Tools for Productivity
Here are some websites/apps/extensions I’ve tried out that might be helpful to other people. I’ve lumped them into three categories:
Distraction Blockers
Habit Helpers
Time Savers
Let me know if anything else has helped you!
I. Distraction Blockers
Focus Friend: The premise of the app is that you’re collaborating with a cute little cartoon bean. You set a timer for how long you want to work, and this disables the other apps on your phone during that time. If you successfully complete a session without using your phone then you get points, which you can redeem for decorations for the bean guy. You can interrupt the timer to use your phone, but then the little bean guy will be sad. I like that it combines multiple psychological forces to help people stay on track: the cuteness of the bean guy, the sad animation when you let the bean guy down, the reward of giving the bean guy new decorations.
Forest: This is somewhat similar to Focus Friend. Set a timer and a plant grows. If you make it to the end of the session, you get a healthy plant. If you don’t, the plant withers. Over time, you build up forests that represent your productivity habits.
Freedom: This app also disables the other apps on your phone for a set length of time. It’s more minimalist than Focus Friend and Forest. Doesn’t try to gamify things. I also like their blog; they have decent-quality articles on how to be more productive.
FocusMate: This website lets you schedule co-working sessions with strangers online. Helpful for those who need a little accountability while they’re working.
II. Habit Helpers
Habitica: This app gamifies your habits and to do’s. Has skills, stats, quests, equipment, and more to make it feel like you’re playing an RPG.
TickTick: This is a no-nonsense app. It tells you upfront what it lets you do: create to-do lists, schedule tasks, categorize tasks with an Eisenhower matrix, use a pomodoro timer, and track habits. There are a LOT more features to experiment with. They also have a decent blog with productivity tips.
Todoist: A to-do list app similar to TickTick. One feature I like is the morning and evening overview notifications. Can be helpful as a way of getting people to plan for tomorrow and to see how much they accomplished at the end of the day.
Bearable: This app lets you track EVERYTHING about your life. Your mood, sleep, diet, physical activity, reproductive health, the quality of your poop, etc. And if you use it for long enough, it allows you to look at patterns in the data. Useful for getting a better sense of what most contributes to your wellbeing.
Waking Up: This app started as a meditation app (a very good one!), but it’s now expanded to include A LOT more content about all things mindfulness-related. A treasure trove of insights on how to take better care of your mind. Also has practical meditation exercises to help you regain control of your attention.
III. Time Savers
Brave: This is a web browser for both desktop and mobile devices. What I like about this is that it has ad-blocking built in, which is especially helpful on my phone. For example, when I’m watching YouTube videos, I don’t have to bother tapping “Skip Ad.” Brave lets me immediately get to the videos I’m interested in. I also noticed with my last computer that Chrome was consistently using up a lot of the CPU. Brave is a less resource-hungry browser, so I’m hoping it can extend the life of my new computer.
I Don’t Care about Cookies: This is a browser extension that disables cookie pop-ups. I like the convenience of having fewer pop-ups.
Hush Nag Blocker: This is the cookie pop-up blocker I use on my phone.
Video Speed Controller: This is an extension that allows you to increase the speed of videos using hotkeys. For someone who watches a lot of videos, this is extremely useful.