Technology has slowly been changing that with apps and productivity hacks. There are dozens of new apps coming out every day all designed to make our lives easier and our goals a little more likely to be accomplished. Here are my five favorites for 2017.

Letterspace

Letterspace is an interesting concept and it is fairly unheard-of. Essentially, this is a note-taking app but offers a lot of features that make it useful for everyone. One great thing about it is the use of hashtags. You can take down notes, and then tag your notes with hashtags. As you do this, you can organize and pull up notes for different things. As long as you tag notes with hashtags then you will easily be able to sort and find notes that are important to you.

Toggl

If you have an issue with time, then Toggl is the app for you. Toggl is built to be able to keep track of time. Whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur trying to keep track of where your day is going, Toggl is a great option. Toggl was built with the idea that measuring how you spend your time is the best way to improve how you spend your time. It is incredibly simple and is already used by millions of people. It also comes with extensions for browsers in addition to phones.

Workflow

Another relatively unheard-of app is called Workflow. The Workflow app is essentially designed to eliminate wasting time with repetitive tasks. It helps you create buttons on your phone that you can then click to do a certain task. So if there are certain tasks on your phone that are taking up large amounts of time or even tasks that you do fairly often, you can create a button that allows you to do that task with a single click. Sure, it is only 30 seconds saved. But if you do it with most of your tasks, all that time adds up!

Wunderlist

One of my personal favorites is Wunderlist. Wunderlist is an incredible app for keeping track of all your to-do list items. Think of it like a very organized sticky-note pad that makes exciting sounds when you cross off an item. Wunderlist also allows you to build things into groups. For example, if you are trying to keep track of tasks at work, home, and a non-profit you participate in, you could make a list for each one. Because Wunderlist is available on Mac, PC, Apple, and Android, and is also on the cloud, your list is always close by to add items to or check items off.

Google Drive

You really can’t create a list of useful tools without including Google Drive. Sure, it has been around for years, but it is still one of the best free tools on the planet for organizing your information. Think of Google Drive as a giant online filing cabinet. You can put anything in folders including pictures, documents, videos, music, and more. It takes up no room so you can do folders within folders within folders if you would like. It is also extremely cheap if you want to upgrade the memory to meet your individual needs. All of these apps have the unique ability to save time, manage tasks, and make life easier. Utilizing them will simplify life and give you freedom to do more things that you care about.