As an online business owner, focus can be one of the biggest challenges to productivity. You’ve got a million plates in the air, plus a million ideas for how to grow sales and expand your brand, and…wasn’t there one other thing? Oh, yes—a personal life. You know, the whole reason you got into online business in the first place.
The life of an online business owner is an exciting, action-packed, never-a-dull-moment life. But at times, it can feel like a treadmill set at 80 miles per hour. At the end of a crazy day, you might find yourself wondering, was I really productive today? Did I actually achieve anything, or did I just stay busy?
Believe me, I’ve asked myself this more than once. Fortunately, I’ve collected a small but mighty set of productivity tools that help ensure that I get the answer I’m looking for: Yes, I achieved! Now is somebody going to make me a victory queso bowl to dive into, or do I have to do it myself? 🙂
Everyone at The Bottom Line CPA knows I have a little weakness for trying all the latest tools, courses and software solutions that come out—I’m always looking for the next great thing to help us get more done while feeling better about it. So when I say these productivity tools work, you can be sure that they have been vetted by the full force of our busy office, compared against just about everything else out there, and proven to help our team stay focused, productive, motivated and…what was that other thing? Oh, right—calm in the midst of the crazy.
Full Focus Planner
Designed by productivity guru Michael Hyatt, this 90-day planner is a must for the high-achiever. With features like the Daily Big Three framework (which keeps your priorities in focus) and a Weekly/Quarterly Review section (allowing you to fine-tune your progress over time), this productivity tool helps you design a workday that is not only productive, but fulfilling. We especially like the Daily Rituals section, which keeps you accountable in doing the things that fuel your soul.
I had the privilege of meeting with Michael Hyatt's team to share my Full Focus Planner success story in August 2018. It was a dream as well as a moment to conquer my fears! My success story was featured at the close of Michael's first annual ACHIEVE conference in September 2018. You can catch all my shares in the video below. 🙂
RescueTime
If you find yourself constantly wondering “Where did the day go?”, RescueTime offers you the answer. This productivity tool automatically tracks the time you spend on any given website or application, delivering up a detailed report that will tell you exactly how many minutes you spent writing emails, running sales reports, perusing inventory, and (of course) keeping your regular date with your money. The best part is the Block feature, which lets you set a timeframe to focus deeply, while helpfully restricting your access to distracting websites.
LastPass
Is there anything more frustrating than spending precious minutes searching for the most recent password you created for your applications? LastPass is like a key ring for your online activity, providing secure password storage for you…. and every member of your team if you so choose. You can set up password sharing where it’s needed, store digital records (like WiFi logins, software licenses and employee IDs) and even set security controls for things that only you or a few other team members need to access. Best of all, LastPass offers access from anywhere on any device, making it perfect for part-time and remote teams.
Teamwork Projects
Let us be the first to say it: it’s time to stop assigning and managing projects via email. It slows everybody down, it’s too disorganized…and it’s 2018 already. Teamwork Projects is an amazing platform that makes project management intuitively easy. It tracks progress, it streamlines communication, it organizes your files, it even sends automated reminders. (So you don’t have to be the one nagging everybody about deadlines.) With this productivity tool, your team will not only stay on task, but become better collaborators in the process.
Full Focus Journal
For a consistently high achiever, planning their day is only half the equation. The other half—the part so many of us don’t do—is processing the day. When you take the time to focus on what went well, what could have gone better, and how you felt about it all, you not only drop the weight of the workday from your shoulders, but you’re empowered to make better, smarter, more strategic decisions tomorrow. Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Journal provides a simple structure to keep you focused on the purpose of your journaling sesh (after all, this is a productivity tool), while providing plenty of space for spilling your thoughts, ideas and feelings. At the end of a busy day, it’s like a warm bath for your brain.
Bible App
You can tell yourself you’re going to start each day connecting with the Word. Or you can actually do something to make sure it happens. And since you don’t get extra spiritual points if you read the words on a page versus a screen, there’s just no reason not to download the free Bible App on your phone. With over 1000 versions available, a variety of reading plans, and built-in bookmark and note-taking features, the Bible app is definitely designed to be a productivity tool as well as a personal devotional. Best of all, the app includes audio recordings, which means you can get your daily dose of Scripture while driving, working out, getting coffee, waiting in line for school pickup… anywhere!
HydroCoach
The whole reason we need productivity tools is because we forget to do the most basic things. Things like reading the Bible each day (see above) or drinking enough water. We all know that adequate hydration is essential to our health, mental as well as physical, but how many of us actually get enough ounces of H20 into our bodies on a given day? (Especially on a busy day.) HydroCoach App will help you out by calculating how much water you need, tracking what you drink, and reminding you when to drink more. If it sounds goofy to you, download and use it for just one week, and then tell us if you don’t feel more alert, focused and energetic than you did the week before.
Michael Hyatt No-Fail Meetings
We admit it—we can’t get enough Michael Hyatt in our lives. This guy just gets us, as business people and as human beings. And in his warm, wonderful way, this book gets straight to the point: meetings are one of the biggest productivity drains in the business world. This book gives honest feedback about how meetings fail, even with the best of intentions, and provides a practical 5-step process for making sure your team meetings are focused, effective and maybe even a little bit fun.
The Bottom Line
Seriously, nothing feels better at the end of a busy day than knowing that amid the craziness, you kept your focus, made progress toward your goals, and achieved what you set out to do. And guess what? You don’t have to go all Wonder Woman or Superman to get this feeling. Reaching out for the support you need—whether it’s comes from the productivity tools like the ones listed here, a team of professionals who get your business and know how to help you achieve your goals, or simply friends and family who make sure you get that victory queso bowl (or whatever way you celebrate your wins) you deserve—makes all the difference in waking up motivated for another great day as an online business owner.
