In his helpful book “Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity,” Tim Challies explains why productivity matters – it is about stewardship and God’s glory:
“Productivity is effectively stewarding your gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God.”
This is why Christians should be interested in productivity. Not doing more for the sake of it, but to do good for others and to make much of God.
'Don’t try to do it all: Do more good. Better.' Tim ChalliesClick To Tweet
I’m an early adopter and I enjoy trying out new tools and refining them down to find the best. As we approach a new year, here’s 10 that I recommend you try in 2017 (and most of them are free!).
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What will be in your toolbox in 2017?
1Password
I have been using 1Password for years. It helps me create secure passwords, and then saves me hours each year by making it simple to log-in to my numerous accounts with just ‘one password’. It’s not the only password manager out there, but I’ve used it for a long time and it keeps getting better. Even if you don’t use 1Password, get yourself a password manager in 2017.
Price: From $2.99 per month.
Please note: the links to 1Password are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and purchase 1Password, I will receive a small commission. I’m only recommending this because I use it and love it!
Asana
I’ve been using Asana for more than 3 years to manage projects at work. I’ve tried many other collaborative tools for project management, but I keep coming back to Asana. It’s a great tool for churches, too.
Price: Free (paid accounts also available).
Bookcision
If you highlight books in Kindle and want an easy way to access these highlights, get Bookcision.
Price: Free.
Canva
Canva is a tool that makes it really easy for you to create quality graphics. Posters, invitations, brochures, infographics – if it can be designed, you’ll probably be able to design it with Canva!
Price: Free.
Freedom
Do you find yourself easily distracted when you’re online? I do. Freedom helps you block distractions and get work done. And if porn is a distraction, take a look as these 6 tools for accountability online.
Price: From $2.42 per month.
Grammarly
Remember when spell check in Microsoft Word seemed like magic?! We’ve come a long way since then and Grammarly is one of a new batch of tools that can help improve your writing.
Price: Free (paid accounts also available)
Please note: If you click on this link and try out Grammarly, we’ll both get a week of Grammarly Premium for free!
Highly
In a similar category to Bookcision, Highly enables you to highlight snippets from around the web and easily find them again.
Price: Free.
Meetingbird
I haven’t tried Meetingbird yet, but I’m adding it to my toolbox for 2017 to help me organise and run better meetings.
Price: Free (for up to 10 users).
Notion
Notion is difficult to describe because it is so flexible and so powerful. I continue to find uses for Notion both at home and at work and it will be a big ‘go to’ tool for me in 2017. A similar tool (that I haven’t tried yet but it looks promising) is Nuclino.
Price: Free (paid accounts also available).
Paperform
I just discovered Paperform today – an intutive way to create beautiful forms – including forms to receive payments. Typeform is also a wonderful tool for creating user-friendly surveys, forms and more.
Here’s a quick survey I created using Paperform to demonstrate how it looks (and to get your feedback!).
Price: From $9 per month.
Polymail
There are many different email clients out there, but Polymail has some unique and helpful features that sets it apart from the competition. And while we’re talking about email, Unroll.Me is a useful tool too!
Price: Free (paid accounts also available).
Raindrop
Where do you save all those links you come across throughout the day? I have Raindrop is an ‘All in one bookmarks manager’ that looks great and is easy to use.
Price: Free (paid accounts also available).
Speaker Alert
This one sneaks in at #11, but as it doesn’t fit the theme of productivity, I added it in as an extra! Speaker Alert is a speech timing application inspired by Toastmasters to keep your speeches (or sermons) from running overtime. And saving the time of your listeners is good for their productivity, so maybe it does fit after all!
Price: Free.
The post 10 Apps You Should Try to Boost Your Productivity in 2017 appeared first on Communicate Jesus.