My top 3 productivity apps
Hey you!
So as you know, productivity is one of the hottest topics at the moment, especially in the personal development space.
I’ve spent a lot of time nerding out about it, so in this letter I thought I’d mention a few of my favourite phone apps, as well as a few productivity tips/hacks that I employ as well.
The apps I’ll be discussing are Minimis, Opal, Forest and Freedom.
Minimis
Minimis is a very simple app, still in it’s beta testing stages, that really simplifies how your phone’s screen looks and reduces distractions. On the home screen you can have 4 apps, which for me are the ones I need for work. Then on the next page you have your “essential” apps. I really like this interface, though one downside is you can just swipe straight out of it and be straight back in a world of distraction.
2. Opal
Opal is an app that allows you to block any and all apps for a set amount of time. I use this mainly when I’m at work, and have all the apps on my phone besides those I need for work comppletely blocked. If I want to access any other apps, I have to first open Opal and wait a set amount of time before I can unlock the other apps. Every time I snooze a session, the wait time gets longer.
3. Forest
Forest is a Pomodoro timer app, using 25 minute chunks of time as the target. Studies have shown that this is the ideal amount of time to sit and study / work etc for without getting distracted. I like this app because it helps to gamify being productive. You grow a little tree for every focus session, and if you quit the session early the tree dies. You earn points for all your focus sessions, and for every 2,500 points they plant a real tree! Pretty cool right?
These are my top 3, and after playing around with a lot of different ones they have become the ones I’ve used the most over time.
Do you have any apps you use regulary to help you focus better? I’d love to know!
That’s all from me this time, now I’m off to enjoy the sunshine.
Big hugs,
Your friend Ben.
PS. You may have notices from the screenshots that my phone was on 1%. I guess I like to live life on the edge, I’m cool like that.