Slack, Zoom, and Other Tools You Need To Stay Productive When Working From Home
Let’s be real: our lives have changed a lot over the past several weeks. With the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on our work, school, and social lives, it can be challenging to figure out how to navigate what’s going on. As far as work is concerned, many of you might be working from home for the first time, or are experiencing a new kind of work from home. For example, you might be working from home full time, when in the past you split your time between an office and your home. No matter what business or industry you’re in, if you’re working from home, there’s plenty of apps and digital tools you can add to your arsenal, to help you stay productive while working.
Why use these tools to stay productive?
When you’re working from home, you have a lot of distractions at your disposal. From family members walking in and out of the room, to your bed calling for a nap, there’s plenty of ways your work can be derailed while you’re trying to hustle from home. I find these tools to be helpful at keeping me on track, organized, and maximize my productivity. You can also use these apps once we resume working from our offices.
Some of my favorite apps
Slack has been a game changer when it comes to work communications. It’s an instant messaging app, which organizes your conversations into “channels.” This can be extremely helpful, because you can categorize your channels into specific work groups, who are working remotely on the same projects. It’s very user-friendly and has a sleek design, and makes it easy to communicate while working remotely.
Video chatting has also been a life saver during these times of working from home. Zoom is a video chatting app that is excellent for professional use. Anyone can use it, unlike FaceTime for example, which is iPhone specific. With Zoom, you can have video conferences, online meetings, and group messages, all in one place. It’s easy to set and hold important meetings, which is very handy during these times of working remotely.
This handy application can help you keep track of your work, and the work of other team members. It’s a great organizational tool, which can help you keep track of who is doing which project. Trello is all about collaboration, so if you’re managing a team while working from home, this may be your new best friend.
If you’re having trouble staying focused, this app may be for you. Serene helps cut down on digital distractions. It shuts down distracting apps on your computer, and blocks them for a set amount of time. This means you can stay off of social media, and stay focused on your work at hand.
I’m always eager to share tips which can help entrepreneurs and business people in all aspects of their life. I recently spoke about four audiobooks which enhanced my life, and has been featured on Entrepreneur.com where I shared about digital marketing and advertising techniques.