Top 5 Apps You Can Consider to Boost Your Productivity

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Measuring and maintaining “productivity” is a huge focus nowadays. The Internet culture is full of GTD, moleskine notebooks, scheduling, calendars, and tons of tools to help you squeeze the most out of every minute of every day.

There are hundreds of apps that fall into the “productivity” category. Just a quick glance into the iTunes App store nets tools for cloud document storage, file transfers, project management trackers, grocery organizers, flashlights, and tons of other things that you may find useful. For my money, which usually means free, here are my favorite, most-used productivity apps.

1- ToodleDo

A basic productivity tool is the To Do List. This app allows you to divide your life and tasks into categories, or folders. You can prioritize items, view in different configurations, set deadlines, add notes to individual items, set reminders, etc. As an overall To Do solution, it is one of the best I have ever seen.

2- Blogger

Once Facebook and Twitter came along, the notion of personal blogs seemed to fall by the wayside. No one wants to read several paragraphs about your day anymore. But there seems to be a huge hole that should be filled by personal journaling software. Productivity gurus tell us that journaling is a must in your overall productivity structure. Forbes Magazine recently called journaling “The Number One Productivity Tool You Aren’t Using”.

The programs I have used in the past are incredibly limited and not up to par for what we expect in this century. Because I had moved from a Windows machine to a Mac, I had been unable to take my old journal with me. There are diary apps for iOS, sure. But there had to be something more universal.

Then, it dawned on me: I still have a Blogger account. Anyone with a Google account does, really. It had lain fallow for years. And, sure enough, Blogger has a mobile app. Within a few minutes, I had logged into my Blogger account, converted it to a private, not-to-be-seen-by-public blog. I downloaded the app and was working with a personal journal in no time.

3- Evernote 

This is one of those solutions that can become pretty much anything you want it to be. I have written articles in it, outlined books, compiled research notes,
begun random lists, jotted notes while on phone calls, dragged in pictures to use in my writing, stashed photos and voice memos while house-hunting, and tons more.

You can start multiple notebooks with many notes in each. It is such a versatile note-taking system, no wonder it is so popular.

4- Simplenote 

Why include this one if we already have Evernote on the list? Frankly, it is because of the simplicity of this app. There are no multiple notebooks, voice notes, etc.

Simplenote is my wife’s note-taking app of choice. We both log into Simplenote via the same account, allowing us to share notes. I can make a list of chili ingredients, post it to the app and she can look over it in the grocery store. This is far preferable to simply texting a list. Other things that we post there include: housecleaning chores breakdown; ideas for things to do with the kids over summer; honey-do lists; checklists of items to take to the beach; lists of songs we hear that we want to look up later.

One of the greatest things about note-taking apps that help with productivity is simply being able to get something out of your head so you can get on with the business at hand. For that purpose, Simplenote may be just the thing for you.

5- Grocery iQ

This one is from my wife. She swears by this app. It allows her to make lists for multiple shopping stops, organize items by aisle, check items off as she shops, and keep a history of past visits that she can draw from. One of her favorite features of the app is the voice note feature that lets her peruse the cabinets and pantry, dictating what she wants to add to the list. The app also interfaces with Coupons.com to offer coupons for items.

It keeps her happy, and that keeps me productive. See how that works?

 

Tags: blogger, evernote, Grocery iQ, simplenote, toodledo, top apps

Category: iPhone