Do you feel like your productivity levels have dropped over the last few months? If so, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that UK productivity has noticeably dropped in 2020 – yet despite this, around two thirds of British employees are overworked by around six hours a week.
This is partially due to the coronavirus forcing millions of people to work from home, but that isn’t all; many people are also struggling to manage their own workload, so they often feel like they are falling behind.
Thankfully it is possible to make your workload a little lighter; you can either outsource the tasks to an online virtual assistant, or you could use handy productivity apps to make your daily tasks more manageable.
Here are five of the best productivity apps for 2020.
1. Asana
Cost: Free for the basic version, £9.49 for upgrades
Asana is a wonderful productivity app that is used by the likes of NASA, Dropbox and Air B’n’B. The app has lots of automation tools that help to simplify solo and group tasks, so it is much easier to manage tasks and plan projects.
The app does look a little confusing when you first open it, but this is just because there are so many features and tools to check out. So give yourself some time to check out each feature, and once you feel more comfortable using the app you can start to track your projects.
2. Just Press Record
Cost: £4.99
Just Press Record is a recording app that you can use to record notes, meetings, job interviews and random thoughts. This is ideal for anyone who regularly takes notes or recordings while they work, and all of the files will be sorted by date and time. You can also sync the recordings to the Cloud, so you can access them wherever you are.
3. Forest
Cost: Free
Do you find that you are easily distracted when you are using your mobile? If so, you could benefit from downloading Forest. Forest is a cool app that helps you to stay focused while you are working; whenever you have an idea you can ‘plant a seed’ in the app, and then you can work on the idea as it grows into a tree – but if you close the app, the tree will die. This cute little app makes it much easier to stay focused on one task (and the app plants trees for every sign up, so you will be helping the earth if you download it!).
4. Be Focused
Cost: Free
Be Focused is another handy app that can help you to focus – but this app is better suited to people who have lots of different tasks to complete every day. The app uses the famous Pomodoro technique to break your day up into short, 25 minute long sessions (followed by a five minute break). This means that you are constantly being productive while switching between tasks, but the frequent breaks will make it easier for you to avoid burnout. The app can also help to remove mental clutter, as you only need to focus on one task at a time.
5. Zapier
Cost: Free for basic version, £15.43 a month for upgrades
The final app on our list is Zapier, a task automation and integration app. You can integrate other apps into Zapier (such as Zoom, Toggl and Be Focused), so that you don’t have to remember to check each app; all of the notifications will come through Zapier. This means you are far less likely to forget to do something, and it also makes it easier for you to respond to emails and messages quickly as you can set up automatic responses. This app is perfect for any business owner!
