8 Good Tools and Apps to Help You Stay Focused and Productive

Maintaining focus in a world permeated with all kinds of digital distractions becomes a real challenge. Ironically enough, this same technology that distracts us can be used to fight off distraction. There are now a wide variety of apps and tools that you can use to help you better control how you interact and use the Internet and subsequently enhance your focus.  Below are some very good examples of tools to use to subvert the distractiveness of the net. Additionally, you  can also check this list of some very good academic and scientific books expounding the impact of technology on our cognition and the way we learn and specifically highlighting the themes of distraction, divided attentiveness, and continuous partial attention.

1- StayFocusd

This is a Chrome extension ( also available for Safari and Firefox) that increases your productivity by limiting the amount of time that you can spend on time-wasting websites.

2- Freedom

Freedom is the wonderful app for Windows and Mac computers that locks you away from the ‘net. Turn Freedom on, tell Freedom how long you’d like to focus, and you’re offline and able to work. If you need to cheat and get back online, you can reboot.

Pomodoro Timer helps you boost your productivity using the Pomodoro Technique™, one of the most effective time management methods out there. Not only will you get a fully configurable timer that lets you customize every aspect of the technique, but you will also enjoy a clear and beautiful user interface.

4- Anti-Social

Anti-Social blocks the sites that make you unproductive. Start Anti-Social and Facebook and Twitter go away.

5- 30/30

This is a task manager app that allows you to “set up a list of tasks, and a length of time for each of them. When you start the timer, it will tell you when to move on to the next task.

6- Focus Time

‘Focus Time is a beautifully designed timer for people who want to avoid distractions and get more done. The key is to apply yourself to tasks by working in units of 25 minutes, separated by short breaks of 5 minutes.’

7- DropTime

DropTime is a countdown timer designed for the Pomodoro Technique. It sets up a loop sequence of timers and records how much time you spent on a task.

8- Flat Tomato

An amazing tool for time management. Inspire By Pomodoro. Do more and have fun with time management.