Yasmin Panahizadi Booth 
Too many of us can relate to the detrimental habit known as procrastination.
It's time to take control and advance your career with the best apps and websites for chronic procrastinators. These time management tools and apps will help you produce more and stop the spiral of procrastination.
Freedom
To take back control of your time and attention
Social media, shopping, videos, games … these apps and websites are scientifically engineered to keep you hooked and coming back. The resulting cost to your productivity, ability to focus and general well-being can be staggering.
Freedom gives you control by blocking the sites and apps that tempt you to procrastinate rather than work. You can set recurring work sessions which start automatically. During these pre-set times, Freedom prevents you from accessing content that could potentially disrupt your focus.
Available on: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, Chrome
Pricing: 6.99 USD per month; 2.42 USD per month for one year's access; an upfront cost of 129 USD per year
Focus@Will
If you have trouble focussing
Did you know that by nature, most people can only concentrate for a maximum of 20 minutes before needing to take a break?
Focus@Will uses the science-backed motivational power of music to improve your focus and retain information. Certain types of personalised music can help you focus, reduce distractions and maintain productivity when you're stressed and under pressure.
Focus@Will claims to have a specific type of music to help nearly anyone boost their productivity. Just plug in a few details about yourself and this app will play harmonious tunes chosen to suit your unique set of circumstances.
Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Chrome, Sonos devices
Pricing: 69.99 USD per year; 119.99 USD billed every two years; 299.99 USD for lifetime access
Toby
To organise your browser
If you think about the time it takes you to find a document or file your co-worker sent you two months ago, you can see how the minutes can quickly add up. Toby allows you to save time spent switching between tabs from web apps and websites.
Toby is a Google extension that reorganises your browser by storing your active tabs aside in customised folders, so you can focus on one window at a time without losing progress in your other windows. The browser extension lives on every new tab page to help surface relevant information to you throughout the day. You create a collection and drag any open tabs into that collection, and the app will close the tab for you. You can sync these collections and tabs across devices.
Available on: Chrome, soon Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
Pricing: free
Evernote
So you never forget the important things
Evernote is built on the principle that effective note taking and filing is critical for success.
Evernote is a single place for your notes, ideas, lists and reminders. Think of it like a digital brain where you can save everything you've collected and then quickly find it when you need it through the use of tags. Evernote centralises all of your most important notes and documents and syncs them on all your devices. It also allows you to plan, keep records and manage projects from any device — even when offline.
It gives you a plethora of tools to not only create notes, but also to share them with others. Once you share your notes with your team, you can edit, discuss and annotate any document. It's great for collaborating with your team; you can write a project to-do list, set reminders for teammates and create and save 'notes' that instantly save to everyone's devices. It groups notebooks and also lets co-workers present and swap ideas with ease.
Available on: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS
Pricing: free, premium version available for 7.99 USD per month; business version available for 14.99 USD per user per month
1-3-5 List
To prioritise your day
LinkedIn released a survey last year revealing that our professional to-do lists are in desperate need of a makeover. Almost 90 per cent of professionals admitted they're unable to accomplish all the tasks on their to-do list by the end of an average working day.
If you're struggling with the same stale to-do lists every day, it's time to change that.
1-3-5 List is a to-do list that follows the 'one-three-five' rule and makes it easy to prioritise your day. You choose one big thing, three medium things and five small things to accomplish and check them off as you go.
Its emphasis on prioritisation will increase your productivity and help you actually get things done.
Available on: There's no app to download. 1-3-5 List works on any device, right in your browser.
Pricing: free; premium version available for 2.50 USD per month or 25 USD per year
Simple Habit
To manage your stress
In this age of constant distractions and long hours, it's difficult to find even a few minutes of time to reflect. Yet finding that time and space can help ease the stresses of your demanding working life.
Simple Habit is a mindfulness app, offering audio meditations as short as five minutes long so that busy people can squeeze a little tranquility into their day. The app offers guided meditations for specific scenarios along with an enormous library of mindfulness content uploaded by the teachers on its platform and divided into topics like stress, relationships and work. The content here can be filtered by both length and teacher.
Unlike its competitors, Simple Habit applies a Netflix/Spotify style model to the space, so there are multiple teachers to prevent content from becoming stale.
Available on: iOS, Android
Pricing: 3.99 USD for one week's access; 11.99 USD per month; 99.99 USD per year
Momentum
For some daily inspiration
You might not think much of your morning routine, but it can be what makes or breaks your day; the way you start the day can either set you up for success or lead to failure. This is why setting daily intentions is so important to ensure you have the most successful and productive day you can.
Momentum encourages you to start each day with intention. The app offers a personal dashboard designed to eliminate distraction and provide inspiration, focus and productivity.
The desktop extension lets you replace your new tab page with a personal dashboard featuring to-dos, weather and inspiration so that you can start each day with intention. It lets you set a daily goal that'll appear on your homepage set against daily inspirational backgrounds of scenic views and motivational quotes, which you can customise.
It's a nice special touch to personalise your working space and to encourage you to focus on what matters most in the moment.
Available on: Chrome, Firefox, Edge
Pricing: free; premium version available for 3.33 USD per month
Pomotodo
To get more done
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system that encourages people to work with the time they have ‒ rather than against it. Using this method, you break your workday into 25-minute chunks separated by five-minute breaks. These intervals are referred to as pomodoros. After about four pomodoros, you take a longer break of about 15 to 20 minutes.
Pomotodo contains full workflow management with a focus timer and to-do list in one. The app follows the Pomodoro Technique, a tried and true method to increase productivity. You can collect your ideas, schedule work, finish tasks and review your work history right in the app. You can also log your work after a pomodoro is finished and generate timesheet reports to keep yourself and your team on track.
Available on: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, Chrome
Pricing: free; premium version available for 3.90 USD per month
Mindly
To organise your inner universe
Email, social media, texts ‒ we have more electronic distractions than ever. Whilst you may not mean to procrastinate, the overstimulation of digital content can make it difficult to juggle all the thoughts that come to mind during the working day.
With Mindly, you can take back control of your thoughts. Mindly is a creative and visual organisation app that helps you give structure to your thoughts, capture ideas, plan speeches and take notes. Through the app, you create an infinite number of circles and interconnect related ideas. It makes your thoughts more colourful and easier to work with than a traditional to-do list. You can formulate topics and subtopics effortlessly, then print or share from the app.
Available on: iOS, Android
Pricing: free
RescueTime
To take back control of your time
Only 10 per cent of people say they feel 'in control' of how they spend their time. If you feel like you've lost control, RescueTime will help you get an accurate feel for what you're doing with your day. From procrastinating on social media to all the websites you visit as well as the apps you're using, it'll reveal it all.
RescueTime even sends notifications when you're spending too much time on specific tasks, so you can take back control of your time management. It will also provide in-depth reports and daily highlights to help monitor your progress so you can stop wasting time, eliminate distractions and boost your productivity.
Available on: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, Chrome
Pricing: 18 USD per month; 78 USD per year
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Note: This is an informative piece. TopCV does not endorse any of the apps listed in this article.