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4 Simple Apps That Help Improve Productivity

How I really Started Beating Procrastination – 4 Simple Apps That Helped Improve My Productivity

 

If you’re anything like me – you have a hard time motivating yourself. I know I should knuckle down and get my work done – but I’m easily distracted.

Procrastination is on the rise, and such a shift makes sense when you look at how many distractions there are these days.

What started as a little procrastination for me grew into something that was actually limiting how successful my business was, and I was letting down countless clients. It takes a lot for me to admit that.

Thankfully, things started changing for me. I started realising that instead of wasting my time with all these technological gadgets and distractions – I could actually use these tech gadgets to help me.

Improve-Productivity-apps

AppDetox

It started when a friend of mine suggested I use this app called AppDetox to block some unwanted distractions so I could really get down to work. He’d already noticed how much I got distracted by things like Angry Birds or Facebook when I was meant to be working.

I couldn’t leave my iPad somewhere else (that’s a great old-school method if you can do it), as I needed it for work – but I was constantly distracted by all these other things at my fingertips, and that’s where AppDetox really helped.

AppDetox lets you limit usage of particular applications on your device while leaving others completely available. You’ve got to be honest when you set it up – and really limit things that are limiting your productivity. It can be set up so that you’re free to waste as much time as you like once the clock hits 5 (or whenever you like).

 

RescueTime

One of the first things that made a difference in making me want to improve my productivity and reduce procrastination and time-wasting was when I started to realise how much time I really was wasting.

It’s all very well thinking or guessing how much time you’ve wasted or worked on a particular day – but nothing beats having the cold, hard facts presented to you in statistical form. And that’s where RescueTime can really help you – just like it did for me.

I know I often over-estimated how much work I was really doing in a day – but realising that I was actually wasting far more time than I thought made me know I had to do something about it. After all, time is money, right?

RescueTime analyses your computer use and gives both real-time and weekly report tools to give your a great overview of what you’re spending your time doing online. There’s a free version available, too.

 

CamCard

Another thing that was limiting the success of my business was my ability to network properly. A major problem I had was actually losing business cards. It might sound easy to fix – but at least four times I lost an important potential clients business card – and I never got to work with them.

CamCard lets you exchange business cards with your smart phone – and it really helped me. When it was first suggested to me, I thought that it would be pointless because hardly anyone else would have the app – but I was wrong. I gave it a go and noticed more and more people with it than I thought. Not only did I keep their “card” in a secure place – I actually (anecdotally) think more of the people I shared my card with this way ended up phoning me. It was a win-win.

 

Expensify

Things were getting really busy in my office one year – and I needed to concentrate on getting work done and filling orders. The problem was – I needed to do my accounts urgently, too. There’s one way to really suck the life out of your motivation for doing other things, and that’s filling out expenses for your accounts.

That’s where Expensify made a huge difference. It takes all your recepts (you can scan them), and logs, submits, reports or does anything you want with them. Some claim it actually makes filling out expenses 83% quicker. That’s a lot of time saved.

These apps helped me save time and improve productivity – and they could help you, too. There’s loads more, but I found these were the ones that really helped me.

 

About the author

This story was written by Peter Ellington, who enjoys sharing his business and startup knowledge. He knows how difficulty starting up in this industry can be, so he likes sharing a bit of his expertise with those who need a bit of help and inspiration. He also writes for an education blog, https://smiletutor.sg.