World Class Productivity Tools for FREE ~ Push the Easy Button

World Class Productivity Tools for FREE ~ Push the Easy Button

No matter what you do for a living, or what your aspirations, I have a set of productivity tools that will literally add time back into your life and they are all FREE. 

I have become more and more aware lately of time and its passing.  Maybe it's because I recently had a birthday, or welcomed my second son, or because my day job as a global executive seems to have a way of consuming my hours as a child would consume candy if unobstructed. Whatever the reason; the idea of creating more time, and free space in my life is of great importance.

Things like planning ahead, (Check out Additional Posts HERE & HERE) intentionally removing unwanted tasks that can be automated, delegated or removed, or seeking or hiring  support (Learn More) are absolutely necessary and must be done.  They should be one of the first steps in creating a life that is more productive and joyful, so check out my other posts if you want more resources and guidance to help you along that path.  As a next step you should start looking at the abundance of available tools to help make your life simpler and save you a ton of time!! 

We are lucky to live in a time where have access to so much information and support for free so let's not take that for granted.  I have pulled together an arsenal of digital tools that are amazingly, free, and, amazingly, powerful that you can use no matter who you are. And many of them you have probably never even heard of.  Let's dig in… 
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​THE ULTIMATE CHEATSHEET FOR PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Elisi
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​My latest obsession that I have been using daily is a app called Elisi.  

It is essentially an online version of a bullet journal to help you:

• Plan.
  • You have to-do lists, events, goals & a calendar.  You can look and see your day, week or month right in front of you.  And what I like best is that when you complete your planned task you get to digitally check it off as done, to me, there is nothing more satisfying of a feeling! So plan ahead and stay on top of your goals and priorities so that you can design the life of your dreams!
• Track
  • Elisi has a function where you can track the habits that you want to create and maintain in your life, and we all know how important habits are, if not, read more on that HERE.  So if you want to regularly exercise, meditate, read, whatever it is, just fill in the habit in the tool, put in that you want it to be on on-going task and on which days you want to do it.  Then it automatically shows up on your calendar and you can check it off when its done.  The app then tracks your progress for you, and your streaks which is a great way to help you gain and keep momentum!
• Lists
  • I am a list girl so this function is great for me.  You can keep lists on anything.  You create a topic that you need to tackle and then you can add all he bullet points or actions that are required to achieve it.  So let's say your planning a birthday party, you would add bullets for gifts, cake, balloons, invites etc., then you can cross them off as you go. I personally love this function for a mind dump, where I just put everything and anything that I am thinking of across all life's pillars onto one list.  This way I get it all out of my mind so it no longer takes up that mental real estate and I can slowly add the tasks to my weekly plan.  It also has the benefit that over time you can see just how many things you crossed off giving you a great feeling of accomplishment!
• Notes
  • You also have a function for fast notes, where you can jot down anything your thinking of or need to remember on the go.  I personally like to use this for my weekly meal planning and for jotting down take-aways from my readings.
• Journal/Diary
  • It even has a diary/journal so that you can electronically work through anything or cement a memory all while on the go.

This tool really has it all to support you in your productivity and in your general well-being. I am using the free version on my iPad and highly recommend it for anyone, even if you have a paper journal/planner as I do, so that you have an electronic version always with you and to ensure nothing is lost.

Station
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The next tool in the box is Station.  I have been using this tool now for months and it has been a Godsend to me and my productivity. 

Station is a browser extension that neatly puts all your apps, notes, documents, messages; everything in one place so that you can stop wasting time switching between applications.  And if you are anything like me, you have thousands of tabs open at any given time and are switching between tasks, with station it makes it all manageable.

Use it to synchronize all your most important and most commonly used applications and stop switching from thing to thing.  Everything is organized so that you can see it on the left hand side of the page so you can easily navigate through it all.  It links almost 700 hundred apps so you can switch from browsing the web to answering a DM easily.   This tool is essentially like "Shift" but for free, so you can't beat that. I use the free version myself and have found it to be a great tool. This integration as saved me a ton of time and it will do it for you too.   

pocket

​The next tool in my bag of tricks is Pocket. 

I love this app! Have you ever found yourself on the web or you get an email with a link to a post that you want to read but you just have no time right at that moment?  Then you move onto your next task and completely forget about it?  Or you read something that was so amazing that you want to save it for later to read it again or use it to support your business/career/health, etc.?  Or you're out of the WIFI zone or are wanting to save your phone data and still have something to read offline so you can make use of your down time? Well Pocket is the solution to all of this.  It allows you to save any online article so you can go back and read it at another time, even if you are offline.  They have also added the ability to have the article read to you.  So if you don’t want to read it or want to multi task, and instead, listen to it while you are working-out or walking then the Pocket app will actually read the article to you….amazing!! 

I like to personally use it to save information that I think will help with my business or career, or for content or articles that I think would be helpful for my audience so that I can share it with you on the socials for later.  It's free, its great, it allows you to batch read when you have the time and to even share the articles with others. You can even save videos to watch later and offline and all for free. 

canva

And next we have Canva. 
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​Now you may be thinking that this is only useful for creators and I told you that these tools were for everyone, and they are.  I do certainly use Canva for creating content (and would definitely recommend it as a tool for all creators) but I use it for so many other things as well. They have so many amazing templates available so that you can create anything and have it look professionally done. Here are a couple of ideas of just what I have used it for myself:

• Content creation across all the socials including video (and now you can even schedule your posts through Canva which is another amazing perk!)
• Planner
• Journal
• Photo books
• Birth Announcement
• Presentation
• Resume
• Picture edits
• Calendar
• Worksheets
• Proposal

And I have plans to use so much more of what's available I just have not yet had the time to benefit from all the features. This is truly, hands down one of my favorite tools out there, it allows you to design like a professional without having to have the technical skills required to do so.  This saves me so much time, and money, as otherwise, I would need to hire out so much of the work that I have done.  The free version is great, for my needs I use the paid version but it worth every penny! 

lastpass

​Next in the toolbox is Lastpass.
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​There are so many apps, websites, banks, emails; well essentially everything now a days that require a username and password in order to secure and maintain an account with them.  For me, it’s a lot, so many in fact that I start to lose control of the passwords, or forget them, or waste time just looking for where I wrote it down, or having to change them.  This to me is always frustrating especially when you need access immediately!  So I recently just downloaded the app Lastpass.  Which allows me to save all of my passwords into one secure location and only have to remember one moving forward and that is for Lastpass itself.  But this aside the thing I like even more than all of this is the fact the Lastpass will actually auto fill in your password for you for all of these accounts.  No more trying to remember, no more searching and no more wasted time typing.  Fast, simple, secure and free. 

google alerts
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The next one is very simple but often overlooked - Google Alerts.

Is there a topic that interests you that you want to have all the latest details on, or something that you are researching for your career or business?  Or, you want to know when someone is linking something to you personally or your business on the web?  Then google alerts is a fast, free and easy tool to support you.  It takes less than 60 seconds for you to input your criteria and then google will send you daily alerts when anything is posted on the web that matches your information.  Let google be your research assistant and use your time for more important things in life ?

trello
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The next one I admit I am new to using but I am quickly becoming addicted to it.  This tool, my friends, is Trello. 

Trello is a tool where you can collaborate with your team (any team - ie. Friends, colleagues, employees, family, etc.) that allows you to visualize and manage any task or work flow using boards, lists and cards. The boards are blank canvases where you can see your full project from start to finish.  This allows you to really visualize the full process and break it down into manageable chunks. Lists help you share tasks and monitor progress and the cards describe each task outlining everything you need to do to complete the job.  Don't be fooled, you can use this for anything, there are meal planner, goal setting and home exercise planning boards along with business, project management, marketing boards etc.  What I like is that you can look at other boards that were made public to learn from, get inspiration, or to use it yourself, saving your time and effort in creating your own. I would highly suggest you go take a look at some of the already available boards HERE so that you can see for yourself the possibilities.

I mostly use this tool solo as I am very visual.  I use it to display my ideas in different ways and combinations.  It is also great for organization and to share with others to have their thoughts and feedback. I am still new to this as I said, but I can see this could quickly become one of my go to tools for both my business and career. 

ayoa
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​Last but not least, Ayoa, is another free tool that can help you get productive.
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​This is a another great tool to manage any project both personal or business and whether you want to use it alone to manage your own progress, or with a team, it suits both. What I really like about this tool is your ability to create visual mind maps when your brainstorming, along with an online whiteboard and chat functionality for collaboration.  This tool helps you bring your ideas to life in a colorful, visual, and easy way.  It allows you to break down your big projects into different smaller milestones and then into individual tasks, either for yourself or your team, and manage your overall completion rate at a bird's eye view so your status and progress are easily captured. It also has different viewing settings for you to choose from based on your preference.  The free version of this tool has all the functionality you really need and will definitely help you be more productive and focus on the priority items for whatever goal you want to achieve!  

I really believe that each of these tools can add value and more importantly more time for you to focus on the things that really matter.  And the best part is that they are free so there is really nothing to lose! 

I would love to here what you think of these tools in the comments below.  Please, also share with me some of the free productivity tools that you love and use on a regular basis, I am always looking for ways to be more efficient with my time!

If you want even more tools, resources or just a regular dose of positivity come and connect with me over on the socials ?

And until we meet again….

Design YOUR Life ~ Be Authentic.  Be You.  Be Sharp.

THE ULTIMATE CHEATSHEET FOR PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS