Ever stare at your activity checklist and really feel fully paralyzed, not realizing the place to begin? Bored with productiveness apps that add extra complexity as an alternative of really serving to you get issues accomplished? Properly, right here’s a free and open-source app that helped me lastly beat procrastination.

Say whats up to Tremendous Productiveness

Super Productivity is my favourite productiveness app. It’s constructed from the bottom up that will help you do deep work and truly get issues accomplished. At its core, it features as a cross between a to-do checklist and a activity supervisor, with highly effective options like time monitoring, Kanban boards, tasks and tags for higher group, and far more. In reality, it’s so succesful that it could actually replace paid apps like Todoist, Trello, and Toggl—all in a free and open-source package deal.

Showing all tasks in the How To Geek Project inside Super Productivity app.

However all of that primarily helps people who find themselves already engaged and attempting to complete their work. What should you’re procrastinating and struggling to seek out the motivation to even get began? That’s the place Tremendous Productiveness stands out. It’s one of many few apps that features a considerate set of options designed particularly that will help you overcome procrastination and begin working.

Open source icon with various operating system logos in the background.


5 free and open-source (FOSS) apps that are better than its paid alternatives

Skilled-grade software program with out the value tag. Try these 5 free, open-source apps that rival their paid counterparts.

The Procrastination buster plugin

That is a kind of deceptively easy options that turned out to be extremely helpful. Head to Tremendous Productiveness’s settings web page, scroll right down to the Plugins part, and allow the Procrastination Buster plugin. It provides a star icon to the highest toolbar. Click on it, and a sidebar seems on the fitting with a listing of emotions you is likely to be experiencing.

Super ProductivityProcrastination Buster plugin.

The concept is that each time you procrastinate, there’s often a particular emotion behind it. Possibly you’re feeling overwhelmed by how massive the duty is. Or perhaps it feels too simple, and also you’re too bored to begin. The Procrastination Buster sidebar exhibits a listing of frequent causes for procrastination. Click on the one which greatest matches your present state, and it suggests sensible methods that will help you push previous it.

On the floor, it could actually really feel too simplistic—however that’s precisely why it really works. Once you’re caught procrastinating, you don’t want a fancy answer—you want a fast, sensible nudge to get you unstuck, and this plugin delivers precisely that.

Eisenhower Matrix for activity prioritization

Tremendous Productiveness enables you to rapidly seize activity concepts all through the day utilizing world shortcuts. It’s an effective way to keep away from shedding concepts, however it additionally creates an issue. By the top of the day, I’m watching a large checklist of duties with no clear sense of what truly issues. That overwhelming feeling typically leads straight to evaluation paralysis, the place I find yourself doing nothing in any respect.

Eisenhower Matrix in the Super Productivity app.

To resolve this, there’s a built-in Eisenhower Matrix. Head to the Boards view, choose the Eisenhower Matrix tab, and conform to create the “pressing” and “essential” tags. You’ll now see the traditional 2×2 grid the place you’ll be able to drag duties into 4 quadrants:

  • U​rgent and essential
  • Essential however not pressing
  • Pressing however not essential
  • Not pressing and never essential.

This visible breakdown immediately exhibits what wants your consideration proper now versus what can wait, chopping by means of determination fatigue and serving to you truly get began.

Breaking down massive duties into subtasks

Ever had that second the place you out of the blue begin cleansing your whole room proper if you’re supposed to sit down down and sort out your math homework? That is known as productive procrastination (also called activity substitution)—the place you keep away from a troublesome or overwhelming activity by doing simpler, much less essential issues as an alternative.

Each time we’re confronted with a activity that feels too massive or daunting, we get overwhelmed and put it off, focusing as an alternative on smaller duties which can be neither pressing nor essential. The Eisenhower Matrix might help you determine what’s essential, however that alone doesn’t make a activity really feel much less intimidating or paralyzing. The most effective methods to take care of that is to interrupt the duty down into smaller, extra manageable items.

A task with subtasks in Super Productivity.

Tremendous Productiveness makes this simple by letting you cut up any activity into a number of subtasks. I often break a activity into issues I can end in 5–10 minutes. For instance, if I’m procrastinating writing an article, I’ll break it down into subtasks like this:

  • First jot down the primary argument (ought to take not more than 5 minutes).
  • Subsequent write the define (round 10 minutes).
  • Then write the primary argument for the primary subheading (one other five-minute activity).
  • Flesh out that argument right into a full part (about 10–quarter-hour).
  • Preserve going.

The aim isn’t to create broad subtasks like “define, write, and edit,” however fast, particular actions you’ll be able to full quick. These small wins construct momentum, enhance motivation, and make the general activity really feel a lot much less intimidating.

Pomodoro timers with Domina Mode

One other efficient solution to beat procrastination is by using Pomodoro timers. As an alternative of taking a look at a activity and feeling overwhelmed that it’d take hours to complete, you’re solely committing to 25 minutes of centered work. And you realize there’s a five-minute break ready on the opposite facet—you simply must push by means of these 25 minutes.

Expanded Dynamic Island timer on the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max


The Best Free Pomodoro Timers and Apps to Boost Productivity

Having hassle concentrating? Give the Pomodoro Method a shot with these free apps.

With Tremendous Productiveness, you’ll be able to choose a activity and begin Focus Mode. It affords three time-tracking choices, together with a Pomodoro timer. By default, every work session is about to 25 minutes, however you’ll be able to add an additional 5 minutes should you’re within the zone and wish to preserve going.

I discover Focus Mode particularly helpful in a dual-monitor setup—or after I’m operating Tremendous Productiveness on my pill whereas engaged on my pc. Having the timer off to the facet the place I can look at it retains me conscious of how for much longer I must preserve working.

Tremendous Productiveness is cross-platform however doesn’t have a local cloud server to sync knowledge throughout units. I personally use Syncthing to sync my Tremendous Productiveness knowledge between my Home windows PC, Android smartphone, and iPad.

In the event you nonetheless discover it troublesome to push by means of a full 25-minute session, there’s additionally Domina Mode to supply phrases of encouragement—actually. It enables you to enter a customized motivational message and uses text-to-speech to repeat it at set intervals. For instance, I’ve seen I are inclined to lose focus across the 15-minute mark, particularly after I’m engaged on one thing boring.

Super Productivity Domina Mode settings.

So I’ve set Domina Mode to remind me—”Get again to work. It’s essential earn cash.”—which is often sufficient to maintain me going. The core concept is to remind your self why you’re doing the work and the way it connects to the larger stuff you’re working towards.


Tremendous Productiveness is without doubt one of the strongest activity administration apps I’ve used. Past these anti-procrastination options, it’s filled with helpful productiveness instruments—a lot in order that I’ve ditched all my paid apps for it. In the event you’ve been attempting to get extra accomplished and keep constant, this app makes a powerful case as an all-in-one answer.


Source link