I have always needed to utilize certain tools to really get me in the zone. Focusing on tasks for a long time (that aren’t gaming) has never been my strong suit. Me and procrastination have unfortunately always been besties. Over the years I have learned what kinds of music and sounds really help me to lock in on my work and homework. Whether it’s writing that essay you have been dreading, preparing for an exam, or replying to some emails, productivity tools can help you accomplish what you need to. Let me help you set up your “productivity loadout” with some of the tools I like below.
Your Spirit City: Lofi Session
Your Spirit City: Lofi Session is the ultimate productivity tool for your PC. Think of the Lofi Girl station on Youtube but on steroids. I found this game while scrolling through Pinterest and I just had to purchase. You are able to completely customize your character and your room as well as get to collect spirits along the way! Pretty much everything is customizable with multiple skins and holiday themed options as well. There are tons of lofi playlists as well as the ability to play sounds through Youtube. In addition to the lofi music there are various sounds like rain, a fireplace, white noise, a snowstorm, and more. As you move to different areas in the room and use different sounds and lighting different spirits will appear and you get to collect them! Other cool features includes a habit tracker, tasks list, a timer, and a built in journal with premade questions if you want. I love to put this on my second monitor while I work on the blog or my homework. Available on Steam for 11.99.
Forest App
The Forest App is a productivity tool you can use on your phone. Featured in the image here are the widgets you can create to put on your phone’s home screens to track your focus progress. In the app you complete focusing with a timer and can grow trees in your app while doing it! If you leave the app while your timer is still going your tree will die. You can follow friends and track each others progress as well. Another cool thing about the app is that Forest partners with a real-tree-planting organization, Trees for the Future, to plant real trees on Earth. When you spend virtual coins that you earn in Forest on planting real trees, Forest team donates to their partner and creates planting orders. They have planted almost 2 million trees! Available in the Apple Store or Google Play Store for 3.99.
Focumon
Focumon is inspired by Pokémon where instead of them helping you fight they help you focus! You get to create your own training center, mine is featured here. Every day you can change the theme of your training center if you want with new features being offered every day. Not only can you have your own training center you can also visit other’s centers and train there too as well as invite members to join your training center. You can collect focumon daily and work to level up through timers and trackers. There is another dashboard not featured here where it shows your overall progress as well as quest books where you can separate the “quests” you need to complete with tasks assigned to each one. You can head to the website here and create a free profile online.
Physical Workspace Recommendations
I am the type where if I don’t have what I need I will get an itch I can’t get rid of till I get what I need. So #1 rule make sure you have everythinggg you need before you sit down at your desk to avoid getting distracted. Here are some things to do before a focusing session as well as items to have near you:
- wear something extra comfortable
- clean space clean mind
- clean and organize your desk so nothing gets in your way
- stay hydrated
- blue light glasses or other lighting in the room to prevent your eyes from straining
- close all unnecessary tabs
- consider turning on do not disturb on your phone
- open your productivity tool! or set up some non-lyrical music
- create a list of all your tasks
Each one of the productivity options includes some sort of dashboard that encourages you to focus up and get things done while staying organized. With attention spans lessening there are tons of productivity apps on the rise so take a look at some others if your perfect fit wasn’t found here. It has been incredibly helpful for me to “gamify” my life to get all my tasks done. Life is overwhelming but there are tools and help everywhere so give them a try to level up your focusing!
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