Productivity Tools: 10 Apps I Use Every Day

It’s that time I write about what many others have written so much about. These are the tools I use almost every day that help me do my work better.

1. Notion

I wrote about using Notion in our business. We introduced it like a virus; it hibernated for a few months and then spread quickly. Now, it has become a core part of our operations. We use it as an intranet, as an internal hub for projects, and as a way to interface with our clients and keep them updated, among many others. I believe Notion thrives when using it to collaborate, but it can also help with individual use. For the past couple of years, my personal usage has been on and off. It’s very easy to get caught up trying to over-optimize our life (yes, there’s such a thing) and then not getting it actually to be useful.

2. Apple Notes

Although I use Notion for my writing while at my workstation, Apple Notes is where all the spontaneous ideas or quick note-taking takes place. Sometimes I’ll be in the middle of a run, and an idea for a business or a blog post comes to me. If I don’t write a few words about it, I will have forgotten (and have many times) by the time I finish. So I open my Notes app on my phone and write some words about it. Documenting ideas that come suddenly, especially while not working, is a superpower many don’t realize we have. Sometimes I’ll just continue to write on that same Note before eventually passing it to Notion or another place.

3. 1Password

My first email address was ebay@hotmail.com. I obtained it in the late 90s, as the internet was just beginning to boom. At the same time, another popular website and successful business was emerging: eBay. Having an email handle associated with the most popular startup of the early 2000s and on the most popular webmail provider at that time made me a target for scammers, hackers, and other malicious individuals. Unfortunately, I eventually lost access to that email address and was unable to retrieve it.

A few years ago, I began using 1Password, which has significantly reduced my anxiety regarding passwords. We use passwords for so many services today that, almost certainly, a few of them will eventually be hacked. If you use the same password for all of your services, it makes you an easy target. A hacker could potentially log into your personal email, read all of your private information, and even impersonate you while accessing your bank account.

4. Grammarly

In the age of A.I., those who do not take advantage of all the help available are missing out. Grammarly ensures that all my writing is correctly spelled and has good syntax. It takes care of many small edits, providing a better experience for the reader. I have been using Grammarly for a few years but recently switched to the paid version. I tried a few other tools before settling on Grammarly, and I can say that it is worth every penny and helps tremendously.

5. Apple Reminders

I was a long-time user of Wunderlist, which was acquired by Microsoft and turned into Microsoft's To-Do. While I still think To-Do is a great tool, I recently switched to Apple Reminders. Reminders has all the same features as To-Do but is better integrated into the Apple ecosystem, which I had been meaning to do for a while. It also has some intelligent features, such as reminding me of something while I'm doing another activity, such as messaging a certain person or when I am at a specific location.

6. Canva

Design used to require a particular set of skills, skills that had to be acquired over a very long career. Skills that made it a nightmare for people like me, with zero knowledge of Photoshop. Canva has changed that by providing an easy-to-use tool for creating flyers, invitations, presentations, and more. The learning curve is small, and the quality of the output is perceived as high. I switch between the paid and free versions depending on how much I need it during a certain period.

7. Private Internet Access (PIA)

Most of us connect to the airport’s or Starbucks’ WiFi and don’t give it a second thought. Unfortunately, there are many people in this world who have technical knowledge about how to hack into our personal computing devices and who are meaning to take advantage of us. Chances are you have connected to a “Free WiFi,” and someone else was monitoring your activity all along without you realizing it. Along with the use of a password manager, VPN services reduce the chances of something catastrophic happening. I’ve been using PIA for the past five years, and it’s given me peace of mind when I’m connected to networks like a client’s office, a hotel, and others. As a bonus, it also allowed me to watch sports games that were limited to certain countries, like “The Masters” and some soccer games.

8. Slack

Slack is my go-to communication app for business. I have been using it since 2013, and it has improved significantly over time. While Microsoft Teams has gained a lot of attention for its growth, I believe that growth has been due to enterprise selling rather than the actual value and versatility of the product. I do not mean to say Teams is a bad product, but I think Slack handles communication much better. Using Slack allows me to stay in sync and updated with my teams and many of our clients in real-time.

9. Google One

In the mid-2000s, this used to be free. We didn't realize how good it was until Google started charging for it. Now, we pay a significant amount of money every year, but it's worth it.

Google One is the personal version of Google Workspaces, is excellent. I pay for the extra storage on the personal version and have 2 TB of space. It's important to have backups in two different places to prevent data loss, so I back up all my photos on Google Photos and all my files on Google Drive. Since I also use Google TV, One allows me to manage and configure family profiles and share the storage space with them.

We use Workspaces at our business, and it is by far the best email and document manager. It has ended up replacing our old use of Dropbox for file storage and Zoom for a videoconference. With Workspaces, we can easily manage everyone's account in the company and add or remove users as needed.

10. Apple Drive

As someone who is almost entirely immersed in the Apple ecosystem, paying for iCloud is also a no-brainer. It makes moving from one device to another pretty seamless, and it enables my family to share things like apps, calendars, storage, and other services. iCloud also provides automatic backups of my devices, so I never need to worry about losing any important data. Additionally, it allows me to access my files and data from any Apple device, which is incredibly convenient when I need to work on the go.

Bonus: YouTube Premium

YouTube has transformed into the world's largest video library, providing a vast collection of content that can generate significant value if utilized correctly. In our household, YouTube is frequently utilized for a variety of purposes, ranging from educational documentaries and vlogs to cooking tutorials and problem-solving videos. To ensure that our children enjoy the platform in a safe and supervised manner, they are provided with a restricted version that only permits access to appropriate content.