Hi YouTube!
It’s Marianna from Printful’s marketing team!
Welcome to our second episode about productivity.
In our previous video, we looked at tips on how to be more productive.
This time, we’ll go over some of the top productivity tools
that can help you along the way.
There’s such a wide range of tools available that,
of course, we can't include them all in this video.
So we asked some of our teammates here at Printful about the apps and tools they use
to stay on top of their productivity game.
First on our list is Things, an award-winning personal task manager for Apple devices.
With easy navigation and an intuitive interface, this app helps you manage all your tasks,
from daily chores to long-term projects.
You can reschedule and repeat your to-dos for any time, and organize them by adding
tags, checklists, and deadlines.
Our team members favor Things because of its interface, cross-platform accessibility,
and the feature to send tasks to your Inbox.
For iPhone & Apple Watch, this app has a one-time payment of $9.99.
For iPad it’s available for $19.99.
On a Mac, you have the option to use the 15-day free trial version,
and then upgrade to the full version for $49.99.
For those of you who prefer Android over Apple, we've got you covered with our next entry
that runs on both platforms—Todoist.
With the tap of a button, you can create a one-time or a recurring task
with a defined priority level that you can add to a project.
You can share the projects with your contacts,
or even mark any of the contacts as an assignee for a specific subtask.
Todoist also has a natural language recognition feature.
For example, inside the app, if I tap on the little plus sign and write
“Check the video statistics tomorrow at 4 PM”
a task will be created for that time and date.
Now, I’ll add it to a project by pressing here and add Andris as an assignee.
Done!
Depending on your line of work, you can make use of premade templates
available on the official site.
Todoist offers templates for projects that are already split into tasks
that you can customize however you like.
Our team at Printful finds the free version of this app useful
because of its premade downloadable templates
and the possibility to create basic tasks with the language recognition feature.
This app has a free version available that lets you add up to 80 projects
and assign up to 5 people per project.
Paid plans start from $3/month.
Next up we have Trello, a cross-platform application from the Australian company, Atlassian.
This app displays your workflow of personal and team projects in a neat visualization.
You have a board, where you can add lists
that represent the main stages of your project development.
You can break up every stage into subtasks by adding cards to the list.
Those can be made even more detailed with labels, checklists, and attachments.
Trello also has a drag and drop feature,
which you can use to quickly reposition lists and tasks on a board.
The team finds Trello intuitive and easy to use.
It's a great platform to visualize a list of tasks for work projects and daily errands.
Trello is free to use, with paid plans starting from $9.99/month.
Whenever you make a note of a brilliant idea inspired by something you’ve seen,
it's best to illustrate that note with a visual reference.
This is where Evernote comes in.
Whether it’s a screenshot, a photo, or an audio message,
you can attach it to a note to drive your idea home.
You can also include additional details like subtasks and checklists.
To keep your notes organized, you can categorize them in notebooks
and set reminders to keep track of them.
Evernote has a free version available, with premium plans starting from $7.99/month.
If you saw our previous video on productivity then you should know what the next app is.
My personal favorite, Google Keep.
Available on all platforms, this app can help you keep all your notes in a single location
that you can easily access and review.
You can add checkboxes, media, and collaborators.
It’s easy to use and it's free.
If you have an Android device, chances are it’s already linked to your main Google account.
So if you want to minimize your app count,
or you're just getting started with productivity apps,
then definitely give Google Keep a shot.
If you use sticky notes to organize your workflow and like to keep all your important tasks
right in front of you, this next app is for you.
With the Post-it app, you can take pictures of your sticky notes and organize them
on your Android or Apple device.
Its handwriting recognition feature allows you to extract text from the written note,
which you can edit and copy-paste into your documents or presentations.
So with the Post-it app, you have access to your sticky notes wherever you are,
and you don’t have to worry about losing any of your ideas.
This app is free for both Android and Apple.
If you want to stick to the classic, analog lifestyle,
then the good old paper notebook is going to be your best bet.
Looking at the feedback from Printful, there are a lot of people on our team
who don't want to rely on tech for everything.
Maintaining handwritten notes helps them focus in a way
that's impossible to do looking at a screen.
By now, you may already have a good idea
of what kind of productivity apps are out there,
and which ones are the best fit for you and your lifestyle.
Now that we’ve covered different ways to organize your tasks,
let’s see what other apps are out there
that can help you stay focused while you’re being productive.
If you want a cool way of conquering the habit of randomly checking your phone, try the Forest app.
Here’s how it works.
You set a countdown timer for a task, during which a tree will start growing.
If you decide to use the phone during this time, your tree will wither away.
The Forest app is available on both Android and Apple devices with a paid version for $1.99.
To keep you from browsing through irrelevant websites
and to help you fight procrastination
during your productive time, try Cold Turkey.
It allows you block apps and websites for specific periods of time,
during which you won’t be able to access any of your procrastination buddies.
Cold Turkey also includes statistics that show you
which apps and websites you use the most,
so you can review them and filter out the unproductive ones.
Cold Turkey has a free version available for macOS and Windows.
The app also features paid plans, with a one-time payment from $29 CAD.
When all of your distractions are blocked out,
you might turn to music to help you maintain that productive state of mind.
Spotify is a good option, both for personal, and public mood-based playlists.
But sometimes, music does the exact opposite.
You hear a new song from your favorite artist, and bye-bye focus:
all you want to do is listen to the entire album and Google tour dates.
If this sounds familiar, then it’s worth checking out Noisli.
Available on mobile devices, as well as a Chrome extension,
Noisli lets you combine different sounds
to create your desired sound environment for focus time.
Take a listen.
The app has a free version available as well as paid subscriptions from $10/month.
As an alternative, you can also try Flow State.
This is a free daily newsletter that sends you 2 hours of soothing music for work.
Flow State also offers subscription plans from $6/month
that let you access subscriber-only posts, music archives, and the Flow State community.
So, those were some of Printful's favorite productivity apps,
recommended from teammates all over the company.
Remember that everyone’s approach to productivity is different,
and it takes some time to find a method that works for you and brings the best results.
If you’re running an online store as a side hustle,
or you’re already managing several businesses at once,
I hope that you found something in this video
that will help you make the best of your time and make your life easier.