Whether business or career-wise, work today requires working remotely to some extent. This creates a system where distinguishing between work and personal time can be subtly difficult. Balancing personal life and professional work is easier with the use of digital productivity tools. This guide explains what digital productivity is and the seven best tools to use to create a work-life balance.
What Is Digital Productivity?
Digital productivity is the use of digital tools to improve efficiency in personal and professional activities. It covers all the digital strategies for getting things done to meet objectives. Digital productivity encompasses task and time management, effective collaboration and streamlined organization of files, notes and resources. Using digital tools to boost productivity helps individuals work smarter and make space for rest and personal time.
7 Online Tools For Work-Life Balance
Here are the top seven online tools to boost digital productivity for work-life balance:
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ClickUp For Project Management
An effective project management tool allows individuals to plan, organize, and oversee the execution of a project to achieve specific goals within defined constraints like time, budget, and scope. ClickUp is one of the best project management tools for streamlining workflow and managing projects effectively. It features Kanban boards, Gantt charts, lists, and dashboards that help with planning and staying on top of work tasks. It also features automation tools to automate repetitive tasks like social media posting and lead qualifications. It integrates seamlessly with GitHub, GitLab, HubSpot, Salesforce, Figma, Google Drive, and other work tools so entrepreneurs can move freely between resources and their workspace.
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ChatGPT As An AI Assistant
The world is one step closer to creating artificial intelligence systems that can ‘think’ like humans. The most recent advancement is the creation of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. ChatGPT can act like a virtual assistant to help individuals get things done. It can serve as a language translator, code debugger, and a powerful brainstorming and idea-generation tool. ChatGPT can assist in writing emails, planning a vacation, creating a content calendar, and performing other work-related or personal tasks. The AI tool is a digital productivity tool that makes work and normal daily activities easier.
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Gaming Apps For Relaxation
Balancing work and personal life means making space for rest, relaxation, and personal time. Gaming apps serve as a way to de-stress from work and stimulate activity in different brain regions. Popular go-to games include classics like crossword puzzles and sudoku. Modern games fall into various categories, such as interior design games like Redecor, action games like Shadow Fight, and adventure games like Temple Run. Casino games are also popular, offering a thrilling gaming experience and a chance to earn some bucks. Some of the common betting games include slots, roulettes, aviator, and poker. These casino games are usually featured on betting sites like askgamblers.com and require little brainpower to play, making them a good choice for relaxation.
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Calendly For Scheduling
When it comes to work-life balance, determining where your time goes is crucial. Scheduling apps are important digital tools that help manage daily agendas and collaborative sessions. While many individuals choose to work with built-in calendar apps on their devices, others opt for a more robust scheduling tool like Calendly.
Calendly is an intuitive scheduling app that makes it easy for clients to set up appointments based on the availability displayed by the owner. Clients can choose a time and date that works best for them, and the app will alert the owner of the new appointment. Calendly goes one step further in ensuring clients get the right appointment by featuring forms for accurate profiling. These forms allow the business owner or employee to input specific questions that the app processes to direct the client to the right meeting type. Scheduling apps like Calendly allow individuals to block out time for work and keep working activities out of personal time.
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Forest For Disciplined Focus
Staying focused with social media notifications, reel updates, and instant messages that constantly come up can be challenging. Distractions are not limited to the online space alone; offline happenings can also vie for people’s attention. Maintaining focus sometimes requires being intentional about eliminating distractions. Forest is one of the best digital productivity tools that allows individuals to focus on what needs to be done. Forest is a gamified focus timer that motivates users to focus on the task at hand and stay off their phones. It works by planting a virtual tree when the focus session begins, which matures into a grown tree when the timer is complete. The tree dies if the user leaves the focus page before due time.
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Zapier For Automation
Zapier is one of the best digital productivity tools for automation. Working with digital tools often means dealing with several micro and macro components, some of which are repetitive and mundane. Zapier allows users to automate workflows so individuals can focus on activities that require in-person interactions. Zapier works by connecting and automating tasks between multiple apps. It allows users to create custom workflows called Zaps. Zaps link different apps to perform automated tasks with triggers and action functions. Basically, users can set a zap with a ‘When this happens, do that’ sequence. For example, users can create a zap that notifies the sales team when a new email from a lead generation campaign comes in. Zapier also features an AI assistant that builds zaps in seconds, following user prompts.
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Creative Tools For Work-Life Balance
Digital productivity tools also include creative tools that boost mental health and prime individuals to deliver quality work. Mindfulness apps like Calm help with meditation and stress exercises. Art-oriented individuals may find digital sketchbooks a getaway medium to express themselves in a relaxing way.
For individuals who prefer working in extremely quiet environments, tools like Noisli help generate background noise to enhance efficiency during work hours. Journaling apps also come in handy as a way to relieve stress and highlight important points for work or personal purposes.
Conclusion
Digital productivity tools allow users to leverage technology to boost work efficiency and maximize personal time. Tools like ClickUp, Forest, and Zapier are among the best online tools for maintaining a good work-life balance.