“Work smarter, not harder.” Surely you’ve heard this cultural idiom. The basic premise is, “let’s find ways to get more things done faster, rather than extending our work hours to accomplish the same tasks.” You know people, as do I, who seem to relish the opportunity to work “dumbly.” They spend all day spinning their wheels, thinking they’re being productive when they’re not.
Get yet spinach on.
This is not a post for those folks. This is a post for people like you who enjoy working faster, smarter, and at a higher productivity level. I’ll give you some tools to help you do that. Let’s work smarter, shall we?
IDoneThis.com. This simple web app will send you an email at the end of each day (or whenever you prefer), reminding you to catalog what you’ve accomplished that day.
Send back 3-4 items and after awhile, you calendar starts to look pretty impressive. A good reminder for those days when you feel stagnant. IDoneThis.com.
Action Method. I make no bones about it: Action Method rocks da heezy. I was a fan of the iPad and iPhone apps until the development ceased for nearly a year. Not to be thwarted, I picked up some of the paper products and gave them a whirl. To my surprise, I ended up liking them better. Much better.
Paper is poised to make a comeback. Action Method will prove it to you. Give analog a try and see your productivity pop! ActionMethod.com.
Skitch. What can I say about this gorgeous little app? Skitch makes sharing your screen a breeze. When you work remotely like I do, you need a quick way to show people what you’re talking about. Skitch helps you do that.
Skitch is free and comes in desktop and iPad flavors. Skitch.com.
Beats by Dre (earbuds). I know, I know. It sounds trite, but jamming these little guys into my ears truly helps me focus and get things done. I don’t know if it’s actual or perceived, but “jacking in” with these headphones seems to fade out the world around me.
Pro tip: I highly recommend fueling your work session with KapSlap or Skrillex. You’re welcome. Beats by Dre.
Sharpies dual-tip. This goes hand-in-hand with Action Method, but I use these bad boys to both write and cross-off my to-do lists. Write with the thin side, cross off with the fat side. Nothing is more satisfying to a productivity workflow than crossing things off a list.
Grab a pack of these and give paper a try for a week. You’ll never go back. (And if you do, it’s your own fault. I warned you!)
Keurig Coffee Maker. “El duh, Justin!” I know that’s what you’re thinking. But I don’t care. You know it’s true, just like I do. Coffee makes the world go round. My world’s no different. I use this Keuring to make my morning (and afternoon) brew.
I like it because I’m the only coffee drinker in the house and I hate waste. Nothing says “efficient” like this one-cup wonder. Keurig.
Buffer App. This is, by far, my favorite app for Twitter. Buffer takes all the link goodness you find throughout the day and spreads it out based on when the largest percentage of your followers are online. I don’t know how it works, but it does. Plus, co-founder Leo Widrich is a good man.
Bonus tip: Sign-up using this link and we’ll both get a few extra spaces in our queue!
Bonus bonus tip: Buffer now integrates with SocialBro, one of my favorite social media measurement tools. BufferApp.com.
NeuYear Calendar for 2012. Last but not least on the list is the NeuYear year-at-a-glance calendar from Jesse Phillips. You can see your entire year, from start to finish, all packaged in a gorgeous wall poster. Genius.
Take a chance on paper and invest in 2012, making it the year of productivity!
Bonus: Use the code JUSTIN when checking out and get 10% off your order!
Everybody’s Got Their Something
Everyone’s got their own productivity workflow. What works for you? I’d love to know. These are just a small sampling of the tools that I use on a daily basis to get more things done. Surely I’ve missed a few.
What are they? Let me know in the comments below!
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Having an Android phone and a Google Apps for Business account, I love Taskos (http://taskos.com/). It is easy to add tasks and get scheduled alerts. It has speech to text support, a simple interface, is the only one that has never failed to Google Task Sync for me, and has widgets.
Taskos. Might have to check that one out!
Great stuff, man. I’m sooo with you on the beats headphones. Love them!!!
Nice list Justin! I was using Buffer for a while, but I’ve now switched to Timely (http://timely.is/). It’s free, and somehow I’ve just found it easier to use.
Weird! I was just the opposite. I was using Timely but found the features of Buffer to be just a bit better. Whatever works, I guess!
I use them both, but for different kinds of things. Hard to explain, but it’s worked for me. I’m using buffer much more though.
Interesting list Justin – you are into the latest tech & the retro arena of paper as well!
I got into Buffer this year – stellar app. Evernote has become essential for me this year – I tried Springpad & love it’s visual impact but Evernote just works better for me.
I will check out your other recommendations – thanks.
I’m finding the value of paper more and more! There’s something about a tangible to-do list that makes it more real.
I used to use Basecamp a lot to manage my tasks and daily activities. In December though, I switched across to one called ‘Asana’. You may not have heard of it, but it’s a web based task and project management system.
It’s free, it has an app for the iPhone and it’s dead simple (I like simple).
Hope that’s useful.
At work (I work for a Lutheran Synod – think Catholic Diocese) we use Basecamp for our committees. It has been soooooo helpful! I will check out Asana. One of the things that is so helpful about Basecamp is that you can upload documents right to the site.