What Productivity Software do you use to stay focused and organized?

The Action Machine is pretty effective - but nothing's more effective than an accountability partner in my experience.

Most successful people in the Mind/Warrior section on this forum seem to agree on this.

Not just on here, it's generally accepted that an accountability partner of some sort is one of the best cures for an internet marketer's productivity (or lack of).

Ideally, it should be someone who's more successful than you so they lift you up, keep you motivated as well as stay on, stick to, and complete your tasks.

Alternatively, you can always get the 4 hour work week by Tim Ferriss and work only 4 hours per week

Ken

A kitchen timer and a piece of paper/pen.

It's all you need and a lot better than using something on your computer.

Im sure their are plenty of products on google that should help you. I would do a product search and see what you find. Also check the reviews on products you may be interested in.

Trello is awesome

Notepad... you know the one that comes with windows lol.

Three ring binder with college lined paper. It's gotta be college lined. More info...

I swear, every time I read something that WillR wrote I think that we were separated at birth or something. I was going to put exactly the same thing, except I use a stopwatch/count-down timer instead of a kitchen timer.

"Don't overcomplicate this stuff." Precisely. You don't need some huge software suite to make things happen and get things done. (And you shouldn't blame the lack of such a suite for a lack of productivity.)

Sometimes low-tech is the way to go. I often counsel people about diet and fitness, and tell them that getting a calorie-counter book and writing down what they eat is better than using a web-based application like Fitday. Most of them use Fitday anyway...and most of them fail with their diets. Using a pencil and paper is no guarantee of success, but something happens when you physically write something out. It sticks in your brain better. And the percentage of people who succeed with their diets doing it the old fashioned way is about four times that of the people who don't.

A pencil and paper comes with no learning curve, is cheap, and works in your native language. Why would you ever need anything else?

I sometimes use outlook. However a paper planner and a pencil always works best for me. No need to worry about crashes, internet connections, or pesky upgrades. I am a big fan of Franklin Covey products, however they are going to cost you some money and they will upsell you.

For the cost of printing your own pages go to diyplanner.com and make yourself a free planner. If my employer did not pick up the cost of my productivity items thats what I would do.

I personally use mind maps to structure my projects. It helps me making sure everything's covered.

Self discipline.

I keep it very simple. I'm virtually using my browser every single hour, so I use an empty, editable tab. There's this snippet of code you can paste in a new browser tab (works for me in Chrome, don't know about other browsers) that will make that tab editable. I just jot down everything there. Quick, easy, and very productive. Here's that link, if anyone is interested.

I also keep a pen and paper with me wherever I go so that I can jot down notes if and when I need. I've tried doing that with an iPad, an iPad Mini and a phone and nothing is as good as paper. Maybe that will change in the future. :-)

As far as productivity software goes, I've tried a lot. Initially, what seems like a good fit might seem a little too bloated sometime down the road, or you need something that's not there, or it just doesn't fit your workflow as well as you would like. I created a simple to-do list app for myself some time ago but that didn't work out too well either.

I prefer to write down my specific goals that I want to accomplish the day before and then the very next day I set a timer and do them. I believe the key to having better focus is having much more very specific goals that you want to accomplish.

I got a dry erase board above my screen.

I have tasks I need to accomplish on it. Long term tasks are broken into short term tasks. Short term tasks, I sit and knock out. I have OCD once I begin a task. That's all I focus on and it sucks when it takes longer than a day to accomplish - because then I dream about the task.

MS Excel, notepad, and the timer on my phone.

Absolutely none!! Maybe that's my problem ;-)

I think playing around with software would just waste more of my time. I make a to do list for the week every Sunday evening, then review it at the end of each day to see if anything needs added due to circumstances.

I use a good old timer but it doesn't always work! Organization isn't so much of a problem, it's more to do with the " sitting and doing" although I find it easier when the clock is TICKING AWAY! I look at it like a "boss"!! Lol

Yoan

I also use Google Analytics! It helps keep focused...when I see a significant drop in the number of visitors, I can usually tell WHY....:)

paper and pen in combination with The Pomodoro Technique

I also use the notes app on my Iphone to collect ideas, actions, projects throughout the day

and I use Microsoft Word for all my action lists and projects lists

I use to have the "shiny, new toy" syndome that is a part of the Productivity niche.

For example, I did use the Things app, Pocket Informant app, Week Calendar, etc

But then I realize that these apps were not going to make me productive.

Now I focus on building the basic skills of productivity, making those a habit and a part of who I am, which is more important than which "new toy" I have to play with.

This is why a piece of paper and a pen or pencil can be just as or more effective than any other tool out there.

I fail to see how software can help you stay focused and productive. That involves self discipline and motivation and software can't make you self disciplined and motivated. If you don't feel like it, what's to make you run the software?

Just set short and long-term goals for yourself and put urgency on yourself to achieve them.

Pen and paper should work just fine

I use to-do list apps, https://www.wunderlist.com is my favorite

I use Things on a Mac. It's been amazing for keeping track of things I need to get done. I can easily and quickly push an item into my Things list and reschedule it to show up X number of days later with a couple key presses.

Not sure if you want to let a subscription service renew next month? Put an item in Things and reschedule it to show up in 21 days, after you've had a chance to evaluate it but before it renews.

I put all kinds of need-to-remember items in my Things. It's been amazing as a reminder tool to keep me on task with things that would fall through the cracks otherwise.

I use pocket lists for iphone. It's super helpful on getting things done on time.

I use Evernote a lot. I have it both on my PC and my phone. Its free, and its a great way to jot down ideas so you don't forget them. Its also great for keeping track of useful resources.

Its not a full blown task manager by any means, but its where I maintain details of my "master plan", and organize all of my notes.

LASTPASS
This apps works like magic, they store, organize, and secure your password from any account you use on the internet. I recommend it for anyone who use social network for the traffic. This apps also good for any forum mania who use forums as a media to promote their landing page. This is free to use, just install the apps, create an account, and it will replace the built-in password saver from all your site. It also protect your offline account in your computer such as user logic, wifi pass, etc.
For more apps that help business: Google calender, and skype (always turn it on)

Good ol' pen and paper for my personal activities. I make a quick list for the urgent things that MUST be completed that day and I focus on those alone until they are done. I don't spend a lot of time messing with software to be organized - it takes too much time.

I do also have Basecamp and Manymoon accounts if others are involved in a project and its more for being sure that tasks are being completed by the entire team and the project is on track.

If you have an iPhone, here's a few of the apps that helped me zoned in and productive throughout the day...

Calm.com - Every 1.5 hours, take a 5 minute break. Use this site to help you recharge.

Lift.do - Helps you develop daily habits (writing to my list everyday is a goal for me).

Focus Time - If you work off the Pomodoro technique (25 minutes on, 5 minutes off), this iPhone app lets you track the amount of pomodors you do each day.

Pocket.com - When you see a blog article or youtube video you want to check out during your work day, save it here and consume later during your off hours.

Great suggestions in this thread.

Hi Brisco

I have used the Getting Things Done system on and off for the last five years or so. But it only really clicked into place for me when I started combining it with Evernote.

Whether you want to go that far, I suppose it all depends on how many tasks and how many projects you want to keep track of.

Personally, I keep thinking of projects which I don't want to start necessarily but I would like to keep a note of, and review regularly. So for me having a list of all my projects, divided into active and inactive projects, is very useful.

Evernote allows me to do this.

Similarly, last time I checked I had 160 tasks on my to-do lists. By using Evernote I separate these into more current and less current. The less current tasks are only reviewed once a week, and then only briefly. And the more current tasks get looked at every day.

This really works well for me and I describe more about it here if you're interested.

But this may be overkill if - as it seems with some of the people posting here - you only have a handful of tasks and projects to keep track of.

For me, I love to use gadgets – as long as they fulfil a purpose. And as Evernote can be accessed easily on smart phone and tablet, and as any data you want to can be fired into Evernote really easily – photo, scan, web page, RSS reader, et cetera - this makes Evernote a must for me.

I've been using this system for nine months now and it's working like a dream. So satisfying. It's only taken me around 35 years to get to this point LOL

Better late than never.

Malc

i like the action machine, also post-it's software from 3m is great; trial at

Post-it Digital Notes - CNET Download.com

Plain 'n simple

Openoffice Spreadsheet and Google Calender

(If you want to call them 'software')

Regardless they get the job done and keep me on track

kanbanflow +Evernote = Epic Productivity

Whiteboards baby!

Yeah! I always use whiteboards whenever I need to write down some important things to note but I use Time Doctor to track my time while I’m working on a project.

By the way, Trello is also good. I’ve tried that too before.

Hey,

We use Zoho CRM for our contact management and also Google tasks. Great combination!

Especially when using with Google apps so everything is integrated in one.

I use .txt document for simple to do lists. That's it. On the rare occasion I need to book an appointment, I use my phone's calendar.

I start every day for the first 3 to 5 hours writing content. After that I do some promotion, tweaking and admin. I keep it pretty simple.

1. Scrivener

2. Microsoft OneNote

3. The Action Machine OR FocusBooster

4. DropBox

5. Freemind

6. Google Calendar/Keep/Docs

7. 37Signals Basecamp/Campfire