How Productivity Apps Can Help You Stay Focused and Avoid Burnout
- Adilla
- Sep 12
- 5 min read
There are numerous productivity apps on the market, each claiming to be the best, but are they just consuming your storage space or actually helping you? The truth is, you might be suffering from an app overload.
Yes, searching for ‘productivity apps to avoid burnout’ could help you, but what happens when you already have those apps and not just one but maybe four different apps that function the same way?
Table Of Contents
Why Do Productivity Apps Sometimes Increase Burnout?
Surely an app that’s meant to help you won’t cause you harm, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Let’s see it this way:
What happens when you have numerous apps on your phone?
Do you often switch between apps?
Does the list of notifications overwhelm you and cause anxiety?
Then, it’ll likely burn out your mental load faster than a typical working day. Not to mention, having to update them on a day-to-day basis will eat up your time and energy.
Steps to Audit Your Current Toolset
While audit might be a daunting word to use for this, your creative energy is important, and it’s not limitless. So, take these steps to ensure you’re not letting these productivity apps burn you out.
Step 1: Minimise Your Tools
So, are all of these productivity tools helping you? To narrow it down better, we suggest focusing on three key tools: note-taking, task and time management. Before adding or removing productivity apps from your arsenal, narrow them down to these three first.
Step 2: Create Rules for Yourself
When deciding to adopt a new tool or make the switch to another app, establish some rules for yourself, your non-negotiables when it comes to productivity apps. For example, you can start by not switching your productivity app if you are actually properly utilising it. Even if it is tempting to switch when a new app rolls in.
However, if you do want to try a new tool, even after deciding on your three key tools, maybe every 3 to 4 months, you can try out a tool or even abandon it when it is affecting your creative workflow.
Step 3: Make Systems Rather Than Just Tools
Tools won’t work if you don’t have a system or habit to properly utilise them. Productivity isn’t supposed to be ‘what are the best apps for creatives to boost productivity?’ it’s a working system that keeps you consistent in achieving your goals.
So, set a workflow that would work with you that integrates the apps that you have. Plus, maybe ask yourself, do I have this app because it’s fun and cool but doesn’t exactly help me?
Start to Set Rules to Protect Your Creative Energy
Establish a Single Source of Truth
While it’s tempting to have multiple ‘spots’ to note down your ‘To Dos’, it’s best to put everything in one place or one productivity app. To prevent accidentally forgetting a task or confusing yourself when you switch between apps, centralise your tasks into one main app. Not only will this save you time, but your phone storage, too!
Set Up Notification Hygiene
As the heading says, you need to clean up your notifications. Ever notice how you gravitate to your phone when a ding comes in, or your screen brightens and shows a pop-up notification?
If turning off notifications is too much for you, consider tweaking the notification settings for your apps. You’ll notice that you can change notifications to either show as badges or a banner and even opt out of sound alerts.
Reduce Digital Clutter
Finally, clean up your app space. How many of those apps will you use on at least a weekly basis? If you realise that you haven’t used them often in the past month, it might be best to uninstall and clear up your phone space and the unnecessary mental load that could affect your creative juices.
Utilise Project Management as Your Workspace
If you prefer something more suited for work rather than just your day-to-day tasks, project management software could be something you could implement. They can be a bit different compared to productivity apps, but they generally work the same way. Here are some traits that distinguish them:
Customise To Suit Your Needs
When utilising project management software instead of just productivity apps, there are more customisations, and you can tailor it to your liking better. For example, in our TESSR app, we ensure our layout is minimal and prioritise productivity.
This will be the first thing you will see when opening our dashboard: due dates, status and project, centralising information and tasks that require your immediate attention. Each of these tabs can be customised to the project and tasks that you’re doing with priority levels that you can set.
Storing capabilities
As a creative, you will likely save and refer to several visual copies and mock-ups that you can reuse in the future. So, productivity apps for creative teams would be a niche hard to fulfil.
However, by centralising your ‘To Dos’ in project management software, it will be easier for you to track previous projects without needing to sift through folders and folders of creative work.
Supports Team Collaboration
Not all productivity apps come with a trait for collaboration. While you may be thinking, ‘Why do I need to collaborate for my own productivity space?' But if at times you struggle to follow through on your own plans and tasks, consider body doubling.
Whether it be a trusted colleague or a friend that you can rely on, they can help you stay on track with your schedule and keep you accountable. This may seem extreme for a personal productivity app, but you’d be surprised to find out how effective body doubling can be.
Key Takeaways
Productivity apps aren’t hard to come by, but to find the right one for you without burning you out in the process is what matters.
If these apps don’t work well with you, consider project management software, especially our TESSR app for fellow creatives. (It's free! So, experiment on it as much as you would like.)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the productivity apps recommended for creatives?
There are several apps suited for creatives, such as Habitica, which gamifies your tasks; Notion, which lets you customise everything; and Evernote, with seamless integration across multiple devices as a note-taking app. Depending on your needs and requirements, there is an app for everyone.
Why would project management software be able to replace productivity apps?
Project management software can replace productivity apps due to its straightforward features. It is made to manage and optimise your productivity. Meanwhile, productivity apps can boost productivity, but they can also be distracting, as some can only be accessed through your phone, which, frankly, is the source of everyone’s distraction.
How long should I test out an app for my productivity?
The recommended timeframe for testing a new app is approximately 3 months. However, you would know right away when the app is suited for your needs. While we discourage having too many apps or switching productivity apps frequently, we encourage experimentation and finding the right fit for your daily needs.
Author Bio
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, like parodies of animated shows and plots for board games. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Now an advocate for mental health and effective project management for the creative industry. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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