#I have a severe avoidance of tutorials I can’t watch them they intimidate and frustrate me so I’ve just been fucking around

[faggotstump]

I’ve been so fucking scared of actaually learning to play guitar and then I remembered I can just Pick The Guitar Up And Play it’s kind of a fuck around, find out/live and learn situation

#I have a severe avoidance of tutorials I can’t watch them they intimidate and frustrate me so I’ve just been fucking around #<- btw if anyone could recommend tutorials that might not want to make me peel myself like an orange I’d be really happy #Still can’t sing and play at the same time but I think that’s just a skill issue on my part

[mekhigreene]

Free Productivity Apps For Students

The past few blog post I’ve written have been tech-inspired and to continue with the trend I figured I would go over some of my favorite and most used productivity apps. These tools are directed towards students but anyone can use them.

By no means do I consider any of these tools to be “the best”, these are just apps that happened to be introduced to me at some point in time and they compliment my workflow. 

Although I don’t use these apps every day (I probably should) I know the ins and outs and can give you a clear summary of each tool. Each has its pros and cons and by the end of this blog post, my goal is to pitch to you as to why you should use these apps too! 

For clarification, this is not a sponsored post and I’m not being paid, so my opinions are my own. I truly love these tools and they bring a ton of value to my everyday life. I’m just excited to be sharing them with you. 

I want to note that these are free productivity tools so you don’t have to spend any money! 

Who doesn’t like free?!

I also forgot to mention, all of these tools are available as web and mobile applications. And on top of that, they also sync across different platforms so if you type something on your phone it’ll appear on your desktop and vice versa. 

All the productivity tools I talk about will be linked throughout the post as well as towards the end. 

So getting into this list…

  Google Keep

In all honesty, I couldn’t tell you when I started using Google Keep but that should give you an idea as to how reliable it is. The primary purpose that this app serves is for taking random notes throughout the day and overtime its evolved into a tool that has done that and more.

 If you’ve read my blog post on my everyday carry you know that I prefer to use a field notes notebook for day to day note taking however there are times when you need to go digital. If you haven’t read my everyday carry post you can check it out by clicking here. 

Keep Notes is a very functional and user-friendly note-taking app with some pretty sweet features. This is a tool with many features but I want to cover the most appealing details. As I mentioned before ^ this software is great because of its ability to sync your work across all devices. 

It also saves your work so you don’t need to worry about doing that either. I personally only use keep for the absolute minimum which is typing out quick thoughts and ideas but here are some components you might enjoy exploring. 

Unique Features 

– Share notes and add collaborators – Take photos and upload images – Drawing (This is awesome if you use a Galaxy Note) – Voice Recording – Add Reminders – Label notes – Change the color of notes

At any given time I can find myself using any of these features but the one I use most often is adding reminders. I’m sure if you decide to download Google Keep you’ll figure out what things are practical and what isn’t. I enjoy using keep and over the years it’s become the go-to in regards to my best productivity tools. 

It’s hard to point out the flaws of this application because its something that I’ve used extensively for 5+ years. You would think that with that much usage time I would grow to dislike even the tiniest of details but truthfully I can’t say that I do. 

I’ve used Keep for as long as I have because it’s been nothing but functional. In my opinion, this is an app that just works and it’s hard to look past that. Regardless of what device you use this is an application that has real value if your someone that likes to take notes.

In case my very brief micro review wasn’t enough, click here to learn more about Google Keep. 

Moving onto the next productivity application we have… 

  Notion

To explain what Notion is in as few words as possible, it’s an all in one workspace where you can collaborate projects, plan tasks, and take notes. This software is capable of so much more and that description doesn’t do it justice. I discovered Notion over the Summer when I was Studying Abroad in London. 

Ali Abdaal who is a YouTube creator from Cambridge, England introduced it to me at that time and I quickly realized how powerful a tool it is. Ali loves Notion and would probably consider it to be one of the best productivity software tools out right now. 

He’s created a few informative videos on the application and I highly recommend them to anyone looking to use Notion for the first time.

Ali’s Notion Videos 

– Tour with Ali Abdaal (+Free Template for Students)   – How I use Notion as a Resonance Calendar (This is a collaboration video) – My Favourite Productivity App for Students – Notion (2019)

If you end up finding these videos helpful stick around and watch a few more videos on his channel! 

Notion is a very useful tool that anyone can take advantage of whether you’re a student or a business professional. It acts as a database, note-taking app, and content management system. The best part about it is that your experience with Notion can be unique to you.

You’re able to fully customize and dictate what you interacting with. If I were to go over every feature this tool contains we might be here for a while so instead I’ll list some of my favorites once again. 

My favorite Notion features 

– Templates (Prebuilt databases) – Endless customization options for databases – Labeling in databases – Import and export files – Available on all devices

When I use this tool I use it intending to dump my thoughts and develop an unstructured todo list. I know that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what this tool can do and because of that I’ve made it a goal to start using it more often. I notice that when I use it consistently I’m at my most productive and I move with a sense of urgency with creating new content. 

Over the past few weeks, I’ve begun to use Noition more and I’ve created several databases. I now have tabs for school, managing content creation, tracking daily habits, personal notes, and for saving inspiring ideas. I fully expect to add onto this list and make this application my all in one hub for most things in my life. 

I think the next thing I’ll start to do is track my expenses! Notion has something for everyone.

There is a lot to love about this application and I believe it’s one of the best productivity applications out there. My main complaint about Notion is that the barrier to entry can seem intimidating at first. 

When I first signed up for an account I thought the layout was somewhat complicated and I wasn’t sure where to begin. There is a lot to learn and understand as a newbie to the software but once you mess around with it or watch a tutorial video it’s easy to feel comfortable navigating the app. 

My last criticism with this software is that although it is available on all devices, mobile performance is significantly worse in comparison to desktop. I usually find myself getting annoyed and slightly frustrated when it comes to doing most things in the mobile app outside of viewing text I already published.

I typically only publish new content when I’m on my laptop at this point just to avoid a possible headache. This is just my experience however so definitely try for yourself. 

Notion is a free application with an option to upgrade to a paid plan. 

Notion Plans 

– Free $0 – Personal $4-5 month – Labeling in databases – Team $8-10 month – Enterprise $20-25 month

  Feedly

This is a news aggregator app that pulls together articles and news sources from all over the web. I open up Feedly every so often to catch up on news and occasionally it’s responsible for content ideas.  

  Freedom Journal

This isn’t an application or software tool but it’s a treasure in my productivity system. The Freedom Journal is an organization notebook that looks to tackle a larger goal by breaking it up into smaller goals. This book has been life-changing for me. 

  Field Notes

This is an item that I carry with me every day because every single thought, task, or idea I have gets written down in this thing. It’s just an ordinary compact notebook with impressive design cues but to me it’s irreplaceable. 

  If you’ve made it to the end, I want to thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the review. This is a list of apps to increase productivity and if you get around to trying them out, I think you’ll find that they do just that! 

Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Twitter @greenemekhi for more posts like this one. I post every Wednesday so don’t miss out!

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#Productivity #Lifestyle design #technology