my 4 favorite productivity tools to help you reach your goals faster

If you're like most busy people, you're always looking for ways to increase your productivity. If only you can find a way to:

• Limit distractions in this distraction-filled world
• Stay focused on a single task at a time
• Reach your goals faster because you'd have more time in which to focus on working on all the small steps

It can feel frustrating and even discouraging when you simply want to focus on all the small steps that need to be done to reach your ultimate goals and it feels like you have a million stumbling blocks in the way. One of those biggest stumbling blocks (aka, your brick walls) is increasing your productivity, focusing on the most important things, and finding the time in which to get it all done.

Thanks to the amazing technology we have available to us today, there are a plenty of tools out there that can help you do just that.
Here are 3 of my favorite productivity tools to help you limit distractions and stay focused. (And I'm throwing a bonus one in there too)

1. Rescue Time 
Let's get the distractions out of the way first because even while technology brings us so many great productivity tools, it also brings us tremendous distractions. RescueTime helps you track your time on your computer and your mobile devices and identifies where you where you're spending (ahem…often wasting) a lot of your time. 

RescueTime will:

• Alert you when you're spending a certain amount of time on an activity
• Allow you to block distracting websites during focus time
• Keep track of what you accomplished throughout the day
• Identify how much time you spend on a variety of activities, including email, meetings, etc. 
• You can sign up for a Lite account, which is completely free or their premium service for added features. 

2.  Focus Booster Pomodoro App
The Focus Booster app is based on the Pomodoro Technique, which is a long-standing productivity technique that uses a timer for focused work periods, usually 25 minutes, followed by a break of 3-5 minutes. After you complete 4 work periods, you get a break of 15-30 minutes. The idea is you stay completely focused on the task during the work period. 
There are a lot of apps that can help you execute the Pomodoro Technique, but you can check out Focus Booster. The app is free for up to 20 sessions per month or you can pay a reasonable yearly fee for unlimited sessions and extra features. 
The app keeps a time sheet for you and produces a report that allows you to track your productivity and identify ways to become even more productive. 

3.  Focus At Will
Now here's something very different, but scientifically proven to increase focus and productivity. And if you love music, this is going to be great news for you. 
Focus At Will uses human neuroscience and music to help you focus, limit distractions, get productive and retain more information. All you do is answer a few questions and the software will determine the right music to put your brain in a flow state that makes you super productive. 
There is a free 2 week trial, so you can see if it works for you.  I’m checking it out right now and so far, I’m loving it!  There's even special pricing for teams.

4.  Solopreneur Success Sisterhood
​I might super partial to this one because I'm the founder but the members say it all.

Membership in the sisterhood is packed with goodies to help you focus including printables to map out your tasks and weekly co-working sessions filled with 90-minutes of focused time so you can work on things that will move the needle forward in your business.

I urge you to look into these tools and let me know what you think. And hey, if you've got a productivity tool you love, can you post it in the comments below?

​I'd love to gather up your answers and create another article with more great productivity tools sometime in the near future.