Tools that keep me organised
Part of the Atlassian suite of tools, Trello is a project management tool that offers several benefits for small businesses and teams. I can visually organise boards and lists which allows me to easily see how far I have progressed on a task as well as the overall status of a project at a glance. I like that I can rearrange lists and move cards between lists, as well as include due dates and attachments.
I have created boards and shared them with others who are working on the same project. It also integrates with other apps and services, such as Google Drive, Slack, and Jira. It is a cost-effective planning tool - I use the free plan with a generous set of features (making it accessible if you have a limited budget).
I love Milanote! You can create boards and add elements such as notes, images, links, files, and to-do lists. Personally, I think this makes the information easily digestible and helps foster creative thinking and collaboration. I've used it for brainstorming ideas, organizing research materials, creating mood boards, planning projects, or managing workflows.
It is an excellent tool for visual storytelling and presenting ideas. You can create dynamic presentations by arranging your content on boards and utilising its presentation mode. The best bit is Milanote is so user-friendly with its drag-and-drop functionality that you don't need to have any technical expertise to get started!
I like Chrome mainly because of the Chrome web store and the extensions to offer.
For productivity, I use Read Aloud and Grammarly. Each serves a very different purpose. Read aloud does exactly that - it reads the current web page article with one click, using text-to-speech (TTS) and supports 40+ languages. Grammarly is my built-in proofreader, of sorts! It completes spell checks, grammar checks, and punctuation checks and provides comprehensive feedback, which you can choose to ignore!
When it comes to online shopping I use Shop Back, CouponBirds, and Honey to locate the best prices and add the discount codes to my cart. Shop Back is slightly different as it provides you with a percentage of your spend back. It takes a certain amount of time to clear, but you are able to withdraw the funds at any point and deposit them into your bank account if you choose. You can also receive bonuses if other people join up and use the service.
I have deliberately not included tools like Pinterest and Canva in this list … whilst they are fantastic tools, I can easily lose myself down the proverbial rabbit hole and find I’ve lost an hour (or two). I use them but set myself an alarm so that I don’t get a nasty shock when I check the time!
What are your go-to tools to keep you organised and productive?
