Speaker 1: Productivity apps here, productivity tools there and not to forget entire productivity systems including another range of productivity tools and apps. That sounds great and super productive but also seems quite a hard decision for which of all these tools to go for. Also how can you actually be productive if you spend so much time dealing with organizing and managing all your productivity tools? That's at least what I thought and why I want to share the contrary, namely the three most basic tools that you need to actually be productive without all the other noise and time lost in translation. Hi friends, my name is Lea and I'm a consultant always looking for best practices to organize and improve my professional and personal life. That's also what I share on this channel so make sure to check that out and subscribe now for further videos packed with tangible and real life advice. So admittedly there are some really good productivity tools out there that may add value to one's daily work. However what did we do before we had all those tools and apps? Were we just super unproductive, little focused and unorganized? I guess not and that's also what you should keep in mind when falling for another productivity app that will supposedly solve all your problems of getting little done. In my opinion there's not much you need to be productive, not to mention a bunch of productivity tools. Rather I believe that you need a foundation of soft skills or character traits such as discipline, willpower and the ability to focus and reflect that should ideally be complemented with the following three simple tools for even more productivity. First of all I highly recommend using a note-taking tool that can be used to capture notes for specific projects, tasks or events and at the same time to manage these notes. Tools for note-taking do not need to be super fancy or loaded with features but they should have rather basic functionalities. First the note-taking tool of your choice should have the ability to create as many notes as required without any limit. Ideally you can use your note- taking tool for an infinite amount of time so you should also have the ability to create as many notes as you want. Also the note-taking tool should allow for basic formatting such as different font types, colors or sizes as well as list formats or the ability to insert tables, pictures or embed other documents. In addition a good note-taking tool should have the ability to group notes for example under a project or an overall activity. That provides you with the ability to better organize your notes along with your to-dos or actions instead of just having all your notes dumped at one place without further categorization. Ideally your note-taking tool should also have the ability to search for keywords or phrases within all your notes. So whenever you look for a keyword you do not need to review all of your notes but you can just briefly search and get to the note you were looking for. Besides a good note-taking tool should also have the ability to integrate hyperlinks either to other notes within the tool but also to external websites. So by hyperlinking you improve the integration and connectivity of your own notes as well as you can easily integrate interesting or helpful websites. Finally make sure that your chosen note-taking tool has the ability to be shared with others especially when you are working in small teams or want to share a notebook in your private life. It is very handy to have the ability to just share it by one click only. Now having listed these musts or at least nicer has it becomes quite clear that the most productive note-taking tools at least in my opinion are digital nowadays. Most common examples are Notion, OneNote or Evernote. But of course you can also use a physical notebook to write down some notes but not in the same productive and efficient manner as you would be able to do with a digital one. I myself also use a physical notebook but rather for spontaneous quick notes or to brainstorm or have some creative sessions. Let me know in the comments if you are completely working digital or you're also still using a physical notebook. The second essential productivity tool in my opinion is a simple schedule or calendar that helps you to keep an overview of your current and planned activities as well as on individual to-dos. As simple as it may sound a basic calendar is in theory all you need to track on what's currently going on in your private or professional life. And it does not even need to be a super fancy calendar tool but the standard Google Calendar, Outlook or iCal perfectly does the job. They all have the most important features for perfect calendar management such as the ability to flag and follow up on items, to format meetings differently, to set up recurring items or to share the calendar with individuals. If you want to know more about calendar management check out this video where I share my best practices to a perfectly streamlined calendar. Only using a note-taking tool and a calendar you should try to link the two tools as best as possible such that both will mirror the other's content. For example when you have a product meeting to align or new features of the new product release create a new note for that meeting and topic in your notebook that can be found next to all other notes for the previous product releases. Thereby you make the direct connection from the meeting to the meeting notes as well as potential to-dos that fall out of that meeting. Similar to all product notes you should proceed with notes for example for your weekly team meetings or your project alignment calls. By grouping all these different notes together you make sure to keep them very well organized as well as have the direct link to your calendar. So when you don't have time to prepare for the next product meeting just open your notes from the previous one and recap on what has been discussed. Again if you want to know how to write perfect meeting notes check out this video. If you'd be taking a very minimalistic approach to productivity you could already get along with a notebook and a calendar only. But in my opinion a whiteboard is the perfect addition to those two. Ideally you set up your whiteboard such that you pass it quite often during the day or maybe even right next or behind your desk. The advantage of having a whiteboard is that you can prominently place some of your most important or maybe also recurring to-dos such that you are always reminded of them. Yes a whiteboard is not digital and maybe rather old-fashioned but at the same time it does not require you to reach out to your phone, open an app and maybe even scroll to your latest to-dos. It's just there very prominently and you will not be able to overlook it. Besides just listing some of my most important to-dos or also recurring daily checklists I love to use the whiteboard to brainstorm. The beauty of using it is that you have to stand up, move around, draw and scribble things such that there's overall more movement involved. Again you cannot use it just from sitting at your laptop or phone. It demands more action but at the same time also activates you and your brain in a much different way. At least in my opinion. Using the whiteboard next to your digital notebook and a calendar as the third productivity tool I'm sure you will be very well off and have a great combination of digital and physical activity. At least that's what I've been experiencing over the last couple of years since I have a large whiteboard at home. Of course as said at the very beginning there are other productivity tools that have a right to exist because they're adding value to your daily work. For example there's Trello, Jira or ProofUp. All tools to organize activities and collaborate across teams. As well as not to mention all the communication tools such as Teams, Zoom, Slack or the like. Overall it's up to you to evaluate which tools you actually need to be productive or rather which tools may take away some of your valuable time and productivity. So if you liked the video I'd appreciate if you would show some support by hitting the like button and subscribe. Thanks and see you next time.