Top 5 apps for time management in 2023

If you feel like there’s never enough hours in the day to get everything done, you’re not alone. Research has shown that small business owners already work over 2,000 hours overtime per year. But, while you can’t extend a day beyond 24 hours, you can make sure you’re using your time efficiently. We’ve compiled our top 5 apps to help you manage your time like a pro in 2023.

1.) Rescue Time — block out distractions & stay on track

We all procrastinate from time to time — whether it’s a sneaky peek at social media, last minute shopping or replying to a funny meme in a group chat, keeping ourselves on track can take a lot of discipline. If you struggle with that, Rescue Time is here to save the day. 

Rescue Time sets you a daily, personalised focus goal by assessing your work style and meeting schedule, and then analyses your focus throughout the day to serve up insights and nudges to keep you on track. You can even trigger focus sessions which will block any sites that negatively impact your focus, and its reports can provide some helpful insights into which activities eat up your time.

It’s also available for teams as well, so if you find it works for you, it might be worth implementing it across your business to see how it helps with productivity. There’s both a free and paid version of the service, so you can test it out before you commit to parting with your precious cash.

2.) Todoist — organise your work and life, all in one place

If it’s a struggle to balance your personal and work to do lists, Todoist could be just the app for you. It allows you to track to do items and set deadlines, and set corresponding status labels so you know where the task is currently at or if it’s blocked. It can also recognise recurring dates and suggest to do items if you’re struggling with a bit of mental fog on a Monday.

Sort to do items by day, priority, or set up custom filters. There’s even the option to view in Kanban-style cards and you can designate tasks to others if you need to delegate.

The base membership is free, but if you want to use it to manage your team, it costs £6 per user per month, billed annually.

3.) Toggl Track — keep your team on track & monitor hours for billing

Toggl Track is ideal for agencies and consultants, who need to monitor time spent on an activity to bill clients accurately. Integrating with many workplace tools, such as Slack, Outlook, Salesforce and others, it keeps tabs on how long a task takes to complete. This eliminates the need for timesheets, which are tedious to maintain and aren’t always reliable.

It can also provide reports on your weekly productivity, and can even allow you to create client-ready visuals in a couple of clicks. You can assign billable rates by workspace, team member, project or project member and see which activities are helping to generate the most revenue for the least time. 

There’s a free tier which allows you to add up to 5 users. If you want more features, trade up to the starter tier, which begins at $9 per user per month.

4.) Trello — project workflows to make collaboration easier

Find it hard to keep tabs on who’s working on what at any one time? Trello could be the answer. It allows you to monitor your project workflows at a glance, keeping tasks organised under specific boards so you can keep an eye on who’s doing what. Set different stages for tasks, delegate them to the right people and watch projects progress on the simple-to-navigate overview.

With in-built automation it can handle repetitive tasks like creating agenda cards, adding team members or tracking your due dates. Add ideas from brainstorming sessions as cards in your workflow, so no idea ever goes to waste, and integrate with your work tools, such as Slack, Jira and more, to get the most benefit.

There’s a free tier available which allows teams to collaborate on a single project, or you can opt for the standard tier, costing $5 per user per month, billed annually.

5.) Focus@Will — use neuroscience & music to help maintain focus

Stay in the zone with Focus@Will — the app that leverages neuroscience to create music that’s scientifically designed to help you maintain focus for longer. Based on 7 years of data and research , their library of tracks can provide a 200-400% increase in focus time for their active users.

There’s no free tier available for Focus@Will, but you can take out a one week trial to see if it works for you. The monthly subscription is $7.49 per month and they have options for teams as well, if you want to consider rolling it out more widely.

12/12/22: While we want to help as much as we can, the information found here is provided solely for informational purposes and should not be considered financial or legal advice. To the extent permitted by law, Funding Circle does not accept any liability for any loss or damage which may arise directly or indirectly from the use of, or reliance on, the information contained here. If you have any questions, please speak to your professional adviser or seek independent legal advice.