Awesome Productivity

A curated list of delightful productivity resources.

Contents

• Websites
• Books
• Tools and Apps
  • File Management
  • Note Management
  • Task Management
  • Habit Trackers
  • Task Automation
  • Password Manager
  • Knowledge Management
  • Screen Capture

Websites

• 12+ Tips and Tricks to Work Faster in Microsoft Outlook - Tame your Outlook with these tips in order to get a little bit closer to the awesome Inbox Zero.
• Advanced GTD with Remember The Milk - A tutorial on how to implement GTD with Remember the Milk.
• Inbox Zero - Rigorous approach to email management aimed at keeping the inbox (almost) empty at all times.
• Lifehacker - The go-to blog for tips, tricks, and downloads for getting things done.
• Pomodoro Technique - Slice your tasks in 25 minute packages and get more done in less time.
• r/Productivity - Productivity subreddit.
• Rid Your Desktop of Clutter with This Simple Trio of Icons - A little trick that has been keeping my desktop clean for years now.
• ShortLib - Collection of hundreds of shortcuts for Windows, Mac and Linux.
• The Bullet Journal - A pen and paper method that turns a simple notebook into a highly efficient productivity tool.
• Zen Habits - Blog by Leo Babauta with topics such as simplifying life.
• Productive Fish - Useful articles on how to be more productive, study effectively and improve well-being.

Books

• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.
• Getting Things Done - A very simple and efficient time-management method.
• The 5 Choices - An all around productivity methodology dealing with prioritization, scheduling, technology and energy management.

Tools and Apps

File Management

• Box - Very good cloud storage solution for business customers.
• Dropbox - Simple, elegant, and versatile cloud storage solution.
• Google Drive - Cloud storage solution deeply integrated in the Google ecosystem.
• Mega - A very generous (50G from the get go) and highly secure cloud storage solution.
• Nextcloud - The self-hosted productivity platform that keeps you in control.
• OneDrive - Best cloud storage solution for Windows users.
• pCloud - A cloud storage solution with a strong focus on security.
• Clipboard - Easy-to-use local solution for saving files, folders, or text like a scratchpad.

Note Management

• Evernote - Evernote can basically become your second brain and remember everything for you.
• Google Keep - A nice and simple note management system tightly integrated with Google products.
• Inkdrop - A cross-platform note taking application for Markdown lovers.
• Joplin - A note taking and to-do application with synchronization capabilities.
• Notion - An all-in-one very customizable workspace for notes, tasks, wikis and lists.
• Yana - Powerful note-taking app with nested documents, full-text search, rich-text editor, code snippet editor and more.
• OneNote - Very good note management solution, but best for Windows users.
• Preserver - Notes organizer desktop application based on Electron.
• Simplenote - Light, clean, and free. Simplenote is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and the web.
• Standard Notes - A simple and private notes application.
• WorkFlowy - Outlining application for nested bulleted lists.

Task Management

• Airtable - Mix of spreadsheet and database to help organize work.
• Amazing Marvin - Marvin incorporates principles from behavioral psychology to help beat procrastination, feel in control and finish todo list.
• Any.do - Simple interface, packed with features, currently the favorite to-do list manager at Lifehacker.
• GitHub Projects - A lesser known feature of GitHub, makes it easy to tie your project management process to your code.
• Hitask - Easy Project and Task Management for Teams.
• KanbanFlow - Kanban method task board with Pomodoro technique.
• Microsoft To Do - Microsoft cloud-based task management application based on Wunderlist technology.
• OmniFocus - A Getting Things Done based task manager for macOS and iOS.
• Paymo - Keep your team aligned and engaged. Manage tasks, create team schedules, track work time, and bill your clients from the same platform.
• Pomolectron - A pomodoro app for your menubar/tray.
• Remember the Milk - Great at managing tags for to-dos and location based tasks.
• Taskade - Simple and collaborative task lists for teams.
• Taskwarrior - An open source command line task manager. Flexible, fast, efficient, and unobtrusive.
• Timely - Automatic time tracking software. Get a flawless digital record of all project and team time, all without the hassle of manual timers and note taking.
• Timing - Automatic time and productivity tracking for Mac. Helps you stay on track with your work and ensures no billable hours get lost if you are billing hourly.
• Tinido - A beautiful and simple task management app that can also give you insights by showing your completed tasks in a contribution graph similar to the one you find on your GitHub profile.
• Todo.txt - Tired of having complicated apps to organize your tasks? Todo.txt is a technique that uses a single .txt file to help you get the job done.
• Todoist - Powerful and cross-platform productivity tool.
• Topydo - A powerful todo list application using the todo.txt format, positioned between todo.txt CLI and Taskwarrior.
• Trello - Kanban method task board.
• Tweek - Super Simple To Do list and Weekly Task Management.
• VivifyScrum - Agile project management app for teams that deliver. Customizable Scrum and Kanban boards.
• Bordio - Daily planner for managing tasks and events on one board.
• OpenProject - An on premise open source project management solution that comes with a free community version as well as an enterprise version.

Habit Trackers

• Emoji Log - Calm, emoji-based tracker for arbitrary things that doesn't use streaks.
• Everyday - Form new habits by doing things every day.
• Habitica - Complete your real life daily goals in a role play game (previously called HabitRPG).
• HabitBull - Premium habit tracker.
• Loop Habit Tracker - An Android app for creating and maintaining good habits.
• Waka Time - Open source plugin for knowing exactly how long you spend coding.
• Conjure - Habits, goals and time tracking platform with rules engine, data layer, API, dashboards and more (Web, Desktop, iOS, Android).

Task Automation

• AutoIt - Small tool for Windows to automate the Windows GUI, but it can also be used for other purposes.
• Awesome AutoHotKey - AutoHotKey is a free, open-source macro-creation and automation software for Windows that allows users to automate repetitive tasks.
• IFTTT - Allows you to create chains of conditional statements (called recipes) between web services in order to make the web work for you and boost your productivity.
• n8n - Open-source workflow automation for connecting web services with an option to self-host.
• Qbserve - Mac time tracking automation: freelance project tracking, timesheets, invoicing & real-time productivity feedback.
• Parabola - Drag and drop tool to build custom reports, workflows, and integrations to automate your manual processes.
• Tasker - Android application that can perform context sensitive custom tasks (e.g. automatically turn on wifi when you arrive home).
• Zapier - Automation tool that allows you to connect hundreds of web services and create automations between the processes.

Password Manager

• Bitwarden - A free, trusted password manager that can store, sync, and generate passwords online or through native apps.
• KeePass - A free, open source, light-weight password manager with auto-type, browser and plugin support.
• LastPass - A freemium password manager that stores encrypted passwords online.
• NordPass - A freemium password manager created by the team from NordVPN. Store unlimited passwords and access them from anywhere with apps on all platforms.

Knowledge Management

• Obsidian.md - A knowledge base tool that works on local Markdown files. It allows you to create links between different notes.
• Scribe - Automatically create step-by-step guides for any process. Simply hit “record” and Scribe will generate a detailed guide complete with screenshots based on your actions, ready to share with colleagues, customers, and friends.
• Logseq - Logseq is a privacy-first, open-source knowledge base that works on top of local plain-text Markdown and Org-mode files. Use it to write, organize and share your thoughts, keep your to-do list, and build your own digital garden.

Screen Capture

• ShareX - Screen capture, file sharing and productivity tool.
• Replayable - Rewind your screen. Playback and share exactly what happened with Replayable's desktop replay buffer.
• CleanShot - A premium tool for screen capturing and recording on MacOS, with built-in annotation and text recognition.