In today’s busy world, everyone is looking for ways to get more done and free up some time. Luckily, the internet has a ton of free tools that can help with this. This article will show you some of the best online resources to make your work smoother and help you be more effective. When something feels like a chore, it probably is. That’s usually a sign to find a shortcut online. Check out these websites to save yourself some serious time.
Key Takeaways
- Using task management tools like Asana can really help organize your projects and team efforts.
- Blocking distracting websites, especially social media, can significantly improve your focus.
- Automating repetitive tasks, such as email responses or data entry, saves a lot of time.
- Regularly reviewing how you spend your time with tools like RescueTime can highlight areas for improvement.
- Breaking down work into focused intervals, like with the Pomodoro Technique, helps maintain concentration and prevent burnout.
1. Asana
Asana is a task management system that has completely changed how we run our businesses and streamline our time. If you’re the kind of person that likes to have post-it notes everywhere, then Asana is the tool for you. Originally designed for teams to be able to keep track of where everybody is at on a project, Asana allows you to create a task, fill that task with notes, sub-tasks and comments, then assign them to people to action. You can then place those tasks in columns (we think of columns like ‘Steps’), and you can drag and drop them into different columns depending on where they are at in the workflow. Our whole team uses Asana, and it makes things incredibly efficient to run, but you can implement Asana into your work-life even if you’re a one-person show. For example, you can create a series of tasks that you want to work on, and place them in the first column called ‘Ideas’. Under each task write some bullet points about that specific idea. When you are ready to move from the concept to the action stage, drag the task into the next column, called ‘Action’, and add a list of subtasks that need to be done to move forward. When you finish a subtask, you can mark it as complete. When all the subtasks are done, move the task along to the next column – Implement. There you can create more subtasks about what is needed to implement the next stage. Work through those, tick off the subtasks, then move onto to the next step, if there is one. So on and so forth, until you reach the final column – Finished! The beauty of this system is you can open up Asana, and in one quick glance see the progress of all your tasks (or the tasks of your teammates), and know what needs to be done next. It might sound complicated, but it really is quite simple once you spend a few minutes playing around with the interface, and it can really keep you on track. Asana can be used on your internet browser, or on your smartphone as an app. This daily practice can really help you stay on top of your work and reduce stress. It’s like having a brain for success right there in front of you, showing you exactly what to do next.
2. Facebook News Feed Eradicator
We all know how it goes: you pop onto Facebook for one quick thing, maybe to check a group notification or send a message, and then suddenly, twenty minutes have vanished into the endless scroll. It’s a real time-sink, and for many of us, it’s a necessary evil because our work or connections rely on it. This tool helps us avoid that rabbit hole by replacing the distracting news feed with something more productive. It’s a simple browser extension that swaps out your usual feed for an inspirational quote. This way, you can still access the parts of Facebook you need without getting sucked into the constant stream of updates. It’s a small change, but it makes a big difference in keeping us focused and on track. We’ve found it to be a great way to stay productive and avoid those accidental browsing sessions. It’s all about making sure we’re in control of our time, especially when we’re trying to be instantly more productive.
3. Inbox
4. aText/Text Expander
5. Deadlines
6. Evernote
Use Evernote for Everything
We’ve found that Evernote is like having a super-powered digital notebook. It’s a fantastic spot to keep all sorts of things: your random thoughts, those never-ending to-do lists, little bits of information you pick up, voice recordings, photos, and even important documents. Everything lives in one central place. For instance, we use it for our weekly to-do list. We’ve got this template we fill out every Sunday, and it includes everything from meetings and phone calls to where we’ll be on a certain day and all the tasks we’re tackling. It’s all there, in bullet points and tables, so we can see our whole week at a glance. The actual details and specifics for those tasks go into Google Calendar and Asana, but Evernote gives us that simple, high-level overview. What’s really neat is that Evernote can scan images and PDFs, making the text inside them searchable. So, if you get a bunch of business cards, just snap a photo, and Evernote will pull out the info and create a contact. And if you stumble upon something cool online that you want to revisit later, the Evernote Web Clipper is your friend; it saves it as a note. It’s a pretty solid tool, available as both a desktop and smartphone app. For those interested in ethical hacking, keeping notes organized can be a real game-changer.
7. LastPass
Never Forget a Password Again with LastPass
“Incorrect Password.” We’ve all seen that message, probably more times than we can count. It’s a common frustration, trying to log into a website only to realize we’ve forgotten the password, leading to that whole “reset password” routine. That process can easily eat up five or ten minutes of our time, and those minutes add up quickly throughout the day. Luckily, there’s a great program that securely saves all our passwords in one spot. LastPass has really changed how we handle our online accounts. Think of it as a digital vault where all our usernames and passwords are kept safe. We just need one master password to get into it. This means we don’t have to remember hundreds of different, complex passwords for every site we visit. And yes, we should be using unique, strong passwords for each site. When we sign up for a new account, we use the password generator to create a tough password, and then it automatically saves it to our vault. The next time we need to get into that site, as long as we’re logged into LastPass through the browser extension, it fills in the correct details for us automatically. Another useful feature of LastPass is that we can securely share our passwords with our team if needed. We can give them access to a site through LastPass, and they can log in without ever seeing what our actual password is. LastPass works as a browser extension, a website, and a smartphone app, making it easy to manage login credentials from anywhere.
8. Grammarly
If you spend a lot of time typing on your computer, you probably know how easy it is to make little mistakes. Maybe more than just a few, if we’re being honest. And if you’re anything like us, you really don’t like seeing spelling or grammar errors in your work. That’s where Grammarly comes in. It’s a free browser extension that puts a red underline under all those errors, so you can just go back over your writing and immediately spot what needs fixing. You just click on the underlined word or phrase, and it gives you the right option. This is super helpful if you do any kind of writing or editing work, because it catches things you might miss. It’s like having a second pair of eyes on your text, making sure everything looks good before you send it out. We use it all the time to make sure our articles are clear and correct. It’s a simple tool, but it makes a big difference in how professional our writing looks. It even helps with things like sentence structure and clarity, not just basic spelling. It’s a great way to keep your writing sharp and error-free, which is important for anything from emails to longer documents. We’ve found it to be a real time-saver, letting us focus more on the ideas we’re trying to get across and less on proofreading every single word. It’s one of those tools that once you start using it, you wonder how you ever managed without it. It’s also good for checking facts, which is something we care a lot about, especially when we’re working on fact-checking articles.
9. Boomerang
Boomerang those Emails
Sometimes, we get an email that we can’t deal with right away, or maybe we need to follow up on it later if we don’t hear back. There are a few ways to make sure we don’t forget. We could set a reminder on our phone, which is a bit slow. Or, we could add a note to our calendar, but that can really clutter things up. And trying to just remember? That’s probably not going to work out.
What we do is “boomerang” those emails. Boomerang is a Gmail extension that lets us bring an email thread back to our inbox at a specific date and time. We can even set up rules, like “Return conversation to inbox if no reply.” This is super helpful because it only takes a couple of clicks, and it automatically archives the email, clearing our inbox until we need it again. It’s a great way to manage our inbox and make sure nothing slips through the cracks. This tool helps us keep our focus on what’s important now, knowing that other things will pop back up when they’re relevant. It’s like having a personal assistant for our email, making sure we stay on top of everything without having to constantly check or remember. It’s a simple yet powerful way to manage our communications and keep our workflow smooth. We’ve found that using Boomerang really helps us stay organized and productive, especially when we’re dealing with a lot of incoming messages. It’s one of those small changes that makes a big difference in our daily routine. We’re always looking for ways to improve our customer service for fans and this tool helps us do that.
Automate Your Productivity
Automating parts of our workflow is a game-changer for productivity. Boomerang fits right into this by taking the mental load off remembering to follow up on emails. Instead of constantly thinking about what needs to be done next, we can set it and forget it, knowing the email will reappear when it’s time. This frees up our brainpower for more complex tasks that actually require our immediate attention. It’s about working smarter, not harder. We’ve noticed that when we automate these smaller, repetitive tasks, we have more energy and focus for the bigger picture. It’s a simple concept, but the impact on our overall productivity is huge. We’re big believers in using technology to make our lives easier, and Boomerang is a prime example of how a simple tool can have a profound effect on how we manage our time and tasks. It helps us maintain a clear and organized inbox, which in turn, helps us maintain a clear and organized mind.
10. RescueTime
We all know how easy it is to get sidetracked when we’re trying to get things done. One minute we’re focused, the next we’re scrolling through social media or reading random articles. It happens to the best of us, especially when working from home or in a new environment. That’s where a tool like RescueTime comes in handy. It’s designed to help us understand where our time actually goes, which is often a real eye-opener. This app tracks our computer activity and then gives us a clear picture of how productive we’re being. It’s not about shaming us for spending time on non-work stuff, but rather about giving us the data we need to make better choices. For example, after using it for a bit, we might notice that every afternoon between 1 PM and 3 PM, our productivity dips. Knowing that, we can then schedule less demanding tasks for that time slot, or even take a short break to recharge. It also flags how much time we spend on distracting websites and apps. Getting a notification that we’ve spent three hours on Instagram during work hours can be a pretty strong motivator to put the phone down. It’s a powerful tool that just gets better the longer we use it, helping us to really take control of our time and focus on what matters. We can even use it with other tools like Freedom app to block those distracting sites during deep work sessions.
11. Templates
We’ve all been there, staring at a blank document, wondering where to even begin. It’s like trying to build a house without a blueprint. That’s where templates come in, and honestly, they’re a game-changer for productivity. They give us a starting point, a framework that saves us from the dreaded blank page syndrome and lets us focus on the actual content. Think about it: instead of spending precious time formatting, structuring, and figuring out what sections you need, a template already has that laid out for you. It’s like having a personal assistant who’s already done all the tedious setup work. This means we can jump right into the meat of what we’re trying to accomplish, whether it’s drafting an email, creating a presentation, or even planning out a project. It’s not about being lazy; it’s about being smart with our time and energy. We want to put our effort into the unique aspects of our work, not reinventing the wheel every single time. Using templates also helps us maintain consistency, which is super important, especially if we’re working on a team or building a brand. Everyone knows what to expect, and everything looks cohesive. It’s a simple shift, but it makes a huge difference in how much we can get done and how polished our output looks. It’s all about working smarter, not harder, and templates are a prime example of that philosophy in action. It’s a mindset that helps us be more creative in our approach to daily tasks.
12. Pomodoro Technique
We’ve all heard about the Pomodoro Technique, right? It’s one of those things that sounds almost too simple to be effective, but trust us, it works. The basic idea is to break down your work into focused, 25-minute chunks, separated by short 5-minute breaks. After completing four of these 25-minute work sessions, you get to take a longer break, usually between 15 and 30 minutes. We’ve found that this structured approach really helps to keep our minds sharp and prevents that feeling of burnout that can creep in when you’re working for long stretches without a pause. It’s not just about the breaks, though; it’s about the intense focus you bring to those 25-minute intervals. When you know you only have a short burst of time to get something done, it forces you to eliminate distractions and really concentrate on the task at hand. This method helps us to maintain a high level of concentration and get more done in less time. It’s a great way to unlock your potential and stay on track with your goals.