Supercharge Your Productivity in 2023: The 9 Best Tools to Help You Do More With Less

It‘s no secret that we live in a world of endless distraction and always-on connectivity. The average American checks their phone 96 times per day – that‘s once every 10 minutes! – and spends 2 hours and 54 minutes on social media daily. With so much competing for our attention, it‘s harder than ever to focus on what matters most and make meaningful progress on our goals.

But what if there was a way to take back control of your time and mental energy to get more done? That‘s the promise of productivity software. The right tools can help you organize your work and life, collaborate more effectively, and automate time-consuming manual tasks. Studies show that knowledge workers spend 60% of their time on "work about work" – tasks like searching for information, sifting through emails, and coordinating with colleagues. The best productivity apps can streamline these processes to save you hours each week.

In fact, research by Forrester found that using a collaborative work management platform can spike productivity by 20%. Another study by Salesforce showed that 81% of IT leaders observed productivity increases after deploying digital collaboration tools. It‘s clear that using the right productivity software can have a major positive impact on individual and team output.

But with hundreds of solutions on the market, choosing the best ones is easier said than done. No worries – we‘ve done the heavy lifting for you. Here are the 9 best productivity tools to help you make 2023 your most productive year yet.

1. Todoist

Todoist is hands down one of the most intuitive, full-featured task management apps available. It makes capturing, organizing and completing tasks a breeze so nothing falls through the cracks. Some highlight features:

• Quickly add and prioritize tasks from anywhere
• Break big projects down into sub-tasks and sections
• Set due dates and reminders to stay on track
• Collaborate on shared tasks and projects
• Track productivity trends over time
• Access on any device and offline

Todoist offers a free basic plan and paid plans starting at $4/month. It boasts an impressive 4.7/5 star rating on Capterra across 1800+ reviews. Fans love how simple yet powerful it is and its cross-platform availability. As one reviewer raved, "Todoist is indispensable for keeping myself and my team organized and accountable. It‘s packed with features but never feels cluttered or overwhelming."

Compared to popular alternatives like Any.do and Microsoft To Do, Todoist wins out for its speed, intuitive design, and advanced features like natural language input, productivity reports, and integrations. And unlike Wunderlist which shut down in 2020, Todoist is still going strong and continuously shipping new features.

To get the most out of Todoist, try these tips:

1. Use natural language to quickly add tasks and set details like priority, due date, and project (e.g. "Send invoice to Acme Co every Friday at 10am")

2. Create nested sub-tasks to break big to-dos down into bite-sized, achievable steps

3. Set up recurring due dates for tasks you need to do on a regular basis

4. Use priority levels, labels and filters to focus on your most important and time-sensitive tasks

5. Review your productivity stats each week to optimize your task management system

One Todoist user shared how the app transformed their freelance business: "Since I started using Todoist, no client tasks slip through the cracks and I‘m able to hit deadlines more consistently. I love being able to see an overview of exactly what I need to work on each day. It‘s helped me increase my income by 32% because I‘m able to complete more projects on time and keep my clients happy!"

2. Asana

Asana is a flexible work management platform teams can shape to handle any kind of project, process or workflow. It‘s used by over 100,000 organizations spanning 190 countries, from small businesses to global enterprises like Google, Uber and Spotify. Key capabilities include:

• Customizable project views like Kanban boards, calendars and timelines
• Automated workflows with rule-based triggers and actions
• Integrated communication with tasks and projects
• Workload management to allocate resources and balance team capacity
• Robust reporting to visualize progress and bottlenecks
• Enterprise-grade admin and security controls

Pricing starts at $13.49 per user per month billed annually for the Premium plan. There is also a basic free plan for simple use cases. Asana scores 4.3/5 stars from 10,000+ reviews on G2. Teams praise its flexibility to adapt to any workflow and the ability to replace multiple tools with one. On the flip side, some users complain the interface can feel clunky and complex.

Compared to the kanban-focused Trello, Asana offers more advanced features, multiple project views, and granular task management. And while Jira is great for agile software development, teams often find Asana to be more intuitive and versatile for non-technical use cases like marketing campaigns and editorial calendars.

Some tips to use Asana like a pro:

1. Start with a template to kickstart common project types like product launches, events, and onboardings

2. Create Rules to automate repetitive steps like assigning a task when a form is submitted or moving tasks to the next workflow stage when complete

3. Use Milestones to mark important points in the project lifecycle and track progress toward goals

4. Set up Dashboards with charts to get a real-time, bird‘s-eye view of key initiatives and team status

5. Integrate with 200+ apps your team already uses to unify work in one place

One marketing agency shared how Asana powered a 3X increase in client deliverables: "Before Asana, tasks were scattered across email, spreadsheets, and chat. It was a mess. Now, we plan all client work and collaborate as a team in Asana. Automated handoffs and templates save us tons of time and nothing slips through the cracks. We‘re able to handle triple the client capacity with way less stress and manual effort."

3. RescueTime

Want to understand exactly how you spend your digital time? RescueTime automatically tracks your activity across devices to reveal insights about your productivity and habits. Armed with accurate data, you can optimize your workday to get more high-impact work done. Highlight features include:

• Automatic time tracking across apps and websites
• Productivity scoring and detailed reports on time usage
• Goal setting and real-time alerts
• Blocking distracting sites when you need to focus
• Offline time tracking for non-digital activities
• Daily highlights to track accomplishments

RescueTime costs $12/month with a 14-day free trial. It earns 4.5/5 stars on Capterra with reviewers calling it "a game changer" and "eye opening". Many users are surprised to see how much time they actually waste on unproductive digital activities. However, a few complain that it can be buggy, especially on mobile.

Compared to time trackers that require you to manually start and stop timers, RescueTime captures everything automatically in the background for the most complete and accurate picture of your time. It also offers more robust productivity scoring and blocking features than browser-based tools like ActivityWatch.

RescueTime power user tips:

1. Install the desktop and mobile apps to track all the time you spend on various devices, not just in Chrome

2. Calibrate the productivity scores for different apps and websites based on how they relate to your unique goals and job

3. Set up Goals to track positive habits you want to build, like spending more time in deep work apps or less time on social media

4. Schedule Focus Time sessions to block distracting activities when you need to do focused work

5. Review Highlights at the end of each day to celebrate wins and spot opportunities to optimize your time and habits

One busy executive shared: "RescueTime was a pivotal tool in taking back control of my schedule. The real-time alerts nudge me away from time-wasting activities and the detailed reports help me redesign my days to focus on needle-moving work. Since using it, my ‘very productive time‘ has increased 27% and I feel less stressed and scattered."

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The Future of Productivity Software

As we look ahead, several key trends are shaping the productivity software landscape:

1. The rise of AI and automation to streamline tasks and workflows
2. Greater emphasis on mobile and flexible work experiences
3. Deeper insights with productivity analytics
4. Focus on connectivity and integrations between tools
5. Vertical-specific solutions for industries like education and healthcare

By 2027, the global productivity software market is projected to reach $102.98 billion, up from $47.33 billion in 2020. A major driver is the growing need for solutions to support remote and hybrid workforces. The tools that thrive will be the ones that balance powerful features with simplicity and help people work smarter in the flow of their day-to-day.

There‘s never been a better time to invest in productivity software to set yourself and your team up for success. The 9 tools covered here are a great place to start. Figure out where you spend the most unproductive time today and try a tool built to address that specific challenge. Keep what works, ditch what doesn‘t, and iterate until you land on a stack that saves you time and empowers you do your best work. Here‘s to your most productive year yet!