Why Deleting Productivity Apps Was the Productivity Boost I Needed

by Buck Funk
9 minutes read

Why Deleting Productivity Apps Was the Productivity Boost I Needed


Irritated individual organizing a handset via productivity apps.

I habitually believed productivity apps helped me spurt my productivity. After balancing most apps grossed to preserve me time, I decided it was time for a amend. The real productivity augment was once I decided to delete productivity apps and prelude over.

Designing the Impression of Productivity

Every productivity app cases to be the complementary obtainable. It assurances to preserve you time, team you eager, and amend your daily sprightliness. The reality is most of these apps merely expire upwards spoilage time. Sure, you might have a loads productivity apps scattered across your handset, tablet computer, and computer. Yet, what time are you conserving?

For me, I truly felt extra advice an app manager than anything else. I’d invest hours every week acquiring in vacancies, attaching apps, jumping recommend and forth in between apps, and graciously individualizing my experience.

Unanimously those hours were merely wasted time. It was the impression of productivity. Instead of acquiring anything snatched on out, I was merely revamping my apps unanimously the time.

Honestly, I invested extra time construing which app to gain utility of for a offered job, evolving mechanisms to inspirations my apps job much better together, tweaking formats, editing and improving shade codes, opting icons, and so on than I did functioning.

Productivity Apps Don’t Gain You Fruitful

Productivity apps on their own won’t render you skillful. Trust me, I tried. It truly felt fantastic to install a mechanism in a vibrant app. I loved gamification and the streaks for wrapping up vacancies. I expanded on organizing formats and nested organizational trees.

Yet, via every app, I possessed to recognize a vibrant mechanism. I possessed to tailor an singular vibrant arrangement. Also even worse, I possessed to recognize how to integrate this correct into my current apps or recognize if this adjusted an additional one.

I wasn’t satisfied once I rested down and rediscovered out the latent price of unanimously my productivity apps:

  • Ceaselessly switching recommend and forth in between apps was clearing up out my focus
  • I invested extra time determining which app to gain utility of at any offered moment than profiting
  • My apps truly felt extra advice vacancies than remunerative contraptions
  • Unanimously my tweaking truly felt advice evolve until I realized I wasn’t amassing any evolve
  • Every notification condemned my focus away from the vacancies I crucial to thorough

Lugs out this undisputable advice you? I balanced possessed 9 productivity apps on my handset. I possessed a few unwanteds I capitalized singular on my PC. My “productivity mechanism” was extra of a productivity time suck.

I knew it was time to delete productivity apps and situate a mechanism that virtually massaged versus passing on me productivity app overload.

Track Your Productivity

My advice is to track how a lot time you invest in your productivity apps for a few weeks. Alike, track how a lot time you invest on vacancies. Time trackers advice TimeTagger and Kimai can inspirations.

Individual on laptop computer via a clock on the floor typifying time trailing.
Image source: Unsplash

If you’re investing hours on your apps, they’re not helping you. Pic how a lot you might achieve via those hours?

As shortly as I made trailing my time, I rediscovered out I invested about 8–10 hours per week merely adding information to my app, individualizing the grand and feel, and summarizing notifications. Indeed, I was losing the identical of an entire job day on something indirect to render me extra skillful.

My 3 App Productivity Contraption

After some research, I decided to implement a 3 app productivity mechanism. This was the hardest part for me. I possessed to slim down the apps I capitalized to merely 3 across unanimously belvederes, entailing handset, PC, tablet computer, and web.

Laptop, tablet computer, and handset on a workdesk.
Image source: Pexels

The pointer is to decline rubbing, annihilate app overlap, and simplify on the entirety app administration.

This mechanism possesses numerous secret notions:

  • Each app need to serve a single purpose and can’t overlap via an additional. For instance, you wear’t stock two rumpus checklist apps or numerous note filching apps.
  • Apps need to sync across unanimously crucial belvederes
  • Apps need to be easy to arrangement and team

Counting on your calls for, the 3 apps will differ. For me, I decided for the consequent purposes:

  • Melee checklist or job manager
  • Schedule
  • Notes and reference

For most human beings, this is actually unanimously you stock. The entire mechanism fuses job and individual sprightliness correct into merely 3 easy to juggle apps.

After imposing this, I lone invest about an hour a week on my apps. So, I’m conserving at least 7 hours per week.

Delete Productivity Apps You Don’t Telephone call for

Prelude by displacing any productivity apps that wear’t match the mechanism. I virtually itemized unanimously my apps and their core purpose. I also trailed which ones I capitalized most oftentimes. Anything I didn’t gain utility of frequently got deleted immediately.

I then made contrasting apps via a equal purpose to see which was easiest to gain utility of and match my calls for complementary. By the time I was snatched on out, I possessed deleted 7 apps off my handset. I didn’t actually love any of my note-filching apps, so I possessed to situate a vibrant one.

The Solitary 3 Productivity Apps I Labelled for

Delete Productivity Apps Was Productivity Strengthen My Contraption
Why Deleting Productivity Apps Was the Productivity Boost I Needed 12

I tried numerous unanimously-in-one apps, yet I still truly felt extra skillful via 3 apps via a core purpose. For me, I decided:

  • Todoist – Mount daily and week vacancies, while organizing them correct into vacancies. It integrates pointers. I also rediscovered out the keyboard shortcuts without stalemate. There are plenty of opposite other fantastic job checklist apps via pointers if you yearn something else.
  • Google Schedule – It’s encompassed via my Android handset and renders it easy to schedule visits, occasions, and so on. By means of so numerous calendar apps to opt from, I stuck via what I was most familiar via. There are also some fantastic productivity extensions for Google Schedule.
  • Inkling – I possessed originally deleted Inkling since I invested also a lot time tweaking formats. Yet, I revisited it and rediscovered it to be complementary for notes. Indeed, it possesses most integrations, yet I gain utility of singular for notes, specifically after organizing bridged documents sources.

You wear’t have to gain utility of the apps I decided. Ideally, weigh your apps and mechanisms each week to see if they’re functioning for you versus versus you. I invested about a month wakening the mechanism that massaged for me. Just stay transparent of the shiny vibrant app disorganize and delete productivity apps that waste time. Believe me once I case you’ll love having extra skillful hours not invested merely attempting to juggle apps.

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