5 Apps to Help You Focus

Do you get easily distracted when it's time to work or study? These apps could do the trick

Messiness, boredom, anxiety, or simply not having good planning tools around can make it difficult to concentrate on our daily tasks. Fortunately, as the saying goes, there's an app for that.

This list features some award-winning applications recommended by our experts that will help you concentrate on the task at hand.

For those who are playful: Forest

This app has won the Best of Google Play award two years in a row. In 2018, it was also recognized as the best Android self-improvement app in nine countries. Why? Well, it's cute, useful, and has a measurable effect in the real world! Forest allows you to plant a virtual seed every time you start a task that requires concentration. As you achieve your goals, the seed grows and becomes a tree. If you touch your mobile before you finish your task, the little tree gets sick and dies—and nobody wants that. The app creators also help the non-profit organization, Trees for the Future. As users meet objectives, real trees are planted. Forest has planted about 340,000 trees so far.

It's free.

For those who are messy: Bullet Journal App

An analog work methodology can find a space in the digital world as well. The bullet journal method is a useful productivity framework for segmenting tasks while also providing an overview of your day, week, month, and year. It is recommended by time management specialists such as Mónica Rodríguez Limia, and it now has an app with all the features you'll need. If you have trouble focusing on your tasks, this app will help you take the small steps you need to reach your destination.

It's priced at $4.99.

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For those who are anxious: Calmaria

Just a couple of days ago, this app was selected by Google as one of the best of the year. During the pandemic, while the world locked down and uncertainty grew, Calmaria aimed to become a tool to calm anxiety and bring us back to sanity. The app was created by Fabio Sasso, a Google designer, and the creator of the inspirational design blog, Abduzeedo.

Calmaria's design, of course, is one of its strongest points, but its function is not far behind. It presents us with an easy way to apply the "4-7-8 technique," a method developed by Dr. Andrew Weil, director of Integral Medicine at the University of Arizona, to recover lucidity amid chaos. The technique consists of breathing in set intervals: inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7, and exhale for 8. The app, however, allows you to change these numbers.

It's free.

For those who are easily distracted: Freedom

Freedom has long been the chosen app for those who need to block the temptations of certain apps and websites. Simply select the applications and websites that distract you the most, and the app will prevent you from accessing them at the desired times, or simply block them altogether after you exceed an allocated time range.

There is no limit to the number of devices you can use Freedom with, and it's compatible with Mac, Windows, and iOS. Users of the app gain an average of 2.5 hours of productivity each day.

It's free.

For those who are ambitious: Grid Diary

This is another of the apps selected by Google as one of the best of 2020. It offers a comprehensive system for organizing your priorities. When we say comprehensive, we mean it. Grid Diary provides various ways to keep up with any tasks you need to accomplish: a morning diary, a success diary, a gratitude diary, and even a feelings diary.

Grid Diary provides rich tools such as templates, activity logs, writing reminders, schedulers, colors, and whatever else you need to avoid getting distracted again.

It's free, but it contains in-app purchases.

English version by @angeljimenez.

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