15-Second Summary: This blog offers a fresh take on productivity in 2024. Instead of a single app, build a system with three productivity layers. Layer one focuses on organizing tasks, emails, and files with tools like calendars and to-do lists. Layer two, optional for information gatherers, helps capture insights from articles and books. Finally, layer three, inspired by Tiago Forte, explores using a system as a creative partner. By building a system, you free your mind to focus and achieve peak productivity.
Human productivity has turned into a philosophical debate at this point. Digital space is brimming with people (or, dare I say, productivity gurus and influencers) talking about productivity tricks and hacks to make you a winner.
As more information, in the forms of videos (both long and especially short form), blogs, and physical or e-books, is pouring down on a daily basis, people are becoming apprehensive. Some are feeling left out. Others are anxious about what to do about this new wave of productivity conundrum.
Although the title of the blog sounds clickbait – but let me establish here, that is not the case. You will see it by yourself before you even finish this blog. Objectively speaking, there are no “best” productivity apps. The idea is to not look for individual productivity apps but focus on apps that cater to your needs.
In the following discussion, I’ll be giving you a comprehensive overview of not only a number of different apps jotted together but how to build a productivity system. This framework combines the best organization apps differentiating them into three layers.
Each layer will consist of a bunch of apps, but they will target one productivity element from different angles- making your life easier. By the end, you will have a system that not only boosts your productivity but also shines your organizational skills.
Before we dig deep, remember;
Productivity is using our time intentionally and effectively.
Productivity Layer 01 (Keeping your world in order)
01 – Calendar
One of the things that bothers me the most is people not realizing what an effective use of a calendar can do for your productivity. Calendar serves three major functions if you want to become a productivity hero.
F1 – Organize your day
F2 – Gives you Block-time
F3 – Automate daily tasks
Let’s break them down:
- Organize your day:
A well-known productivity guru, David Allen, had put the whole calendar debacle in perspective when he said: “Your brain is for having ideas not for storing them.”
It means that you don’t need to force your brain to remember and remind you of every tiny bit of information. Calendar can organize your day, remind you of day-to-day tasks, and keep track of your daily activities.
Google Calendar is a perfect fit for most people who are already using Gmail. More so, it’s easily manageable with a simple user interface. Fantastical is another premium option but is a paid tool.
- Gives you block time:
A calendar also gives you the freedom to create block time, which is the time you spend on a particular thing only. It helps you make time windows where you can, let’s just say, work on some new ideas if you’re writing a book or spending some family time.
- Automates daily tasks:
With trending apps such as Calendly or Savvy Cal, you can automate your meeting phone calls, set reminders for both you and the meeting participants, and much more.
It has a great advantage in streamlining your workflow if you take lots of calls and engage in multiple meetings in a day. More so, it saves you time to focus on more important tasks and not worry about forgetting important sales calls, for instance.
02 – Email Management
Emails are another important part of work-life in case you’re an employee or an independent business owner. However, like every other person, our inboxes are filled with all types of mail that we didn’t even know of when we subscribed. In this way, the inbox looks like a mess, and it becomes hard to keep track of important emails. In this regard, apps like Superhuman make it simple to manage your email.
Superhuman, one of the AI productivity Apps, claims that it saves teams over 10 million hours every single day. With AI integration into this App, email management has become superfast. It categorizes your emails into calendar events, to-do’s, and notes to state a few categories. Another bonus tip is to unsubscribe the useless mails by using the dedicated settings in whatever mailing app you’re using.
03 – To-do List
The worst idea and place to store your things is in your mind. It makes you panic at times when you can’t remember what you were supposed to do. Once you write down everything, it does two things: helps in planning and stops you from panicking.
Moving on, Todoist is one of the best organizing apps. Don’t take my word; only look at their user base. It lets you assign tasks, organize things by project, and view projects in a dashboard.
Furthermore, it also allows integration across different platforms, making it a viable option among other apps.
04 – File Management System
The final piece of this puzzle is a dedicated file management system. The best productivity app in this category is a cloud-based storage system. Google Drive is the most reasonable app. It is easy to handle, works elegantly, and is safe. You can also access cloud-based storage from anywhere and on any network, which makes it a useful productivity tool.
Productivity Layer 02 (Capturing Insights)
This is an optional layer in the overall productivity system and doesn’t serve everyone. It basically targets people who consume a variety of different media and want to recall things quickly.
If you read a lot, this layer is a value addition for you. If you listen to podcasts and audiobooks and want to keep a record of the useful information, this serves you best.
Furthermore, this layer of productivity system is about taking notes, capturing information and keeping a collection of things that you are going to use later. In this section, we have four best productivity apps for 2024.
Let’s take a closer look at these options:
01 – Kindle App
The Kindle App, not the Kindle E-book reader, has some features worth highlighting. They have assisted a wide audience in boosting their productivity levels. It allows you to read more, highlight text, and revisit information whenever you need it. More so, you can also easily access the saved information whether it’s a quote or a great passage you read in a book and want to cite.
02 – Instapaper
The next step in the reading paradigm is to save a fantastic piece of writing that you found while scrolling. Instapaper helps you quickly save such articles or blogs and also reminds you to read, but that’s optional. Furthermore, it allows easy integration across different browsers and platforms. Quick and easy user interface and a time-saver.
03 – Readwise
The final touch to the whole layer of exploring new worlds comes from the Readwise application. It’s helpful in gathering all your highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, similar apps.
Another feature of this productivity app is that you can review the best parts of your saved information through daily mail or directly from the app. It’s a great productivity booster and assists in recalling and growing your knowledge base. In the same way, Readwise multiplies your productivity by saving time and diminishing distractions.
Before we move on to the final layer of the productivity system, let me quickly answer a frequently asked question:
what is the point of a productivity system?
The simple answer is to give your brain a break. It doesn’t need to remember every detail because the system can do it for you. You need to sit back and trust the system and things will flow naturally.
Productivity Layer 03 – Building a Second Brain (Tiago Forte)
It’s the final act, a game-changing productivity system that ends up becoming your thought partner. Moreover, it’s about using a productivity system for creativity rather than just for storing things.
Tiago Forte’s book “Building a Second Brain” explores this idea at great lengths. The insights are not only useful but also life changing in building your dream productivity system.
A final tool to enhance your productivity is Roam Research, which claims that writing is a tool for thinking. If we can build a tool for helping people write and organize their ideas more effectively, we can help them have better thoughts and solve otherwise intractable problems.
Final Thoughts
So, there you have it. The key to productivity in 2024 isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution; it’s crafting a system that works for you. We’ve explored a three-layer framework that tackles organization, knowledge capture, and even building a “second brain” for enhanced creativity. Remember, the goal is to liberate your mind, not burden it. By leveraging a system, you free yourself from the tyranny of remembering every detail. Trust the process, and watch your productivity soar. Now, go forth and build your dream system!
