If you’re like most busy people, you’re always looking for ways to increase your productivity. If you can find a way to limit your distractions in what’s become a distraction-filled world, and stay focused on a single task at a time, you’re well on your way to getting more done faster in your job search, but it’s not always easy to get there. Thanks to technology today, there are a plenty of tools out there that can help. Here are 3 of my favorite productivity tools to help you limit distractions and stay focused on your job search:
Productivity Tool #1: Rescue Time
Let’s get the distractions out of the way first because even while technology brings us so many great productivity tools, it also brings us tremendous distractions. RescueTime helps you track your time on your computer and your mobile devices and identifies where you where you’re spending (ahem…often wasting) a lot of your time.
RescueTime will:
- Alert you when you’re spending a certain amount of time on an activity
- Allow you to block distracting websites during focus time
- Keep track of what you accomplished throughout the day
- Identify how much time you spend on a variety of activities, including email and meetings
You can sign up for a Lite account, which is completely free or their premium service for added features.
Productivity Tool #2: Focus Booster Pomodoro App
The Focus Booster app is based on the Pomodoro Technique, which is a long-standing productivity technique that uses a timer for focused work periods, usually 25 minutes, followed by a break of 3-5 minutes. After you complete 4 work periods, you get a break of 15-30 minutes. The idea is you stay completely focused on the task during the work period.
The app keeps a time sheet for you and produces a report that allows you to track your productivity and identify ways to become even more productive.
There are a lot of apps that can help you execute the Pomodoro Technique, but you can check out Focus Booster. The app is free for up to 20 sessions per month or you can pay a reasonable yearly fee for unlimited sessions and extra features.
Productivity Tool #3: Focus @ Will
Now here’s something different, but scientifically proven to increase focus and productivity – and if you love music, this is going to be great news for you.
Focus@Will uses human neuroscience and music to help you focus, limit distractions, get productive and retain more information. All you do is answer a few questions and the software will determine the right music to put your brain in a flow state that makes you super productive.
There’s a free 2 week trial, so you can see if it works for you.
So there’s three to consider. Give one or more of these tools a try and let me know what you think — and if you have a favorite productivity tool of your own, share it with us in the comments below!
Ryan says
Thanks for sharing these great and helpful tools. I will definitely use these tools.