Every year, a plethora of new technologies emerge that promise revolutionary new ways to work. Even while they have some value, we shouldn’t ignore the possibility that our current technological configurations contain dozens of undiscovered possibilities.
Our laptops and desktop computers come with productivity tools that can help us block out distractions, and our smartphones are a veritable gold mine of features, functions, and built-in apps that we’ve never noticed, let alone explored.
According to a 2018 HubSpot survey, three-quarters of worldwide enterprises were expected to boost their usage of productivity tools and processes in an effort to increase profitability and allay growing concerns that their operations are not at “peak performance.”
However, what if we only utilize 10% of our devices’ and apps’ potential—just like our brains? Isn’t it time we improved our use of them?
These are our top seven tech suggestions to increase productivity without completely changing the way you work:
- Utilize keyboard shortcuts.
- A universe of widgets and integrations
- Utilize technology to defeat technology
- Increase your document production.
- Obtain a second monitor.
- Increase the effort put into your calendar.
- Purchase a password organizer.
1. Make use of keyboard shortcuts
“Invest the time to memorize the most useful keyboard shortcuts in browsers, spreadsheets, gmail, and other major programs, and you will add months of productivity onto your life.”
Andrew Covington
Entrepreneur After doing some math, Brainscape’s creator and CEO Andrew Cohen observed that most people waste two seconds on average when using a mouse to accomplish simple activities that could be completed in a matter of seconds with a keyboard shortcut.
Even while it doesn’t seem like much, over the course of your workday, those two seconds add up rapidly. Cohen eventually arrived at the conclusion that mastering all the necessary keyboard shortcuts can save you up to eight days annually, or 3.3% of your overall output.
These are a some of the easiest and most useful ones to help you go beyond just copying and pasting.
Regarding Windows
- The cursor is moved to the beginning of the document by using Ctrl + Home.
- The cursor is moved to the end of a document with Ctrl + End.
- Using Ctrl + Backspace will remove words rather than just letters at a time.
- Ctrl + L closes the window.
- To paste anything you’ve copied as plain text without formatting, press Ctrl + Shift + V.
- Regarding Mac
- In a document or text, press Command + Up arrow to navigate to the beginning or Command + Down arrow to get to the end.
- Pressing Command + W ends all operations.
- To minimize everything, press Alt + Command + M; to minimize the current window, press Command + M.
- Pressing Command + Space launches Command + Shift + [ or Spotlight
- Command + Shift + [ allows you to switch between tabs.
All-encompassing
- Holding down Ctrl/Cmd and Shift, press the period key to increase the font size by one point, or the comma key to decrease it by one.
- To switch between open apps, press Alt/Command + Tab.
2. A universe of widgets and integrations
“The goal of technological advancement is to blend in with everyday life to the point where you hardly notice it.”
Gates, Bill
There are hundreds of free or inexpensive basic apps and tools that work in unison with your regular software, like Google Workspace, and don’t interfere with your daily activities. Figuring out how to separate the diamonds from the seemingly infinite rough is the difficult part.
Installed on smartphones, productivity apps are used by 79.6% of all users.
This little compilation may assist you in locating your next tool:
SwiftKeyboard: A straightforward Microsoft program that learns your typing style and frequently used words, then provides recommendations based on past usage. No cost.
Todoist: A smartphone app that helps you manage your to-do list, schedule tasks weeks ahead of time, assign tasks to others, and generally become more organized. There is a free version and a $3 monthly premium version.
Grammarly: It is an add-on that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve word and phrase accuracy beyond what is possible with built-in capabilities. There is a free version available and a $11 monthly premium version.
Serene: It is a Mac application that asks you to organize your day, identify your daily objectives, and block off distractions in order to assist you create the best possible work environment. There is a free trial period and a $4 monthly cost.
Docusign: you can digitally sign any document, eliminate the need for printing, and produce standardized, reusable documents. Notifies others when documents are signed or if something requires attention. You can try it for free or pay $8 a month.
Pocket: This useful tool eliminates the need for you to constantly have tabs or windows open by allowing you to save articles and other content to read at a later time. No cost.
3. Use technology to defeat technology
“Cell phones are so convenient that they’re an inconvenience.”
Murakami Haruki
There are several ways to optimize your gear so that it works as a tool rather than against you. The majority of people are aware of where to find functions like halt all notifications or go into silent mode on their phones, laptops, and desktop computers. However, you can go one step further with add-ons and programs like StrictWorkflow, which enforces a 25:5 minute workflow, or the app and website blocker Freedom: Work without interruption for twenty-five minutes, then take a five-minute rest.
Utilize them to set up certain times for yourself to relax, and then wait for your break time to arrive to allow your smartphone to access any other non-work-related apps.
75% of respondents claim that using a smartphone increases productivity
Similar to this, Apple devices have an add-on called Screen Time and a Self Control app that track how much time you spend using various apps on your phone. If you believe that your screen time is becoming excessive, you can also establish limits.
Consider using a keyboard in conjunction with touchscreen devices, such as tablets, to expedite the process. Depending on how quickly and accurately
you can type on a QWERTY keyboard, this could greatly increase your productivity.
Similarly, a lot of Android apps allow you to use split screens, so you can use a document open next to a webpage or spreadsheet. As a result, you won’t have to continuously switch between windows in the flow.
4. Complete more paperwork
“A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be different from what you had in mind.”
Weizenbaum, Joseph
For those who use Office 365, the integrated thesaurus is quite helpful. To prevent redundancy when creating content—or just to sound smarter—just right-click on any term and choose “synonyms” to see the complete list of options. The in-document thesaurus is also accessible while you are writing.
Many people are unaware of Google Docs’ voice-to-text capability, which is a useful tool if you utilize Google Workplace. Enter ‘Tools’ and turn on voice typing, or use the shortcut Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + S. Excellent for people who type slowly or who communicate better in person than in writing. You can quickly and easily transcribe an interview, video, or podcast with very little effort because this also works with audio recordings.
When using G Suite, enterprises found that real-time editing and collaboration on documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks was the most efficient advantage.
(Forrester Scientific)
Explore the ‘explore’ option located on the lower right section of Google Workplace. This is quite helpful for preventing those timesink searches because it allows you to quickly search your Drive, the internet, and photos without ever leaving the document.
The simplest productivity advice for Sheets, short of learning some code, is to quickly clean up your papers by using the ‘cleanup suggestions’ and ‘trim whitespace’ options in the tools tab.
It’s worthwhile to invest ten minutes perusing Google’s recommended “Add-ons” in the tab located at the top of your document, in order to discover something pertinent to the task at hand.
5. Purchase an additional monitor
“I have three screens on my desk that are synced together to create a single desktop. You won’t go back once you have that spacious display area since it immediately affects productivity.”
Gates, Bill
If your job requires you to spend a lot of time in front of a computer, having a second or even third monitor can be quite beneficial to your productivity. Your mouse will be able to move between the monitors as smoothly as if there were no space between them.
The benefit of a dual monitor arrangement is that it makes it easy to use numerous applications and keep multiple documents open at once for optimal visibility. Dual monitor setups are becoming industry norm in many technical professions. It becomes useful when comparing two versions of the same document.
If a worker uses a second monitor for everything, they can save 2.5 hours a day.
You only need a wire and an additional screen to get it to function; you don’t even need to be a tech wizard.
By making this small adjustment to your workflow, you can gain a great deal more flexibility and reclaim wasted time.
6. Put more effort into your calendar
Plan out your time. People frequently inquire, “How do you do it all?” I resemble a live calendar.”
Molly Sims
Despite being a built-in feature on all smartphones, the calendar app is incredibly underutilized. However, by using it to make your to-do list come to life, it might alter your perspective on time by highlighting the strict constraints of the typical workday.
Uplevel your to-do list by putting your daily tasks on your calendar. This will make it much simpler to quickly understand how much you can actually get done in a day. This might assist you in determining what should be prioritized.
You have a higher chance of succeeding when you create a plan and write it down than when you don’t.
There’s less likelihood that outside distractions will disrupt your flow when you share your calendar with your team, letting them know when you’re taking a break and when they should ask you questions.
Take it a step further and use voice-activated assistants to invite people to meetings and add tasks and events to your calendar.
You already have one of the most effective productivity tools available to you, which is this one.
7. Invest in a password organizer
“I have no idea what applications are on my phone. Why do they all request various passwords? Every time I try to use the internet, I wind up just reading a book, which is really annoying.”
Chelsea Handler
How much time do you waste attempting to recall passwords that you’ve forgotten? Maybe not as much as Stefan Thomas, a German programmer who resides in California and is believed to be worth $220 million in bitcoin, but he can’t remember the password to access it. Still, a good chunk of each month is spent trying to recall our special combinations or using the ‘lost password’ link to create new logins.
An individual’s lifespan is equated with twelve days spent looking for usernames and passwords.
(Openwave Mobility, source)
According to password manager NordPass, the average person has between 70 and 80 password-protected accounts, but most of us can only recall a small number of combinations. Additionally, according to NordPass, the top three passwords for 2019 were 12345, 123456, and 123456789 (facepalm).
What then functions as a password manager? Install the manager as an app on your smartphone and on your computer. To access the manager, you will only need to remember one password. The password manager keeps track of all of your login credentials and automatically logs you in whenever you visit a website that requires a password.
Extra features assist users in maintaining strong password hygiene. One such function notifies you when a cyberattack may have compromised your credentials and you should update them.
Dashlane, Google Password Manager, Keeper, LastPass, and 1Password are popular options. Some are paid for, but others are free.
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