5 essential productivity tools to achieve all your targets before the end of 2017

The year is almost over and if you are anything like me, you have set yourself a firm target - to hit all your project goals with a countdown timer right in front of you, counting days till the deadline – December 31, 2017, 11.59 pm.

Pretty intense, right? Well, if you are reading this, I know for sure you understand where I am coming from. Every year, we make certain resolutions to achieve something, some life transitioning goal, a mission, a project, and life happens, playing its silent killer part, and through its enormous mystery, we reach the last month of the year with little to nothing left to show. Year after year passes, and we are left with the same old demented story.

Well, not anymore. If you choose to continue, we are making a pact here as a team. You and me, together we are achieving and soldering the framework of impossibilities into achievable tangible success. And we will do so in a "focused but fun" manner. Oxymoron, you say? Well, the tools I have selected will add its share of fun, relaxation and also help you focus on the job at hand.

Before I begin, let me give you a set of mindset strategies so you know how these tools will work. These tools address the very problems of why we never achieve our goals. The reasons are A) Unorganised processes and workflow B) Procrastination. And often times B stems from the presence of A.

When our processes are not organised, a lot of time goes into putting them into order. The anticipation of the heavy load of work ahead in organising these tasks makes our lazy brain shun the very activity for a later date, thus creating procrastination. The vicious circle continues and goes on from beginning to end of every year.

The solution - Organise tasks into bite-sized activities with templated processes, assigning hours to each one of them. Once the tasks are simplified like that, we can create actionable systems which pro-actively redirect our focus to these tasks till they are completed.

Now that we have analysed and understood the problem, and derived the broad solution, it’s time to get into the details of achieving our actionable mission - To equip us with tools to achieve all our targets before the end of 2017.

So, without further ado, let me give you a set of tools, hacks, and strategies to have the zealous focus to win it big before the world screams - “Happy New Year”.

1) Plutio - Plutio has been a personal lifesaver for me. As a growth marketer who doubles up as a frequent magazine contributor and a songwriter, I have many different projects going along simultaneously, much to the dismay of my laptop's myriad folders named "abdfhs" and his cousin "swhqnz" (don't blame me, you have done this too!). In other words, finding Nemo would be an easier task than finding the latest product idea I had. But with Plutio, everything just solved itself in a way I never hoped for. With Plutio, you can arrange all your projects, tasks, invoices, files and more into a single centralised platform. You can even create templates for repeated activities and processes of your agency. This app will make your life much more organised, easier, and thus help you execute your work faster through its ability to template your processes.

2) Brainfm - This one is for all the music lovers in you, who love to listen to music while working (my kinda people). Brainfm uses artificial intelligence to create music which scientists have found to increase productivity, focus and also give you peace of mind.

3) News Feed Eradicator - If you are in the habit of checking your newsfeed time and again, and getting engaged in a political debate with some guy or girl you have never met, and never will, this one is for you. Keep the basement political leaders and their cats at bay by eradicating your entire newsfeed with this chrome extension.

4) Momentum - I will be honest with you, I have just started using this tool a month back, and it has increased my focus tremendously. It is basically a chrome extension, which clears up all clutter and eliminates distraction by replacing the new page tab with a personal dashboard featuring to-do list, weather alongside inspirational quotes. You need this in your life, trust me.

5) Blocksite - This one does what it says - blocks any website impacting your much-needed productivity and also redirects you to a site which you need to work on. Pretty cool, right?

So, these are the tools which can best growth hack your productivity before the end of the year. So, I hope I cut some clutter on your behalf and help you take some definitive action towards a brighter and even more successful 2018.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)