Each of these tools can help you structure and schedule your most productive days by keeping your time on track, avoiding procrastination, and maintaining your energy levels.
Successful people have been known to structure their days carefully. But structuring your own schedule is an art unique to you. Each of us is different, with variable highs and lows in productivity and focus. This means that the structure of your own day will be something you will have to work out with trial and error. To help with this, you can discover your own peak times using this spreadsheet.
Once you have an idea of when you're most productive and when you need to keep things simple, the following list of apps and tools will help you structure your most productive days around these peaks and troughs. They range from strict time management apps to tools that will help you maintain enough energy and focus to get those scheduled tasks done.
Let us know in the comments what other tools you use to structure your days.
Platforms: iPhone and Android
The perfect day begins with waking up from the perfect dream. 3 relaxation techniques to help you sleep better. 3 relaxation techniques to help you sleep better. Sometimes it takes too long to fall asleep. Technology can help us sleep better with the help of better sleep habits. Try these suggestions to turn off your brain. Read more . That's where Runtastic's free Sleep Better app comes in. Sleep Better is a sleep tracking app that offers valuable insights into how well you're sleeping, but the most useful feature here is the app's smart alarm.
When your alarm goes off while you're in a deep sleep, you wake up feeling groggy, and that brain fog often refuses to lift for a few hours. But when you set an alarm with Sleep Better, the app detects how deeply you're sleeping and wakes you up only when you're in a light sleep phase, making it more likely you'll wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go.
Platforms:
We've written before about how journaling can help reduce stress, increase self-discipline. Start This Simple Habit To Boost Your Productivity:Journaling Start This Simple Habit To Boost Your Productivity:Journaling Journaling is an underrated career tool and a core habit of many successful people. From increasing productivity to staying accountable, we explore why you should consider introducing journaling as a productivity tool in your workday. Read More Developing a Daily Habit Develop Good Daily Habits with 7 Painless Tools and Guides Develop Good Daily Habits with 7 Painless Tools and Guides You must establish very specific habits for yourself if you are going to make them work. Discover seven great websites and apps to inspire building your habit. Read More
One of the easiest ways to start journaling is to sign up for an online tool like Penzu (free on the web, iPhone, or Android). Another great option, but temporarily unavailable, is 5 Minute Journal. It is currently being redesigned, but will be available again soon. In the meantime, you can always buy the paper version.
If you want to keep things really simple, write your journal entries in Evernote, OneNote, or Word. Each day record some goals, things you are grateful for, affirmations, and goals for the day. This really helps clear your mind and forces you into a more productive mode by highlighting what you need to focus on today.
Platforms: cross-platform
Evernote is a free and powerful note-taking app that's available on all your devices. The service includes many powerful features Maximize Evernote with 5 Powerful Features Maximize Evernote with 5 Powerful Features With over 100 million users, Evernote is arguably the web's favorite note-saving and productivity tool. We're spotlighting 5 underappreciated Evernote features and detailing their value. Read More
By having everything you need right where you are - meeting notes, personal information, search, to-do lists, Monday morning checklists, minute-taking templates, etc - you'll never have to worry about locating anything again. wrong information or forget a file. Evernote stores everything and makes it incredibly easy to find. This means that once your day is scheduled, you can go straight to the tasks at hand, without worrying about the logistics of preparing for each task.
Microsoft OneNote offers a service similar to Evernote. We have compared them both here Evernote vs. OneNote:Which Note-Taking App Is Right For You? Evernote vs. OneNote:Which Note-Taking App Is Right For You? Evernote and OneNote are amazing note-taking apps. It is difficult to choose between the two. We compare everything from the interface to the organization of notes to help you choose. What works best for you? Read more to find out what's best for you.
Platforms: cross-platform
Time Lock Time Lock:The Secret Weapon for Better Focus Time Lock:The Secret Weapon for Better Focus Are you looking for a more efficient way to organize your work days? Try time lock. This time management tactic can help you stay on track while keeping distractions, procrastination, and unproductive multitasking at bay. Read More This is because tasks naturally tend to expand to fill the time we allot for them. So by creating specific, uninterrupted blocks of time for each task, we prevent this from happening.
I personally prefer Google Calendar for this, as the time block images are particularly strong. You can also use the Apple calendar, or even the Windows Live calendar, if you like. The point is simply to ensure that you can see your allotted blocks of time and adhere to them religiously, giving you confidence that you will complete all the tasks on your list that day.
Platforms: iPhone
With a 4.5-star rating from over 3,500 users, 30/30 is a free iPhone app you wish you had discovered much sooner (I certainly did). Leveraging the idea of time blocking, 30/30 is a simple yet powerful way to create and organize blocks of time to keep your day on track.
The developers explain, “Set up a list of tasks and a time period for each task. When you start the timer, it tells you when to move on to the next task.”
Platforms: cross-platform
If you like the satisfaction of getting rid of your tasks. 10 ways to get out of the task. Pending tasks. 10 ways to get out of the task. Pending tasks. Feeling drowned in an endless list of tasks is a fear common to all of us. The cure is available. Here are ten ways to get your way back. Read More So choosing a to-do app really depends on what kind of person you are. Here are five commandments you can think of for your own productivity system. Read More In fact, there are similar to-do list apps out there, but Any.do's beautiful design and availability as a mobile, web, and desktop app make this option stand out.
If you want to upgrade to the premium version, you'll have access to a host of collaboration tools, and you'll also be able to add recurring tasks to your to-do list to help automate some parts of your schedule.
Platforms: website
We review Doodle Doodle Takes the frustration out of scheduling meetings or events Doodle Takes the frustration out of scheduling meetings or events Often, scheduling a meeting or event for a group of people to agree on can be as frustrating and time-consuming as finding your missing children in a hustle Mall. The online survey web app,... Read More>
Instead of going back and forth between a group of people trying to set up a convenient time to meet, Doodle (free) takes away much of the hassle. It does this by allowing each person to select different times and dates when they are available, and the organizer can see at a glance which is the most convenient time for the most.
Platform: Chrome Browser
When you open a new tab for the first time each day, Momentum (a free Google Chrome extension) will ask you what your main focus is for that day. Every time you open a new tab, you'll be reminded of that task, along with a stunning photo and inspirational quote to catch you before you venture off the beaten path.
An added feature is a simple to-do list in the corner of the app so you know what else you need to do.
An alternative extension is Dayboard, which instead of focusing on just one task per day, allows you to add up to five. As with Momentum, you'll be reminded every time you open a new tab what you should be working on.
Platforms: Any type of simple timer works for this method (recommendations below)
The Pomodoro Technique How a Simple Pomodoro Timer Made My Life Better How a Simple Pomodoro Timer Made My Life Better The Pomodoro Technique is one of the simplest time management tricks. Break up distractions with the help of 25-minute clips and a timer. It could be a change of routine that will change your life if it suits you. Read More The basic idea is that you pick a task you'd like to accomplish, then set the Pomodoro timer to 25 minutes. During those 25 minutes, you can do nothing but work on the chosen task. Once the timer goes off, take a short break. And once you've completed four Pomodoro cycles, take a longer break.
Platforms: Windows and Mac
When you have a schedule to stick to, the last thing you need is the temptation of time-consuming websites and apps that will pull you away from what needs to be done.
Cold Turkey has been built with this problem in mind. The free program (with premium options available) allows you to create lists of websites you want to block. Then, during certain times, you can turn on those lists to make sure you won't be tempted by Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, etc. There are few better ways to beat procrastination. Beat procrastination and prioritize your to-do list with Laterbox. Prioritize Your To-Do List With Laterbox If you're never done with the tasks that need to be done, you need to prioritize your to-do lists. Try the simple 1-3-5 method of productivity with a new web app called Laterbox. Read more.
StayFocusd (Chrome) and SelfControl (Mac) are two alternatives that offer a similar service.
Platforms: cross-platform
If you're in the middle of an email time block (or if you're just trying to work quickly towards Inbox Zero 5 Steps to Cure Your Inbox Zero Email Frenzy 5 Steps to Cure Your Inbox Email Frenzy Inbox Zero is one of the most popular buzzwords. To really solve your email problems, you need to go beyond Inbox Zero and solve the underlying problems. Read More), FollowUpThen.com is a godsend.
As you work through those emails, there will be many that don't need an immediate response. Once you have a FollowUpThen account, you can send those non-urgent messages to an @followupthen.com email address, knowing that the message will be returned to you within a set period of time.
For example, if you send the message to [email protected], that same message will reappear in your inbox within three days. You can use other emails like [email protected], or [email protected] The free account allows you to send 50 follow-up emails per month, though you can purchase more for a low monthly fee.
Platforms: almost cross-platform (no android app)
This is not strictly a programming app, but using it could increase your productivity. F.lux adapts the color or display of your screen to the time of day. As the sun begins to set, your screen will display warmer colors that will help your eyes and body relax 4 ways to prevent computer-related eye strain without losing productivity in front of a computer screen? If you do, you're probably familiar with the unspeakable eye strain that comes with it. Headaches, burning eyes, itchy eyes, and just being tired are... Read More
And as we said at the beginning of this article, “The perfect day begins with waking up from the perfect dream.” By using F.lux to help with your sleep schedule, you should expect to wake up feeling more refreshed and ready to tackle more throughout the day.
You can use a host of tools to help you structure your perfect day. These are the best I've found, but there are sure to be more worth trying. That's not to say they all contribute to your productivity, after all, productivity advice is overblown. 4 Popular Productivity Tips to Ignore 4 Popular Productivity Tips to Ignore Some of the productivity ideas being sold to us are sometimes unfounded, and often wrong. We're going to debunk some of these productivity myths by showing that the opposite can be true. Read more . But trying a few of these recommendations for a couple of weeks will let you see which one works for you.
What other tools do you use to create productive days? And if you use any of the above, how have they helped you?
