As they say, productivity is not a course of action; it’s a state of mind. It’s not how quickly you can jump through hoops but a mindset that allows you to use your time meaningfully while focusing on the bigger picture. Experts agree that to get into that mindset, the best thing you can do is minimize menial tasks that require a lot of mental energy or time. This is where productivity apps can come in handy! In this post, we’ll tell you about some of the best productivity apps to help you outsource annoying daily hurdles, stop being overwhelmed, and always see the forest through the trees.

Hints

Have you been feeling like you could use a personal assistant lately? This thought has likely crossed the minds of most who juggle careers, kids, hobbies, and social lives. If you can’t shake the feeling that things are getting out of hand, cut yourself some slack. The good news is that you can have a personal assistant without having to hire one!

Hints is a nifty, lesser-known AI app that can take over a variety of mundane tasks. There are countless ways it can help you, but to name a few:

You can integrate Hints into Telegram or WhatsApp and give it tasks just like you would a personal assistant. For example, you can text “Meeting tomorrow at 9 am,” and Hint will instantly add it to your Google calendar. You can add contacts this way, schedule reminders, and do pretty much anything. What’s beyond cool is that you can do it while driving or walking because Hints understands voice messages too!
Hints also integrates with various productivity apps like Notion, Trello, Jira, Obsidian, and more, so you can update or pull information from them all via the same chat. Simply type #Notion a new IG post idea—and Hints will update your Ideas page in Notion accordingly!
If you need to use a CRM system in your line of work, you might hit the mother lode with Hints. The app can auto-populate CRM pages in real time while you’re on a call with a client. You’ll need to type in the questions in advance, but it’s good to have them in front of you anyway when you’re pitching to a prospect. Simply run through your list of questions, and Hints will automatically input the client’s responses. This allows you to give your client more focused attention and at the same time boosts your confidence.

iScanner

One of the best productivity tips ever is to reduce friction for the things you want to do. Sounds logical because it makes it more likely that you’ll actually get them done. Keeping your documentation in order is definitely one of those things. However, very few people enjoy doing paperwork and organizing their documents into neat folders. Having a tool that can make this tedious but necessary task much easier and faster makes perfect sense.

iScanner is a PDF scanner app that won three awards in the category “best productivity app” just last year. The app is loaded with AI features that can help you keep paperwork in check. It allows you to get crisp, professional-looking scans on the go, sign documents from your phone, and never waste time looking for the document you need. iScanner integrates with most cloud services and has its own cross-platform cloud storage that syncs your files on all devices.

Another fantastic productivity booster is its built-in AI chatbot feature. You can find any document by a keyword, rewrite or summarize texts, and instantly find any piece of information you may need to check for accuracy or copy for your notes.

Best Productivity Apps for Work Calls

Otter.ai

If your line of work comes with loads of video and phone calls, you might find Otter immensely helpful. Not only can it prepare transcripts of your calls, but it can also summarize what’s been discussed in a few brief key points.

What’s more, you can use it to make notes when you’re driving or walking (and as it happens, the best ideas come to us when we’re doing exactly that). A brilliant idea struck you while on the go? Simply open the Otter app, hit Record, and dictate whatever is on your mind. You can also dictate replies to people’s messages and send them as texts by copying the transcripts (some people hate voice messages).

Loom

Whether you find work calls annoying or enjoyable, there’s no denying that they suck up everyone’s time and productivity. It makes perfect sense to have calls only when absolutely necessary. Also, if we think about it, nearly half of our work calls are status checks or someone needing to show how they did X, Y, and Z.

Loom is a perfect solution to transform those kinds of calls into video messages! The app allows you to record both you and your screen and then send it as a message. There’s no need to squeeze another call into packed calendars and look for a time slot that suits everyone, which can be a nightmare if you have more than three busy invitees. Loom works with all platforms and browsers and is one of the best productivity apps for large, distributed teams.

Perplexity

ChatGPT has revolutionized web search, giving us direct answers to our questions rather than a bunch of links. Fantastic, right? A level up compared to sifting through a pile of web pages, half of which are trying to sell you stuff or are irrelevant (or both).

There’s one big “but” though—we always have to second-guess how legit that answer is because ChatGPT is notorious for giving inaccurate or downright false answers. If your question is a bit more serious than “Why isn’t 11 pronounced oneteen?”, you’ll have to spend a considerable amount of time fact-checking. Kind of undermines the whole concept of effortless Q&A, doesn’t it?

Perplexity is an amazing alternative to chat ChatGPT that can facilitate any kind of research. The flow is the same: ask it a question and get a direct answer. Unlike ChatGPT, however, Perplexity provides references to back up the information it gives you—a set of source articles, scientific papers, or whatever it might be. This way, you can enjoy an effortless search and get trustworthy and verifiable answers. According to Forbes, Perplexity is one of the best productivity apps and might be reshaping the future of our web search and the internet as we know it.

Don’t hesitate to try these fantastic productivity apps—one of them might turn out to be the missing link that can help you achieve a more balanced and fulfilling lifestyle and be a great investment into your future self.

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