Modern life can be full of distractions. Our always-on connection to the internet and the ability for endless scrolling through social media posts on our mobile devices makes it easy to waste hours of our day while not having much to show for it.
However, many apps are designed to help us be more productive, but it requires a bit of knowledge to understand what our options are and the tools that work best for us. So if you’re looking to use your phone to help you get more done, here are some options to consider.
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Quizlet
There are many apps out there that are designed to help you learn a language, but few are as dynamic and flexible as Quizlet. Rather than producing the content itself, like in apps like Duolingo, Quizlet just provides the platform to create lists of words or phrases that you can turn into flashcards and be tested on. It also lets you tap into a large community of other learners who share their classes for free.
The great thing about Quizlet is that, although it was designed for language learning, it can be used for anything. If you have a list of phrases you need to learn for a test, or you want to make sure you know all the essential buzzwords ahead of a big job interview, Quizlet can help you with this too.
Play Games
This may seem counterproductive to improving your productivity, but research shows that taking short breaks can help you get more done over time, particularly when you use the Pomodoro technique (see below).
Playing games, particularly ones that require you to be strategic and analytical like Sudoku and poker on your mobile, can help to relieve stress and develop your cognitive abilities. Just make sure you are disciplined in your playing time, so it doesn’t get in the way of you getting more done.
Track Your Time
Peter Drucker once said that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” and this is undoubtedly true for time. If you find yourself getting distracted easily, or you want to find out if a particular job or task is worth your effort, tracking your time can be a great way to get started.
Different apps serve different purposes, straight forward time trackers like Toggl are great if you want just to assign your time to different tasks and get a report at the end of the day or week. This can be great if you work freelance and want to charge your clients for your time.
However, if you struggle more with managing your time, then a Pomodoro timer may be your solution. The Pomodoro technique involves working for short bursts of time that are punctuated by short breaks. The name comes from the tomato-shaped timer that the technique’s inventor used to help him study for college exams. After some tweaking, he settled on 25-minute blocks of working that are separated by 5-minute breaks, with a 20-30-minute break taken after every four blocks.
Trello
To do lists are likely about as old as humans, but since the digital revolution, people have been trying to develop new and smart ways to make our to-do lists more productive. While there are many options out there, one of the most powerful is Trello.
It goes beyond just lists and instead creates boards. These boards can be shared with others to help you collaborate with colleagues, your friends or your partner. Tasks are designed as “cards,” which are moved around the board depending on their progress. Each card can be assigned to a specific person (or people), have files uploaded, be split into sub-tasks, and can be used to discuss the progress with other members.
It is a genuinely collaborative system and is so dynamic and versatile it can be used for everything from deciding what groceries to buy from the shop to managing major construction projects.
While our mobile devices can be distracting, they can be equally useful in making us more productive. These devices are just tools, and it is up to us how we use them. So if you want to be more productive, then consider these techniques to help you manage your time and get more done.
