Productivity Tools
If you're just getting started into the world of self-employment (or thinking about it), you really need to "have your $#!t together" as they say. Not everyone is really well organized by default, but there are tools to help. There's a fantastic website called MaqToob which has ratings and reviews for these apps and more. I've presorted several apps/tools into categories for convenience. And if you're a twitter person, I've compiled a twitter list of apps as well.
Here is my current set:
Here is my current set:
ShortcutFoo
This site cleverly used spaced repetition to teach you the keyboard shortcuts of different programs you're already using. You level up once you prove you've memorized them. It doesn't feature every program you could imagine, but definitely several you probably do.
KeyRocket (Windows) / Eve (Mac)
ShortcutFoo is great if you are already a fan of apps like Anki or Memrise, but for something more "active" that teaches you contextually, KeyRocket/Eve are your best bet. I'm a Windows person so I used KeyRocket and I loved that it tells you the shortcut for what you are doing as you're doing it, which makes it stick way better. In excel or word this is especially useful, but also in your OS in general.
This site cleverly used spaced repetition to teach you the keyboard shortcuts of different programs you're already using. You level up once you prove you've memorized them. It doesn't feature every program you could imagine, but definitely several you probably do.
KeyRocket (Windows) / Eve (Mac)
ShortcutFoo is great if you are already a fan of apps like Anki or Memrise, but for something more "active" that teaches you contextually, KeyRocket/Eve are your best bet. I'm a Windows person so I used KeyRocket and I loved that it tells you the shortcut for what you are doing as you're doing it, which makes it stick way better. In excel or word this is especially useful, but also in your OS in general.
TickTick (Android)
If you're like me, "out of sight" seriously is out of mind. I generally need to be pestered to the point of annoyance with reminders to actually do them, and most reminder apps I've tried have not been satisfactory. I like the way Tick Tick handles it. TickTick is similar to Wunderlist, but is 50% task list and 50% calendar, which is good. And the customizability is just nice.
If you're like me, "out of sight" seriously is out of mind. I generally need to be pestered to the point of annoyance with reminders to actually do them, and most reminder apps I've tried have not been satisfactory. I like the way Tick Tick handles it. TickTick is similar to Wunderlist, but is 50% task list and 50% calendar, which is good. And the customizability is just nice.
Wunderlist
You can create different projects, and have subtasks in each (also true of TickTick). You can set a due date, and a reminder. You will get both a mobile and an email notification of due items. When you mark them done, they get archived so you can go back and look later at all the things you accomplished.
You can create different projects, and have subtasks in each (also true of TickTick). You can set a due date, and a reminder. You will get both a mobile and an email notification of due items. When you mark them done, they get archived so you can go back and look later at all the things you accomplished.
RescueTime
Productivity Tracker supreme! This one just tracks what you are doing and how much time you spend doing it. You can categorize every activity by type, and by how productive or unproductive it is, and then get a daily rating, and simple reports. The premium version gives you additional options.
This can help you identify patterns/trends in your habits that you can then crack down on to improve your productivity. You can also set simple goals (like spend at least 1 hour per day on design and composition).
Productivity Tracker supreme! This one just tracks what you are doing and how much time you spend doing it. You can categorize every activity by type, and by how productive or unproductive it is, and then get a daily rating, and simple reports. The premium version gives you additional options.
This can help you identify patterns/trends in your habits that you can then crack down on to improve your productivity. You can also set simple goals (like spend at least 1 hour per day on design and composition).
Evernote
Evernote is a must have for a generalist/scanner type. You can store images and text, set tags/keywords, there's a "web clipper" browser extension so you can easily save articles you're reading (or snippets of them), and it's accessible from anywhere so long as you're online. Instead of manually sending yourself links, images, text on the go, you can save it to evernote right on your phone (or desktop). Also, check out Pocket (which is specifically for saving online articles for later reading)
Evernote is a must have for a generalist/scanner type. You can store images and text, set tags/keywords, there's a "web clipper" browser extension so you can easily save articles you're reading (or snippets of them), and it's accessible from anywhere so long as you're online. Instead of manually sending yourself links, images, text on the go, you can save it to evernote right on your phone (or desktop). Also, check out Pocket (which is specifically for saving online articles for later reading)
Slack
Slack is a team collaboration, chat, and file storage platform.
Slack is a team collaboration, chat, and file storage platform.
HabitBull (Android)
A habit tracker (which also works as a task tracker by proxy).
You set up a habit/task, what makes it "successful" (ie simple yes/no did you do the thing, did you work or earn or spend more/less than a certain amount?), and how often you have to do it (every day, a few days a week, specific days only), and then you start tracking/entering the data. It will give you an overall aggregate success score as a percentage, as well as tracks the success rates/streaks of individual habits. Free version only tracks 5 habits, premium gives you up to 100.
A habit tracker (which also works as a task tracker by proxy).
You set up a habit/task, what makes it "successful" (ie simple yes/no did you do the thing, did you work or earn or spend more/less than a certain amount?), and how often you have to do it (every day, a few days a week, specific days only), and then you start tracking/entering the data. It will give you an overall aggregate success score as a percentage, as well as tracks the success rates/streaks of individual habits. Free version only tracks 5 habits, premium gives you up to 100.
If This, Then That
A very simple automation tool that allows you to set up "recipes" to run automatically to do things you would otherwise do manually. It's a force multiplier for hands-free productivity.
A very simple automation tool that allows you to set up "recipes" to run automatically to do things you would otherwise do manually. It's a force multiplier for hands-free productivity.
MaqToob
MaqToob is a website with listings, ratings, and reviews for just about every web tool or business app you could imagine. I spent some time sifting through and categorizing apps that I had used or that looked useful. You can find my productivity apps list here.
MaqToob is a website with listings, ratings, and reviews for just about every web tool or business app you could imagine. I spent some time sifting through and categorizing apps that I had used or that looked useful. You can find my productivity apps list here.