I'm someone who needs to organize and track tasks and habits to stay on course. Tracking helps me reflect on my actions throughout the day or week and adjust them if necessary.

Productivity is something I particularly enjoy—not because I'm naturally good at it, but because it's a continuous process. For me, it's mostly about learning more about myself. I think about this a lot because our days often feel rushed. We need to work, make time to study, and take care of ourselves.

It's easy to only do what we enjoy, but if we ignore the rest, things can quickly get out of balance. Tracking your habits and organizing your routine are great ways to identify what you're missing, recognize when you're most productive, and take steps to improve how you use your time.

Tools I Use

1. Loop Habit Tracker

showing a screen in the habit app

screen that describes the statistics of a habit in a loop

Want to start a new habit and make sure it sticks? This open-source app is available on Android. You can track habits like pages read per day, gym visits, and more.

Check out the code.

2. Toggl Track

Toggl track image

Toggl Track is a time-tracking tool that helps you visualize how your time is spent—coding, working, studying, or whatever your focus may be. It generates reports in tables, bar charts, and even donut (pizza) charts 🍕.

You only need to set up a project and a description once, and after that, it's just one click to start tracking again.

Favorite features:

  • Time goals: You can set weekly, monthly, or daily goals. I use it to keep a consistent number of hours dedicated to studying each week.
  • Pomodoro timer: Available on the desktop app, browser extension, and mobile app. You can customize how long your focus and break blocks last.
  • Automatic tracking: On the desktop version, you can set triggers (like a specific web page or app) to start tracking automatically.
  • Team features: If you work with a team or clients, Toggl allows you to manage projects, set hourly rates, and generate reports and invoices.

3. Notion

I use Notion to take notes and track my goals (career, study, health, etc.).

Think of it as a powerful notebook for everything you can imagine. It supports databases, automations, and structures that you can customize to suit your needs. Create reading lists, set life goals, plan your week—you name it.

You can also start with a template to make setup easier.

4. Calendar

Calendars are great for planning your week or month. Add your fixed appointments and you'll get a better picture of your available time.

Block time for studying, exercising, reading, and more. You can also connect your calendar to tools like Toggl through integrations.

This helps prevent overplanning and lets you realistically see how much you can do in a day.

Techniques I Use

These are strategies I apply both with and without digital tools:

Eisenhower Matrix

This technique helps you prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. It’s a great way to identify what needs your attention and what can be delegated, scheduled, or even eliminated.

It gives you clarity and helps reduce mental overload.

Eisenhower description

Eisenhower matrix

Credits: Asana

Pomodoro Technique

pomodoro and pomodorito technique

Credits: Alvaro Montoro

Pomodoro works for me in two main ways:

  1. To start tasks:

    Starting can be tough if you're prone to procrastination, but telling yourself to just do 25 minutes makes it much easier to begin.

  2. To improve focus:

    You break work into focused sessions, which is more effective since most people struggle to stay concentrated for long stretches.

To-do Lists

To-do lists are powerful! Starting the day with small tasks already listed helps you avoid wasting time wondering "what should I do next?"

But be careful—don’t overload your list without considering how much time each task will actually take. That’s where combining your list with a calendar becomes super helpful.

Final Thoughts

You don't need tons of tools to be more productive. Start small—pick one and see how it fits your workflow.

Productivity is about understanding how you work, your habits, and your preferences, then using that knowledge to move toward your goals.

Don't try to build too many habits at once. Creating just one new habit is already hard. Be realistic and start small again.

Best regards,

Aleks