38 apps and plugins that have transformed my productivity (2023)

Apps can easily overwhelm and overstimulate the brain of someone with attention deficit disorder (TDAH o ADD). Over the years, I've personally downloaded nearly 1,000 apps and learned a lot about real ones.productivityby the way. Here are the apps that have found a permanent place in my toolbox and also why, when looking for the "perfect app", you're probably being too hard on yourself.

What are the application limits?

Apps are not silver bullets. There is no app that solves our challenges. But there are places likeif this then thatyZapierthat I can add a photo to a Dropbox folder when someone tags me on Facebook. Apps do magical things, but each app, tool, and calendar requires us to interact with them. To-do list apps make it easy to capture your ideas and share your list with your family or team. You can rearrange items, arrange them in columns, color-code them, add images, and receive them via email or text message. But no to-do list app will do your homework for you.

If you want to increase your productivity, at the start of each day, spend at least five minutes planning your day. Review and update your plan five times throughout the day. It doesn't matter which tool you use. You can use paper, a bullet journal, a whiteboard, or an app. Planning and revising your intentions will always save you time later.

Even when we need to do something that is not urgent, we have to capture that task now. If you want to achieve more, keep checking your list throughout the day. We need to come to terms with the fact that we struggled with the SRC - I can't remember things. When we accept this fact, we can create an action plan to revise our plans.

I look at my calendar and to-do list literally 30 times a day. My calendar remains open on one of my computer screens. Would you like an additional screen for your calendar? Do you have a tablet? get the appDuet. It allows you to turn your tablet or smartphone into a second or third screen. I have four screens.

[You are wasting your time. These apps can help.]

Do you have an unused TV? You can also turn it into a monitor. You need a special cable. Search Google for your TV model and your computer model with the term "second monitor". (If you have kids, ask them).

Which apps are best for managing a to-do list?

When it comes to to-do list apps, there are plenty of options. The good news, and perhaps the bad news, is that you can use as many as you like. Change every week or every day to your daily tasks if you like. If you want to mix up where your to-do list lives for the day or the week, do it. Yes.

Just like teamwork, which requires sharing and delegating tasks, usethe axes. I have been using it for over a year. I don't love it, but it works great. With Asana, you can set up your projects in two ways: as a list with headers or as boards, sometimes called KanBan boards. I like dashboards because they are more visual. I also like the fact that I can add a photo to the board and have a task on more than one project at a time. If I complete it in one place, it reflects in other places.

I have a bunch of different project boards in Asana, and I also do most of my daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly planning on the boards. My projects have the year in each header, and each column has the following headers: "Today", "This Week", "Next Week", "This Month", "Next Month", and "This Quarter". Think of the items in each column as flexible. I change things all the time. With this setup I can see the trees and the forest at the same time. And just like my calendar, I check and update Asana several times a day.

[Like a personal trainer for your brain]

Another tool, similar to Asana, isTrello, which allows the cards to interact. These interfaces are like digital note cards that you can move between columns. You can't go wrong with any of them. Remember, though, that you have to do your homework.

What calendar apps work for ADHD brains?

It doesn't matter if your calendar is online or on paper. What matters is that you use it, take it with you, and look at it every day. Keep it out and keep it open. Your calendar is your friend.

I'm an advanced online calendar user. I use iCal, which communicates with Google Calendar, my wife's iCal, and my online appointment scheduler.schedule once. On my iMac, I use iCal, but I use Google calendars that are imported into iCal. On my iPhone and tablets I useCalendars 5.

Just like I wouldn't recommend doing SaturdayNew York Timescrosswords with pen, I wrote on my paper calendar with pencil. Our calendar and to-do lists give us flexibility. Nobody does everything on their to-do list. If you list something but it doesn't get done, find another time in your schedule to do it.

How System Configuration Can Improve Your Productivity

One big lesson I learned as a productivity nerd comes from books likeProcrastinate by the way(#Commissions earned),E-myth(#Commissions earned), youThe only thing(#Commissions earned). I learned the value and power of systematization. If it takes me five minutes to answer an email, and I answer 10 emails a day, every day, I'd better spend two hours straight on an email reply if I can systematize it. My favorite tool for things like this istext expander. It allows you to create your own shortcut code and when you type that code it expands into a larger text string. You can create templates with whitespace, drop-down menus, and the like. There's a bit of a learning curve, but based on my user stats, I've saved 40 hours of work.

The best email control apps

Your email inbox is a list of other people's priorities. To say I don't like email is an understatement. We get a lot of it. As much as I dislike the phone, from a time-efficiency perspective, many of the emails we send or respond to would be quicker to handle on the phone.

Set a time to check, process and respond to your email. Don't do this first thing in the morning. For your brain's sake, turn off email notifications. If your boss requires you to keep them, that might be worth talking about.

You don't want to miss any important emails, so set up email filters. Email filters help identify priority emails as well as newsletters, spam and less important emails. I won't explain how to do it here, but there is a little site calledYouTubewho can show you how. Search for email filters and your email provider (Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook) and you'll find videos on how to do this. a guy calledsteve periodhas a ton of great tech videos.

Another tool for dealing with email is calleddesenrolar.me. The app will wrap all your subscription email newsletters into a daily or weekly digest. It also lets you unsubscribe from any emails you no longer want.

Which apps share, store and save emails?

mail boxmakes it easy to store, share and save files, and they have implemented a new feature called Smart Sync. All your files appear as if they're on your computer, but they're actually in the cloud. This is useful when you have more than two terabytes of files and you work on multiple computers.

I know people who use five different free cloud programs because they don't want to pay for file storage. If you can do that, more power to you. But I still haven't found someone with ADHD who can keep track of what goes where.

Can apps improve my writing?

My son is six years old. He is very talented and is an amazing speller. He doesn't understand that about me.grammaticallyis a web plug-in that helps with spelling and grammar when you write online. If you tend to confuse "then" with "what", Grammarly will tell you. If you need a comma or use it unnecessarily, Grammarly will see that too.

Apps that help you stay on task

I wasn't planning on writing about headphones, but in thinking about the technology I depend on, I decided to include it. before buying mineBose QuietComfort 35 noise canceling headphones(#Commissions earned), I was buying headphones for a whole year. I consider these $400 headphones a luxury even though I use them most of the day. I use them for podcasting and my online training groups. I didn't realize how much these headphones would eliminate auditory distractions. You know the saying, "Once a luxury, now a necessity"? My Bose headphones have become just that. If they were missing or broken I wouldn't think twice about replacing them.

What apps can refresh the brain with ADHD?

Going to bed on time has been a lifelong struggle. The problem of going to bed too late comes when the alarm goes off. If we're in a deep sleep phase when the alarm goes off, we'll be groggy in the early hours of the day. We spend the day in a brain fog, and when we want to relax at night, our brain wakes up and the cycle continues.

I call this the "ADHD productivity sleep cycle": We stay up late to finish work, then we're tired and have trouble concentrating the next day, so we stay up late to finish work.

Hecycle I amapp gives us a way to break this pattern. The application determines the quality of our sleep using the accelerometer inside the smartphone. Smart alarm function will wake you up based on your sleep phase. If you have to wake up at 7 am. m., Sleep Cycle will wake you up within a 20-30 minute window based on your lightest sleep stage. I've been using this app for three years now and I love it.

How can I be punctual for meetings?

next meetingfor Mac OS, it's a small widget that sits in the top-right corner of the screen, near the clock and WiFi bar. Lets you know how much time you have until your next meeting. It syncs with Google Calendar and iCal. If your meeting starts in two minutes, it will let you know your meeting is now, which is very helpful. You can turn off notifications on your computer and not miss your next meeting.

I love technology, being productive and learning new things. As a driven, curious, and growth-minded person who has ADHD and has learned to view failure as feedback, I can say this: The path to a great life is not an easy one. There is no app that can rewire our ADHD brains. But if we stay curious, have compassion for ourselves, and focus on gradual growth, we can live amazing lives. It can be difficult, but that's okay. We can do difficult things.

Add-ons that improve Google Chrome

One is Google Chrome, heyan app storewhich has many useful widgets, apps and extensions to it. This is what my podcast listeners are saying (ADHD reconnected) say they use:

password managers

• 1 password
• last step

Writing/Grammar/Communication

• BoomerangyCalendario Boomerang. Two Gmail plugins that track emails and schedule meetings in your email.
• grammatically(Look above).
• Fit and read universal. Text reader that simplifies vocabulary, translates text, reads inaccessible text.

Reduce distractions/Increase focus

• Impulse. A splash screen that asks, "What's your main goal for the day?" If you answer it, it will remind you of that goal every time you open a new tab.
• facebook news blocker
• ad unit
• Origin of uBlock. When your internet is slow, this will free up the bandwidth that ads take up.

Manage too many open tabs

There are many great Chrome extensions for this common ADHD issue:

• an eyelash. Remove extra guides.
• session partner. 100 browser tabs? They are history!
• toby. A tab management extension.

Distraction free reading

• ClearPrint. Lets you print a text-only version of an online article. No images. No Ads.

track your work

• Barrier. Disable the back button to trigger the browser to go to a previous page. If you missed work filling out an online form because backtracking slowed you down, this is a great extension.
• pomodoro timer
• tomato assistant

Organization of articles and websites for later

• Pocket. Saves web pages.
• Evernote. It makes it easy to grab and save articles from web pages.

How to make your tasks clearer and more manageable

Look at your to-do list. Find the tasks you listed as nouns and add verbs to them. For example, if you wrote "doctor" on your list, what is the actual task involved? Do you need to call your doctor? Do you need to see a doctor? My task would be: “Call Dr. Goldberg at 555-555-5555 to schedule an annual physical and ask if I need lab work. After I schedule my appointment, schedule the labs. I'm so specific. Try. You may find that the problem wasn't the app. It's just that when you see "doctor" on your list, you don't know what the first step should be.

[The organization tools you shouldn't live without]

TO USE:Please note that all names, models, prices, links and specifications were accurate and items were in stock when this article was last updated on March 24, 2022.

# commissions earned
As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission on eligible purchases made by ADDitude readers from the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items are in stock at the time of publication.