Take Back Your Time with Efficiency Apps
Packed class and work schedules barely leave room to breathe, much less get everything done. Luckily, our smartphones now provide access to a growing number of impressive apps dedicated specifically to organization, productivity, and time management for busy individuals. Read on for the top picks across both mobile platforms.
Simplified Planning with Google Calendar
For basic scheduling and time blocking, Google Calendar reigns supreme with its web and mobile app editions that sync reminders, appointments and schedules across all your devices. Easily view day, week and month formatting. Set recurring events for classes or meetings and enable notifications to alert you when it’s time to join. Integrate the calendar function with other task managers you rely on. Customize multiple calendars to visually separate academic, work and personal obligations.
Tasks & To-Dos with Microsoft To Do
For more robust task and project management, Microsoft To Do equips you with various tools for organizing your obligations by priority level, due date, tags, shared access and more. Break down bigger projects into distinct steps and subtasks to make the jobs more manageable and actionable. Include notes for additional context and check things off as you go to track progress. Sync across platforms for seamless access anywhere.
Conquer Classes with Blackboard App
Many academic institutions utilize Blackboard software for distributing info, content, assignments, grades, communication and more for each course. Blackboard’s mobile app enables students to stay connected by providing notifications on updates, quickly viewing grades and transcripts, accessing course materials, submitting assignments, joining discussions and even taking some exams.
Note Taking Nirvana through Evernote
When it comes to gathering, organizing and accessing notes on the fly, Evernote brings excellent functionality with synced access from any device. Clip web content and annotate PDFs while researching. Record audio notes during lectures or meetings. Snap pics of whiteboards and signs. Tagged notebooks help classify notes by course or project. Powerful search makes accessing your academic or professional notes a breeze.
Focus Flow with Freedom
Easily one of the biggest time wasters in student or professional life lies within reach 24/7 through the distraction of smartphones and internet access. Freedom allows blocking selected sites and apps that tend to hog your productive focus for set periods of time so you can power through important priorities distraction free. Customize to fit your needs.
Consolidated Task Mastery by Todoist
For serious task warriors seeking feature-packed project and task management capabilities, Todoist delivers with its robust array of organizational functionality. From color coding tasks by project or priority level to utilizing subtasks for breaking down bigger goals into smaller action steps, Todoist helps keep you on track. Add due dates, reminders, labels, comments, file attachments and more.
Quick Reminders through Google Keep
Sometimes you just need a quick and dirty way to jot down notes, lists, web clips, photos or audio reminders without getting bogged down in complex task management interfaces. For fast access sticky note functionality across devices, check out Google Keep for creating reminders on the fly to return to later for organization into more robust apps.
Shared Task Delegation with Asana
Sick of group projects where no one pulls their own weight according to plan? Achieve team accountability with shared workspaces on Asana to delegate tasks, deadlines, upload reference material and track progress. Great for both academic group assignments as well as professional team deliverables.
Location-Based Reminders by Woosh
If you still find yourself scrambling when you arrive places only to realize you meant to prepare something ahead of time, give Woosh a try for location-activated reminders and task creation. Set yourself up for success by assigning yourself reminders to open as you arrive in class or the office. Location services trigger notifications to remind you of things like printing documents in the campus computer lab before class or preparing talking points before important meetings at the office.
While no app can add more hours to the day, utilizing tools tailored to maximize productivity by organizing and managing your time can help relieve a lot of the stress that comes with academic and professional demands. Find the solutions that best support your success through streamlined scheduling, robust task management, elimination of distractions, shared delegation, and location-based reminders. Regain sense of control over your numerous responsibilities with these life-saving apps.