Increasing Productivity: How Digital Resources Can Help Manage Time and Tasks

Productivity is one of the most important components in today's fast-paced world. But being productive is not the same as doing a lot or overworking.

The world has gone digital... Which actually, puts even more pressure on us to be productive and increase our output.

Everything is about being fast, being big, constantly changing and more, more, more!

For solo entrepreneurs, it's even worse.

You don't have anyone to lean on, you have to do it all on your own. The pressures of this idea of 'more, more, more' can leave you working long hours, struggling to get through and never catching up. The only solutions we know, are non-solutions or offline solutions.

Just create a never-ending to-do list and work through it until it's done. Adding things you've forgotten to the list when you remember them. Adding things to the list when ideas pop up or someone asks you to do something. This just leaves you never actually making it through your list.

If you work a digital job or a job on a computer (or even if you don't), you need a digital solution. There are lots of digital options, apps, strategies, tools, etc., that can help you increase your productivity without having to work more.

Understanding Productivity:

Psychology Today defines productivity as "the ability of an individual, team, or organization to work efficiently... in order to maximize output." Maximizing output is not equal to working longer hours. When you create an efficient system of working that maximizes your time, you will naturally have a higher output.

The system can, and should, be individually tailored to you and your needs. I am an online solo entrepreneur with ADHD, and I was able to create a highly effective system that works for me and my needs. Now I get my whole list (or almost my whole list) done almost every day.

If you'd like to learn more about my productivity system check out this article

Productivity is not simply a matter of willpower. There are many barriers to productivity we all face. For instance, distractions in our workspace, such as co-workers coming to talk to us, procrastination on tasks that aren't stimulating or being overloaded with work and shutting down.

Utilizing digital resources and tools can help increase your productivity:

Since the world has become digital, your systems should also become digital. A huge majority of jobs nowadays involve being on the computer at some point, and there are many apps, programs and online tools now that are specifically designed to meet our needs, support our productivity, doing a variety of different jobs.

You can find task management platforms, time trackers, note-taking apps, schedule optimizers, workflow software, online file organizers and more.

Task Management & Collaboration:

The number one problem people want a solution for is typically task management, especially when they're working with a team. But even if you work by yourself, having systems and processes in place that are captured in written form and facilitated through a task management system, so the whole team can keep up with the progress of the steps.

On a lower level, you can also use it to track your own tasks and progress or to store tasks so you don't forget about them (guilty!).

There are lots of good platforms that help with task and project management such as Asana, Trello, Monday.com, Notion and ClickUp. They are all unique and it can take some exploring to figure out which is right for you. My personal favourite is Asana. I find it easy to use, and as a neurodivergent person, I'm highly reinforced by the unicorn or narwhal that flies across the screen when you hit complete on a task. I recommend doing a comparison of the various options before deciding what works best.

Calendar & Schedule Optimization:

If you have a smartphone, you're probably familiar with digital calendars. But there's so much more you can do with them than simply adding in your lunch date with your bestie. I highly recommend using a digital calendar that syncs with both your computer and your phone, so you don't miss a thing.

Google is a great option for calendars as you can now also add tasks, out-of-office time and focus time and you can have it sync with your computer and phone. 

Some tips for optimizing your calendar and schedule to increase your productivity are:

1. Add your ideal week on repeat. This is a great strategy from Michael Hyatt to improve productivity and decrease burnout. You need to reflect on your current schedule, on the schedule that you want and the schedule you could have. You can go wild with this. I didn't go as wild as I could have; I kept it ideal but realistic, but feel free to make it max ideal. See the screenshot for my ideal week. 
2. Block out time for focused work. Add this to your calendar. If you do this with Google, your calendar can automatically decline meetings that are booked during your focus time. See the screenshot for my focus time. 
3. Colour-coding. I would also recommend colour-coding your calendar. As you can see in the screenshots, I use almost all of the colours. This way you can easily see what you have in your calendar coming up. Tasks show up in their own list in your calendar in the Blueberry colour.

Note-taking & Infomation Management:

Digital note-taking is on the rise, and there are many options for this. If you like writing your notes by hand, you can do a hybrid of writing and digital. I use a Rocketbook. It functions like a regular notebook, but it's erasable and you can scan and store things digitally. You purchase Friction pens and write like you would any other notebook. Another great option is reMarkable. It functions similarly to a tablet with its digital functions, but its screen is closer to an e-reader, so it feels more book-like than screen-like and you write with a pen like an actual notebook. Best of all worlds.

If you prefer typing your notes, there are a few methods you can use. For some of my client meetings, I set up a project in Asana with various headings (e.g., Offlload—for the client to offload what they need, Meetings—for us to discuss what needs to be done regarding her upcoming meetings, Projects—for us to discuss specific projects that are upcoming, etc.).

Another favourite of mine (where I prep all my blogs and add my weekly tasks) is Evernote. You can create to-do notes, plan projects, capture information and organize your files/info (I can upload my notes from my RocketBook to Evernote). You can share your Evernotes with others (I've had clients share with me and we can work together on them).

Automation & Workflows:

Automating your systems and creating workflows that work for you and make your work easier is a must. Workflows remove some of the manual work from the process and create a good flow for when manual work is necessary. If you're an online business owner, chances are you have many different systems and platforms that need to run smoothly, and hopefully in the background. Using tools like Zapier and IFTTT, helps you create more structure without having to do more physical work.

Having these solid systems in place allows you to have a high-output and more automatic system (e.g., if you have a free resource someone needs to opt-in for that requires them to put their name and email into a landing page and be added to your email list in order to have the resource delivered, it's good to have that happen without you having to manually add them and send the resource). These systems save you time and money and increase your efficiency.

Time Tracking & Analysis:

Sometimes, simply knowing where our time is going and how much of it is being used for various tasks can be helpful in increasing our productivity. When you use time trackers, you can identify what is eating your time, where you are spending the bulk of your time, what your time wasters are, and analyze where and how you can make improvements.

This is a great way to gain information to optimize your workflows and systems. Once you know where your time is going, you can identify solutions for managing that time and build it into your systems.

If you use ClickUp for your task management, they have a built-in time tracker. Other options are Harvest and Toggl. Most options allow you to integrate with your Google calendar and create different projects. This can be handy if you're working with different clients, as you can see the breakdown of your time spent with various clients and projects.

Creating a good work-life balance is important if you are a busy entrepreneur or career person (or anyone really!). When you spend more time working and don't take care of yourself or have time for living you end up in burnout or getting sick. Those force you to stop working and never at a good time.

In this hyperconnected, fast-paced, high-expectations world managing your time, working effectively and prioritizing self-care and your health is a must. Using Digital Resources and Tools can improve your productivity, but not at the expense of your health.

Let your systems work smarter (not harder) for you. Automation is a beautiful thing.