The beginning of my bachelor studies was the tipping point of the fundamental change of my general organisation. A large number of complex projects came along with the university life, which immediately required an independent time management. Besides, the computerisation at the university was a large readjustment for me, who was coming from a grammar school writing non-stop with pen and paper. All these alterations called for help! In the following list I present you my 10 most commonly used apps which guide me through my everyday work and private life. Due to these little helpers, I am able to increase my productivity enormously for the simple reason that they save me a lot of labour and time.
1) Fantastical 2
First of all, I started to plan my entire day exactly to the minute. This allows me to have everything at a glance, to work focused under time pressure and to learn how to efficiently use the available time. Sure, this is time-consuming at first until you are in your routine, so thereby this method becomes a real benefit.
But this detailed schedule, including events of the university, job, music productions and my personal life, overexerted the in-house calendar of Apple. It just was too slow, had regularly heavy bugs and the user interface was not supporting my overuse. I’m glad that I have found an alternative which offers me an improved overview of my different calendars. Fantastical 2 resists my intense use and is generally faster and more complex in all aspects. A big plus was the smooth and easy change from the Apple calendar to the new app. I don’t want to do without it again! For detailed and busy scheduler like me, it is definitively worth a consideration.
==> Onetime price
2) Airmail
This described busy environment results automatically in a bulk of e-mails. Just like the in-house calendar, the Apple mail is not sufficient for professional operations. I was missing time-saving functions for a multi-mailbox environment and the possibility to complexly automate the sorting, labelling and filtering of incoming and outgoing mails. After a short research, I found Airmail which allows me to do exactly the mentioned things and also looks great! Hence, you get a comprehensive mailing app with it. But keep in mind that you need to spend some time in setting it up and getting familiar with it, in order to benefit from this powerful tool.
==> Onetime price
3) MeisterTask
Another project management tool of hundreds available on the market - I know… For me it is important that this kind of software is easy to use. But it should contain many functions and include the possibility for individualisations (functional and visual). With a fancy interface and apps available on all Apple devices, MeisterTask became my first choice. It covers a wide range of customisations like process automation, implementation of various external apps and performance analysis of projects or individual accounts. Highly recommended!
==> Monthly fee („Pro“ account)
4) MoneyControl
After I was super organised and transparent in the fields of mail, calendar and tasks, the projects’ and my private financial situation weren’t. I quickly found MoneyControl which I used for almost 4 years until now. To be honest - I am still perfectly happy with it! Thanks to this handy app, I constantly have an eye on the budget of my projects and personal life (accurate to the cent). Based on the given financial summary and detailed reports (can be exported as .pdf files - awesome!), I can calculate future project costs or plan future „investments“ like new gear :D
Please note: This app has no direct connection to your bank accounts and is only a „housekeeping book“! Of course, it only works that brilliant if you track everything correctly ;)
==> Onetime price for activation of different functions
5) Harvest
If you want to track your done work and want to have the chance to categorise it, Harvest is your go-to app. The major advantage of Harvest is that you can later create an invoice for your customer with only one mouse click. The customer can easily pay this invoice online, e.g. via Paypal. A foolproof handling and numerous possibilities to connect the tool with others are additional benefits of this great time tracking tool.
==> Monthly fee („Solo“ or „Team“ account)
... and the apps #6 to #10?
The other 5 apps of this list will be presented next Sunday. So stay tuned! :)
50 thoughts on “10 Apps Increasing Your Productivity (Part 1)”
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Sure. Part 2 is already released and ready to be enjoyed – see: https://albrechtproductions.net/10-apps-increasing-your-productivity-2/
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Good point, Felix! We will take it into account for future articles/content. Thank you for such useful feedback.
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Yes! Finally something about increasing my productivity by using certain apps 🙂
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