Chances are you’ve become the queen or king of multitasking at work by sneaking in a game or two of Candy Crush, sending some texts and peeking at the Knicks box score during a never-ending conference call.
You’re not alone. According to research conducted in August by Ricoh Americas Corporation, 67 percent of workers send personal texts on the job, 35 percent post to their social media accounts and 34 percent play games on a weekly basis.
“Multitasking is a myth,” explains Shari McGuire, author of “Take Back Your Time.” “Our brain can only focus on one thing at a time, and it actually takes longer for us to complete a task when we attempt to do two things at once.”
The key to accomplishing tasks? Structure, routines and systems. “Without them,” says the time management expert, “we are constantly reacting to situations instead of proactively going about our day.”
And yes, although shiny modern devices can hinder focus and attention, they can become a boon to productivity as well. Here are five top apps and sites to help you on the job.
The self-promoter
On Wednesday, Facebook at Work hit app stores for select companies and will eventually roll out to the public. The new stand-alone network allows co-workers to share posts, photos and send messages, but photos of your 5-year-old’s birthday bash won’t land in the professional feed — personal profiles will be kept separate. And unlike the social networking site, the company won’t track users, store data or hawk advertisements.
Publicist John Goodman can’t wait to use the network once it’s available to him. While Facebook is “a wonderful, free tool to market your business,” he doesn’t like posting business news to his feed. “It’s self-serving and nauseating,” says the Westchester County resident. With Facebook at Work, “I will no longer feel frustrated about pinging my Facebook friends with information they do not need or want to know.”
The procrastinator
Have you intended to crank out a budget report only to find yourself killing it in an eBay auction while perusing your fantasy football league standings and simultaneously eyeballing the sales rack at bananarepublic.com?
Meet Freedom, an Internet productivity boosting app. For $10, you’re locked out of the Internet for a maximum of eight hours at a time to get work done sans Web distractions. Yes, once you download it and indicate the time — or in this case, freedom — you want off the grid, you’re literally unable to connect to Safari, Chrome, Firefox — name your browser.
“Sites like Freedom are there for that person who feels they have no self-control,” explains McGuire. “It can be an accountability tool, much like going on a diet and not bringing cookies into the house, because you know you’d eat all of them in one sitting.”
The multitasking manager
Entrepreneur Sabina Hitchen swears by the free app Trello for project management both for herself and her virtual team in one cohesive space. Instead of going old-school with to-do lists, each board or list is organized by “to do,” “doing” and “done.” Within each task, you can add checklists, with an option of giving colleagues access to them.
“Staying on task, doing things in the right order, planning ahead and feeling forward-moving and organized . . . has got to save me at least 60 to 90 minutes a day,” says Hitchen, the co-founder of Tin Shingle, a resource that aims to empower small businesses. She says the mental space Trello creates is “immeasurable.”
“You’re always one finger swipe away from knowing what’s going on,” adds the Williamsburg resident. “The ability to have my lists organized, inspirational and in real time, all through an app — it’s amazing.”
The overscheduled professional
Ever find yourself running late to a meeting you can’t quite locate as you’re fumbling to e-mail the organizer you’ll be tardy? The free app Agenday solves this issue by syncing with calendars and LinkedIn, connecting with GPS and sending messages to meeting attendees, along with the ability for one-touch conference calls and Web meetings.
“Agenday gives me a snapshot of the meetings and appointments that I have each morning,” explains Dan Ingvoldstad, a vice president of sales engineering at a downtown webcast technology firm. If he has a meeting scheduled with a prospect, Agenday syncs with LinkedIn for the scoop on that person, like mutual contacts, previous employers and favorite groups.
Pointing out it “minimizes hassles and streamlines my daily calendar,” Agenday also connects with GPS to locate the fastest route when he drives to meetings. An extra bonus? “Agenday powers one-touch conference-call dialing, so I’m not fumbling around trying to find passcodes.”
The wallflower
Tired of ineffective meetings with loud, pushy talkers stealing the spotlight from introverts? The free app Candor evens the playing field and saves time by helping groups collaborate, brainstorm and collectively make decisions. After meeting organizers send questions or problems to the team, each member submits their own ideas. During the meeting, all ideas are presented to the group, and then they’re discussed. At this point, ideas can be modified, eliminated or added.
“As someone who has studied and analyzed hundreds of group decisions, I’m struck by how inefficient meetings are,” says the app’s developer, Loran Nordgren, a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “When you decouple the generation of ideas from the evaluation of ideas, you come up with better, more creative solutions, and you cut meetings in half.”
The scatterbrain
If the thought of constantly tracking billable hours feels like a burdensome, tedious, ongoing ordeal, no worries there. Caato Time Tracker breaks down projects into tasks, allowing users to press play when they start working on a specific task. They can also hit pause for breaks. The app is free for one project; the Pro version for unlimited projects costs $19.99 on Macs (it will be available on the iPhone and iPad later this year).
Although McGuire mentions this is “a great way” to micromanage time, buyer beware. “These tools are only valuable when used properly,” she cautions. “You need the discipline to track 100 percent of your time to benefit from the tool.” Her advice? Set a 30-minute alarm as a reminder to check in with Caato until it’s as natural as your morning routine to check in every time you switch projects or clients.