The only way to make technology work with productivity is to keep things dead simple. In a time where we are constantly bombarded with notifications and screens are always screaming for our attention, sticking to more than a few apps to use daily on your phone is a recipe for getting lost, losing your focus, and forgetting what you were going to do when you opened your phone.

The KISS Principle: Keep It Simple Stupid

I have written about <a href="https://selfcontrolapp.com/">SelfControl</a> many times before. I use it primarily to block youtube access from my computer. All you have to do is download it, add youtube to the blacklist, set a timer duration, and click on Start. You won’t have access to youtube until the timer expires. Even if you quit the app. Even if you restart your computer.

Self Control

<a href="https://ticktick.com/">TickTick</a> is a to-do app that comes with a great built-in calendar function along with other features like smart lists and tags.For me, it’s crucial to have an overview of my week any day, any time. I can shuffle things around and see what things I’m behind on.I also love to be able to see everything I have accomplished so far this week, with the “Show completed” option.

TickTick

<a href="https://www.notion.so/">Notion</a> is a very powerful all-in-one workspace for notes, tasks, wikis. It is extremely broad with probably over 100 features, so I will not go over all of them here. I use something like 5% of the app, as I like to keep it simple. I use Notion to structure all my ideas, not for writing anything concrete.

Notion

Standard Notes is a fully-encrypted note-taking app. I use it to take notes I want to keep private.There are no formatting options available in the default version. If you want to have access to more features, you’ll have to download more editors, for which you need a paid account.

Standard Notes

<a href="https://getpocket.com/">Pocket</a> is a service that lets you save articles from the internet to read them later. Install the browser add-on, and click on its icon every time you want to save something for later. I consider it a productivity app because reading is part of the work I owe myself, whether for writing or for self-improvement.

Pocket

I use this app to wake up between 6 and 6:30 am every day. It’s really just an alarm clock app, which does the job and doesn’t have ads. The number one reason I chose this is the crescendo option. The ringtone slowly builds up to full volume instead of blasting right away.

Alarm Clock Xtreme

The only way to make technology work with productivity is to keep things dead simple. In a time where we are constantly bombarded with notifications and screens are always screaming for our…

Notion

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