a click magnet while building an engaged audience through the proper channels and hashtags.
This productivity tool also allows easy collaboration so that your team can connect and pitch in growing the socials from anywhere in the world.
10. Waking Up
While being productive at the workplace is crucial, a clear mind space can help on most unproductive, distracted days. A healthy and happy mind can be the most effective, so try Waking Up. It goes beyond simple relaxation techniques and lets you experience the freedom of real mindfulness.
You can use Waking Up to improve sleep quality, reduce stress and distractions, and improve your emotional strength. Along with curated content by experts, Waking Up also brings soothing sleep stories and calming nature sounds to relax the brain and give it a well-deserved pause.
Remember, productivity is not just hustling but also taking some time off when needed.
How to pick the right tool to enhance your productivity?
Choosing the right tool for your needs also requires great deliberation. To find the best-suited productivity tools for your professional and personal life:
- Note down all your pain points
- Categorize your problems
- Find the tool that addresses the problems
- Look for app combinations that can ease your workflow, and further
- Consider the price-to-utility ratio
For example — if you have issues in conducting productive meetings or lose track of your to-do list — then you require an app to help with calendar and meeting management. Therefore, Loopin is your go-to tool to improve productivity. You can also combine it with another tool like Otter.Ai to transcribe your meetings and help create notes and meeting summaries.
Summing up
Modern-day productivity apps are a rage, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t give them a shot!
Try out these cool picks for productivity apps:
Have you ever tried any of these tools before? I’d love to hear more about your experience, and if you haven’t, then utilize these excellent apps immediately!
