My top 4 apps for organization and productivity

As I mentioned in last Monday’s post, being organized is a huge part of staying healthy in university. And, like most skills we learn in school, it’s pretty applicable in the ‘real world’ as well. I may not have a full time job yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot of things going on in my life, and I find myself falling behind on my mental to do list way too often.

Recently, I was thinking about how easily overwhelmed I can get, and I realised that if I’m such a hot mess without that full time job I’m seeking, things will only get worse once I get it. I should be working on my organizational skills now, not in the future when I have a day job on top of all my other side hustles. So, today, I wanted to share some of my favourite apps that help me stay organized and actually accomplish the things I need to get done.

1. Wunderlist

I’ve spoken about Wunderlist before in my post on apps that help you rock your workout, but this app is so awesome for general organization that I had to mention it again. My favourite use for Wunderlist in my day to day life is as a place to store my master to-do list. But, instead of one long list of things I have to do, Wunderlist helps me separate my thoughts into different categories.

Right now, I have a list for blog post ideas, one for recipe ideas, one for redesign ideas, one for new blog ideas, one for job hunting stuff etc. So, when I’m ready to tackle a particular project/area of my life, I don’t have to sift through a million and one random and unrelated items on a list to figure out what comes next. 

2. OneDrive

If you’ve been around for a while, you may remember the blue screen of death that was a constant part of my life with my last computer. And, the computer I had before that one crashed and burned the week before final exams in my second year of university, taking all my documents with it. So, to say that I’ve become a master at backing up my work would be an understatement.

But, instead of just using an external hard drive, I store a lot of my stuff on the cloud. Right now I’m using OneDrive, but I’ve used Dropbox and even Google Docs in the past with the same results. No matter where I am, once I have an internet connection, I can access everything I need to. And, this way, I can be productive anywhere without ending up with different versions of the same documents on all my devices.

3. Pocket

I’m almost always on my laptop or phone attempting to get work done, but I have a tendency to get distracted. If I sit down to schedule posts on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, I can easily end up scrolling through my newsfeeds and falling down one of the many rabbit holes of the internet.

So, instead of reading every since article or watching every single video that catches my eye, I save them for later using Pocket. Plus, Pocket has a super cool feature that allows you to organize links using tags. So, when I want to save an article for more than just the immediate future, it doesn’t get lost amongst the millions of other things I’ve saved for later.

4. Google Calendar

I don’t think Google Calendar needs much explaining, but I’ll still share a few features that make me love it. First up, I love that you can share your calendar with others so you don’t have to waste time trying to find a time that works to meet. Just send them a link to your calendar and let them pick a time that works for them. Aside: this makes me feel super cool and professional and I probably do it more often than I should (a.k.a. when I literally have all day open).

Secondly, the events in your calendar can be colour coded, which not only looks nice but helps you easily maintain your work-life balance at a glance. And, finally, Google Calendar can send notifications to your phone, which is priceless for me, because let’s face it: I never check any of the 5 million day planners I fill them out at the beginning of every month.

What about you?

• Do you use any of these apps regularly?
• What other apps help you stay organized and productive? 

Share in the comments below!

 

 

 

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