It’s literally way too easy to get distracted at work these days.  Whether it’s directly on your computer or on your mobile phone, the Internet usually gets your attention… Here’s 5 tools that I swear by.  Use these and you WILL be more productive.

1. SideKick

This app is a salesman’s dream.  Productivity isn’t just about saving time, but rather optimizing your time and using it in the best way possible.  SideKick is an email productivity tool that helps you take the guesswork out of emailing.  This tool will show you if a client or colleague is reading your emails and simply ignoring you…

I find this most helpful when I send a proposal or a follow-up email and hear crickets.  SideKick notified you in real time when a contract opens your email or clicks on a link within your email.  So eliminate taking a random shot in the dark and start sending timely, relevant email responses with SideKick.

2.  PasswordBox

I don’t care how organized you are or may think you are, passwords are always a little messy.  If you’re anything like me, you probably have a half dozen passwords that you’ve used over the years depending on when you signed up for a specific service.  Maybe you have some Post-its hanging around your desk… PasswordBox can fix all this.

This plugin automatically stores your username and password when you log in to a site. Logging in to webpages and retrieving your passwords is quick and seamless. Just make sure to choose a master password that’s easy to remember.

3. Inbox Pause

It’s not called “Inbox Pause” because it makes you lunch… no. This is an app that PAUSES your INBOX.  I know, I couldn’t believe it either.

According to Atlassian, the typical employee checks their email approximately 36 times PER HOUR.  Constantly switching gears that often makes it nearly impossible to focus on a specific task at hand.  The report also mentioned that people usually take about 16 minutes to refocus themselves after checking an email.

If you truly want to be productive and get something done.  Use “Inbox Pause” and get some work done before coming back to checking your emails. By pausing your inbox flow, you won’t be tempted to check it constantly because new emails won’t be delivered until you click Inbox Pause again. Boom. You have a child-proof inbox.

4. Pocket

Say you’re working on a wicked awesome blog post like this one and you take a quick break to scan any of your Social Media feeds. Chances are, you’ll click on a catchy headline and spend a few minutes reading the article.

The issue here is your probably won’t stop at one article.  This app makes it easy to save content and read it later.  If you find an engaging headline that interests you, simply put it in your Pocket (for later). Unlike browser bookmark tools, there’s no drop-down menu or folder to choose from. Just click the Pocket icon once and the webpage is saved to your queue.

5. StayFocusd

Even when you are being extremely productive, you still get distracted with Social Media notifications and websites that you like checking often. Unless you’re Superman and have the most amazing willpower, the only way to really avoid this time suck is to take those sites out of the equation.

StayFocusd locks you out of distracting sites making it easier to focus on the task at hand. The app lets you set a time limit on how long you want to be blocked from Facebook or the number of minutes you want to spend on the site before you’re blocked. With no addicting sites to turn to, you can spend your time getting stuff done.

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Are you currently using any of these tools?  If so, I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section, OR if you have any other recommendations of how you stay productive during the day, please share!

Other Tools Recommended To Us (UPDATED):

• ActiveInbox

• Trello

Need more career advice? Check out our other posts.