As business owners juggling a number of things at the same time, we often wonder if we are making the best use of our days. Effective management of time not only helps with productivity, it also reduces the stress that comes from doing a lot but not achieving much.
However, time management isn’t a skill that comes easily to many of us.
When I made the decision to start my own business, I had to work on ways to efficiently manage my time. Along the way, I have discovered a few tools to help me get more organized and as a result, more productive.
These range from tools that help me schedule tasks, to those that help the team keep up with each other.
Here are my top 5 productivity tools.
top 5 productivity tools
1. Asana
This collaborative tool helps teams manage and work together on tasks and projects online. These could range from small projects to strategic initiatives. As one of the most popular productivity tools, Asana is flexible, fast and has rich features.
I love it because it lets me easily assign tasks to my team (and to myself!), I get notifications when due dates are approaching, and it removes any need to ask “what’s the status on that?”. Asana will tell you.
The free version has always been perfect for me, but excludes a number of features.
Read a full review here.
2. Evernote
This is the app to help any avid note-taker and list-maker keep organized notes. It also integrates with a number of apps. These include Gmail, Slack, Google Drive, among others.
However, this app is fairly pricey and its free version has many restrictions. For example, you can only sync between two devices and don’t get much in terms of monthly storage.
That said, if you can afford to pay for the Premium version, it will be worth your while.
Read a full review here.
3. Clockify
This is a free productivity tracking tool, perfect for teams and for personal use.
This is one of the tools my team and I use religiously. And I encourage all of my VIP clients to use it too! This tool has made such a difference in how I manage my time. I have more time for myself and have made more money.
Clockify shows you how you’re actually spending your time. I learned where I was spending too much time on tasks that I could delegate. I made hiring decisions based on this data.
I was then able to focus the majority of my time on strategic tasks that would actually grow my business. My team then can execute on my strategy.
In addition, with clarity on how long it takes you to execute a task or project, you can determine how much you should charge for it.
Read its reviews here.
4. Planoly
This scheduling tool helps you visually plan, manage and schedule your Instagram posts. You can also use it to plan and schedule your content on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. In addition, the app is an official Instagram and Pinterest partner, so your content is safe.
Planoly is the tool we use on my team to manage our Instagram content. Rather than worrying about what to post everyday, we set our theme for the month, and create all of our content a week in advance.
This gets uploaded and I receive a notification on my phone when it’s time to post. Simple!
Planoly has a fairly rich free version that allows for two social profiles (one on Instagram and the other on Pinterest), 30 uploads per month and 1 user. I use the paid version. The small cost is worth it.
Read its reviews here.
5. Slack
This is a powerful team messaging app. It brings together the people you need, the information you share, and the tools you use to help get things done.
While ranked highly among other team messaging apps, it is also the most expensive.
Its free plan comes with a few restrictions, of course. These include only having audio and video calls between two people, not groups. You are also restricted to 5GB of file storage for uploads across the entire team.
Read a full review here.
find the producitivity tools that work for you
It is important to find the tool and time management technique best suited to you, your team and the way you work.
These tools are used to help you be more productive and achieve your goals.
Ultimately, in order to achieve your personal and business goals, you need to manage yourself in order to efficiently manage your time.
this requires self-discipline.
An effective productivity tool is wasted if you don’t use it.
You need to muster the will to subordinate your moods, feelings and emotions and stick to the plan. Especially when you have seemingly urgent but unimportant needs (read distractions) vying for your attention.
As you experiment and find the right tools to help you be more productive, also develop the skills needed to manage yourself every day.
over to you
What tools have you found most helpful for increasing your productivity? Let us know in the comments below.
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