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3 Free Productivity Tools I Can't Live Without

If you're like me, you have less time to get more done—or, you want to get more done in less time! Either way, many people ask me how I manage to be so productive, so here are three of my most-used tools.


News.me. This is a fabulous service that uncovers top stories from your Facebook and Twitter news feeds and delivers the links to your e-mail inbox. Why it's invaluable: I don't have to worry about missing something important that everyone is reading and talking about on the social networks. Particularly on days when I have to focus on non-social media work, this is a godsend. You might also investigate LoveMe.Do, which has similar properties (but is not delivered via e-mail). Here is a publishing-focused Twitter list that I follow using LoveMe.Do.


Feedly. If you've been a longtime reader of Electric Speed, you know that I've been a devoted Google Reader user for many years. Google Reader is an RSS reader that allows you to keep tabs on hundreds of different blogs, websites, and media outlets, all from one interface. Since Reader is shutting down, I've had to find a replacement, and have been satisfied with Feedly. Another tool I've found that helps me stay on top of RSS feeds—in an easy, magazine format— is Newsify. However, Newsify is an iOS app, meaning you need an iPhone, iPod, or iPad to use it.



Pocket. Whenever someone sends me an article to read—or I stumble on an interesting link—it's usually in the middle of my work day, when I'm not in a good position to slow down and read it. Enter Pocket, which allows me to save any article for later offline reading with only 1-click. Pocket syncs across your desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices. If you've ever used a "read it later" type of service, that's exactly what Pocket is—but Pocket is by far the most elegant and user-friendly service that I've found myself committing to for the long term.

Plus one more (not free): Omnifocus
Around the new year, I decided I wanted to get more serious about how I was tackling my to-do lists (going beyond the Post-It method), and I bought the productivity software Omnifocus for my desktop and iPad. It's a beautiful system that's based on the Get Things Done book. However, it is not a free (or even cheap) solution, but if you want to incorporate a stricter workflow and discipline into your day or week, I highly recommend it.

Thank you!

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Electric Speed. If it was helpful for you, the best thanks of all is sharing this newsletter on your favorite social network.