In this modern age of technology, there are a million ways to get distracted and a million things that get put on that never-ending To-Do List, and any business owner is aware of the constant challenge of staying focused on getting their job done.

From tracking our finances, emails, phone calls, and clients to the tasks of marketing, networking, and product creation, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and have things fall through the cracks.

Let’s not forget to mention how the entrepreneurial mind is a breeding ground for new ideas and more exciting ways of doing #allthethings all the time.

The innovative mind is both a gift and a curse.

Yes, it is wonderful to be inventive and have the gift of creativity, but it can be wasted if not channeled properly for good use or forgotten because of the endless bombardment of distraction.

I’m one of those people who will wake up in the morning with a golden nugget idea that I dreamed about, but if I don’t immediately write it down, the day begins with a hustle and the idea disappears as quickly as it came to me.

It’s a shame to lose insight and an idea simply because it was forgotten.

I’m also a woman, so I have the typical female “Think-TOO-Much” syndrome. I often lie in bed at night creating the mental list of things I didn’t get done that day and another list of all the things I still need to do the next day. That’s not just me, right? I can’t be the only one who does this.

Well, luckily, I’ve found some very helpful tools that have changed things around for me. I now have a systematic way of keeping track of my To-Do List and new ideas for business and growth. I have also learned the best ways to stay organized with all my digital files using simple online software. Organization is key to productivity.

These productivity software tools have changed the way I do business for the better.

The one I use everyday to keep track of my To-Do List is the Wunderlist app. This app allows me to create an endless number of lists of any type and let’s me share any of those lists with anyone else. So, I have a list called “Groceries” that I shared with my husband and each of us can add to the list or cross things off as needed. We love it since both of us do the grocery shopping in our household.

Wunderlist also lets you have sub-lists. This is super cool because I have a list for my business with sub-lists for each of my clients. I am easily able to see all the things I need to get done for each of my clients along with the day-to-day tasks of running my business.

The best part about the app is being able to set due dates or deadlines to tasks with an audible alert or notification to remind you when it’s due. For the forgetful mind, this feature comes in handy. For me, that means it’s useful ALL THE TIME.

I can also prioritize the most important tasks that need attention and look ahead at each day’s task list or the full week of tasks. I personally like to see what’s ahead so I can put things on my calendar and schedule it out so it doesn’t get missed.

Wunderlist is my go-to app for making lists and keeping track of ideas and deadlines.

The next best app I use Google Calendar. I’m sure many of you are already familiar with it and use it, but it’s worth mentioning since it’s one of the best tools to for planning out each day, week, month, and year.

Have you ever forgotten an appointment you made a month ago because you forgot to put it in your calendar or forgot to set a reminder notification and didn’t check your calendar that day? That use to happen to me all the time before I got consistent with putting my appointments into Google Calendar and setting at least two reminders for each one.

As a mother who works from home, I admit that I don’t check my calendar every morning like I know I should. So having reminders for those appointments is crucial for me to get to the places I need to be.

Admittedly, I also don’t schedule out every minute of my day because I have two toddlers that make that nearly impossible for me to stick with. Honestly, I’ve tried and failed more times than I can count, so I had to find a better way.

I make sure to schedule all appointments in my Google Calendar on my phone with reminder notifications and then plan around those appointments when setting my due dates and deadlines for my other tasks that need to get done. This system has worked out great so far, and I have the flexibility I need to be a mom and take care of my children.

As a mother, I can’t schedule out every minute of my day, but I can still be productive with the right tools.

My other favorite tool for being productive is called Workflowy. This software tool might be my favorite of all. It can be used through their phone app or on a desktop and it can sync between the two for your convenience.

Workflowy is software to keep your thoughts and mind organized with lists and sub-lists works similar to the bulleted lists in Microsoft Word. The major difference is that the lists are collapsible. This may not seem like a big deal, but it makes a world of difference when your lists are long and you have many sub-lists for each of your lists and you need to find things easily.

They also allow you to create tags in your lists using hashtags so you can easily find related topics or categories. You can also zoom in on a particular list by clicking on it’s bullet point so it can it expand the content and each bulleted line can be easily moved by dragging and dropping into another location.

If you’re wondering why you would need another list building app if you already have Wunderlist, the answer is that you may not. It comes down to your preference, but I need both. I use both apps for different types of lists.

I personally use Wunderlist for my lists that need are more time-sensitive and need to get checked off like buying groceries, making client phone calls, and movies I want to watch. Worflowy is great for me to keep my procedures, work-flow systems and content creation written out. For example, I have a list for my Client Onboarding Process with sub-lists for web design clients, brand design clients, and business coaching clients. I use these lists repeatedly each time I take on a new client. They remind me of each task I need to get done and in what order so things don’t get missed or forgotten.

I also use Workflowy to keep track of books and other resources I recommend to clients, SEO keywords for my website, and the outlines for my online courses that I’m currently creating. I have totally replaced Pages and Word with Workflowy for my course outlines, and I love it. Oh, and another key feature that I love is the ability to share and collaborate with others on a particular list.

Workflowy is a must-have software tool for my business, and I highly recommend it.

The last two productivity software tools are interchangeable and you don’t really need both. However, I do use them both, and I haven’t picked my favorite out of the two just yet.

Trello and Asana are both fabulous Project Management software tools that I use. I started off using Trello over a year ago as a recommendation from one of my mentors, and it was a real game-changer for my productivity. I love the way I can stack my projects side-by-side and see all the minute details of each project I’m working on all at once. Of course you can collaborate with others on your projects, check off tasks, and assign deadlines, but the best part is that you can also add a calendar view to see it mapped out all neatly in a calendar.

I have been using Trello to track each task needed to complete a particular project. For example, I have a project called “Client So-and-so’s Website” and all the tasks I need to do to complete that project. I was using this software before I found Workflowy and now I use both. Workflowy is where I reference my procedures, and Trello is where I write out specific details for each client, assign my due dates for each task, and review my calendar at a glance.

I also use Trello to keep track of courses I take or programs I am a member of. For example, I have taken Marie Forleo’s B-School, which is a great course about starting a business (I highly recommend it for serious entrepreneurs). I used Trello to track my progress through the online course by creating a Project called “B-School” and writing out each Module and Lesson as tasks to complete with due dates. I also entered all the homework from the course and tracked my completion of each assignment.

As for Asana, I just started using this tool recently since it was recommended by another great mentor of mine. It works very similarly to Trello and Wunderlist, but it has a different look and feel. The jury is still out for me on this software as it compares to my other faves, but you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Scheduling appointments automatically with clients and prospective clients is a super convenient and a huge time saver.

I used to use Calendly to schedule appointments with their free plan, until I needed to have more than one type of event to schedule and I wanted to have a form for people to fill out prior to scheduling an appointment with me. Calendly didn’t offer those featured, so I switched to AcuityScheduling that has the form feature included in the lowest priced plan. I can also integrate Stripe with my plan to offer appointments for a fee. I love this feature in AcuityScheduling because it allows me to get paid for consultations when people book their appointment. It’s also nice for my clients because they don’t have to wait to receive an invoice before getting booked on my calendar. AcuityScheduling also integrates super easy with Squarespace, so there’s a lot of benefits for using this productivity tool.

Organizing digital files is a must to stay productive.

I was a slow learner on this one. I really resisted spending any money on software to organize my digital files because I knew that once I started, I would have to continue paying every month to keep my files stored, and frankly, I just didn’t want to feel locked into anything.

However, after trying desperately to save and retrieve files on my external hard-drive, the inconvenience of not having my files online to easily access on the go got to be a huge drag. Plus, the amount of space is limited on an external hard-drive, so you have to have more than one. Then, when you are trying to find your files, you have to look on multiple hard drives and search through every file on them to find what you’re looking for. That’s a huge time suck.

Dropbox is my preferred software for storage my digital design files and videos. It’s way easier to find what I’m looking for and share my files when needed. For me, the amount of time I save and the easier it’s made my life, the monthly fee for Dropbox is totally worth it, but they also have a free start-up plan.

For other file types such as documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, I use Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Drive to store and share those files. Life is so much easier with Google, isn’t it? They even have unlimited free photo storage that you can access from all your devices. Now that’s pretty cool, even for an Apple user like myself.

Now, go forth and be productive and organized, my friend.

Try these tools out and let me know your personal favorites in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you have other favorite apps to improve your productivity.

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