Top 4 Tools That Can Save You Hours The majority of people are not inclined toward growth. They’ll just stick to the same old patterns, work habits and simply resist introducing any changes to their lives. I belonged to the same pack until I, one day, realized something very important — what we learn this year will shape the results we have in the next one.
Since we are getting near the end of 2016, now is a good time to reflect on the past ten months and take a look at your results. Was there something you could have done better? Is there a particular task where you lost several hours? Have you missed out on learning new things which could ensure faster progress in 2017?
If your answer to these questions is yes, then can you spot the common denominator for each?
Look, i don’t want to drag you around with these questions anymore, but I just want you to recognize what we are trying to solve here. And yes, you got it, it’s the lack of time.
I completely agree with Steve Jobs that time is the biggest luxury we have in this digital world of ours. Therefore, lack of time is the biggest performance killer of them all, simply due to the fact that you need time to learn new things and develop.
The bottom line?
Use software to speed up all possible processes and use the extra time to develop your skills and finally, your career.
To help you out in this newly reformed approach to work, I wanted to share some of the tools I use on a regular basis to speed up processes, reduce stress and finally achieve better results for myself and my company.
Here are the some useful tools that you can check out::
Able2Extract
There is simply no escaping the good old PDF. This is especially well known to those of us that receive PDF documents from different stakeholders on a daily basis, but I am sure you can identify with the fact that PDF is still very much alive, as a document format.
There are several things that we need to do with PDF documents that require time:
- Editing PDF content
- Transferring PDF into MS Word or Excel
- Adding password protection to our files
Each of these takes hours to complete manually, which is why it's smart to equip yourself with a piece of software that automates that boring PDF related work.
Able2Extract is a PDF converter, creator and editor that allows users to juggle between MS Office and PDF easily and effortlessly. It converts PDF to more than a dozen other file formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, AutoCAD included) and gives you the ability to do some on page PDF editing.
I will not praise the tool anymore, because it can do that on its own, which is why you should download it from here and give it a spin. It will literally save you hours per document.
Discover.ly
This is my favorite free app for connecting with influencers through social media. Once you come across a social profile anywhere online, Discover.ly will recognize it and provide you with that person’s other connected social profiles.
For example, I might have an ongoing conversation with someone on Twitter that I would like to expand into other social networks. First I log into Discoverly and connect all my social platforms.
Then I go to that person’s Twitter profile and click on the little green box on the left. Discover.ly will quickly provide me with all of their active social accounts, like Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare and many more.
Given the fact that each social network has its own use, this tool gives gives you a chance to reach out and expand your social acquaintances. And who knows, maybe some of them will lead to a productive collaboration on each end. Discover.ly is available for download on the Chrome store.
MozBar
I use MozBar on a regular basis and it’s completely free as well. Moz is a company that has provided quality solutions in the digital marketing field, starting with their open site explorer and has moved the KPI needle of many businesses who use it to optimize their web presence.
Mozbar is their baby Chrome app (as I like to call it) and is actually very useful when you’re checking your keyword rankings on various search engines and locations. Previously, you would have to configure a proxy for each geographical area that you’re interested in, but now you can just set up your desired search engine and language and let this fine app do everything for you.
Besides Google, it can check the SERP for both Yahoo and Bing, giving you a full picture of your organic rankings. If you have a Moz account then it can also retrieve the domain information right on the SERP, saving you even more time.
Grammarly
If you are writing your own content and you’re not using Grammarly then you are missing out, big time. In case you are not familiar with this superstar app, Grammarly helps you get rid of any mistakes, misspellings and grammatical errors that you might make when writing a lengthy piece of content
It ensures that everything you publish is grammatically correct, which in turn ensures that the big bad Panda does not downrank you for low quality content.
There are both free and premium plans available and, while the free is sufficient for native speakers, I suggest stretching out for that premium plan. It will identify both critical and advanced mistakes, provide suggestions for improved wording and just generally nurture your writing into a more technically advanced area.
So, there you have it guys. Four tools that can save hours in all areas of work: from administrative documents to SEO and content.
The only thing remaining is that you take this extra time and spend it somewhere productive. Just keep looking forward and doing interesting stuff — let the software do the heavy work for you.
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