3 great tools to fine tune your productivity

I hate procrastination, I dislike the word slow and I love fine tuning my productivity to gain optimum results. Results are all that count and effort doesn’t necessarily equal results. This is why having a great set of tools available to reach this productive state helps you achieve your goals sooner.

But first, let’s take a step back and understand why “tools” are so important.

The brain sees tools as limb extensions

When you brush your teeth, the toothbrush may actually become part of your arm – at least as far as your brain is concerned. That’s the conclusion of a study showing perceptions of arm length change after people use a mechanical tool.

The brain maintains a physical map of the body, with different areas in charge of different body parts. Researchers have suggested that when we use tools, our brains incorporate them into this map.

To test the idea, Alessandro Farnè of the Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France, and colleagues asked 14 volunteers to use a mechanical grabber to pick up distant objects. Shortly afterwards, the volunteers perceived touches on their elbow and fingertip as further apart than they really were, and took longer to point to or grasp objects with their hand than before they used the tool.

The team say that their brains may have adjusted the areas that normally control the arm to account for the tool and not yet adjusted back to normal (Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.05.009). “This is the first evidence that tool use alters the body schema,” says Farnè. Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227145.300-brain-sees-tools-as-limb-extension.html

What this means is that tools are an extension of you (that’s how the brain sees it), allowing you to do more and to get to those results faster. Now that we understand the importance of the tools, let’s look at my current favorites. These tools all use a Freemium business model. Meaning they are free to use for limited time or with limited functionality and if you want you can upgrade to more features for a small fee. So try them out for free!

Tools that I use to fine tune my productivity

Here are my currently favourite software limb extensions:

1. RescueTime – Time Management, Productivity, & Project Tracking Software
Sign up for RescueTime and see where your time goes:
http://ernestblog.com/rescuetime

Why use it: We all know about distractions and how bad they are. But now you can really understand it when you see solid numbers indicating where you spend your time ie. on Facebook instead of coding or writing that article, in your emails instead of researching for your thesis paper etc… Rescue Time monitors your behaviour while you use your computer and then reports back how productive you have been and areas to improve on. Once you know your distractions you can work on reducing or cutting them out.

Think of this product like a personal coach making sure you stay in line and are constantly improving.

2. Xobni – Outlook Plugin to Search People, Email, and Attachments Instantly
Drowning in Email? Frustrated with Outlook? Find anything in Outlook instantly by signing up for Xobni:
http://ernestblog.com/xobni

Why use it: I’m no fan of Outlook’s inbuilt search – it just doesn’t work well. We all know how Google Desktop changed the way we search for documents on our computers. Xobni does that to your emails – and fast! It connects the dots (relationships) between emails, share documents very well and the results pane always shows you exactly what you are looking for. It has fantastic search smarts!

This tool helps you get organized quicker and if you are using the Outlook GTD method I mentioned in my prior posts then you will be moving faster onto your next task.

Oh and if you haven’t figured it out yet, xobni is actually inbox spelled backwards.

3. DropBox – Online backup, file sync and sharing made easy
Sign up for a new way to sync, store and share your files online:
http://ernestblog.com/dropbox

Why use it: This is file sharing in the clouds made so easy even my grandma could do it with a few clicks. It gives total control of your box (storage space) so you can share just the bits you want via any social method (smart phone, any computer etc.) out there. You can put your USB drive aside because Dropbox is the new kid on the block.

You may recall an article I did on productivity using GTD (Getting Things Done) where I spoke about offloading everything from your memory and into a reliable storage medium for later processing to help you manage daily chaos effectively. Think of Dropbox as this reliable storage medium which you can access from anywhere.

If you use any other great productivity tools which you think others would find useful then please share them here in the comments section below.

Ernest

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Tagged as: Alessandro Farnè, brain, DropBox, fine tune, getting stuff done fast, perceptions, Productivity, RescueTime, results, tools, tune, Xobni