Because you spend so much time working, you should make the experience as comfortable as possible. When we’re not fully at ease our mind is bound to wander. This, in turn, affects the quality of our work.
However, there’s no need to deal with problems that could be easily solved otherwise when there’s a solution right around the corner. By simply introducing a few new gadgets and tweaking your workspace, you’ll be making your life much easier.
So, here’s a list of simple but amazing gadgets that will boost your productivity.
#1. Pocket Printer
Having to leave your home or office to print your work is a major time killer. It creates a break in your workflow, and that is not good for your productivity.
Thankfully, someone thought about inventing a pocket printer. It doesn’t fit in your pocket, but it is small enough to be portable.
The pocket printer by Zuta Labs and the Fujifilm Instax are a good investment. All you need to do is connect your WiFi to the device. Then, you’ll be able to print any document from your laptop, tablet, or even your phone.
This gadget is a major time saver and comes in handy wherever you go. You don’t have to be at the office or shop to get your work done. You can make easy printouts on the go, anytime you want.
#2. Noise-Cancelling Headphones
Ever find yourself unable to concentrate because of noise? Do you get distracted by your colleague typing away at the keyboard, or your friends gossiping in the background, or even just the honking of cars?
Well, you can’t expect to find silence anywhere other than the library’s silent zone. And in places like your office, cafes, or the university, it’s even more impossible because there are so many people around.
That’s why you should consider getting a pair of noise-canceling headphones. They will block out any external noise and let you concentrate on your work.
What’s more, they will totally change your music listening experience. With nothing else to disturb you, you’ll be transported to a whole other world, where you can truly enjoy the tunes.
#3. Charging Hub
We’ve all faced the problem of having too many gadgets and not enough chargers. But with the charging hub available, we no longer have to suffer.
A charging hub provides multiple ports for charging. It’s very handy for active people who use many gadgets, and the designs are not bulky, allowing them to fit perfectly on your desk.
You can now keep several devices charged simultaneously, all in one spot. You don’t have to worry about drained batteries stopping your workflow either.
#4. Smart Pen
Typing is great, but some people just prefer pens. Be it doodling, or jotting down quick notes, handwritten work gives a different sort of satisfaction. Nobody knows this better than writers and artists.
Stories flow much better when you write down your thoughts. And using your hands lets you navigate shapes and forms much easier when you’re drawing something.
A smartpen gives you all these wonderful experiences in a digital form. You can use your hands to create work and then store it away safely on your computer.
Some pens, like the Equil Smartpen 2 and the Sky Wifi Pen, even turn writing into digital text that you can edit later. What’s more, these connect with Evernote and Dropbox, so you can access them from any device.
#5 TimeFlip Dice
Time management is an essential part of productivity. We often find ourselves lost in time, and getting carried away with one task. Because we get so distracted by our phones and other things, everything takes longer than it should.
So, it’s important to realize how much time you really need for a task if you were to focus on it completely. If you want to be an efficient worker, you should be tracking every activity, so that you can plan out your day. And Timeflip helps you with just that.
It’s basically a dice and a watch in one, with 12 sides. For each side, you need to assign a task. Whenever you start one of these tasks, place that dice side up.
Your task will then be timed and the record will be stored away. You can even see a graphic analysis of the time you spent in the past.
#6 Head Desk Lamp
We often ignore the lighting situation in our work space. This may seem trivial, but it actually plays a huge role on our productivity levels.
A well-lit table keeps you alert and motivated to work. Straining your eyes under bad lighting is exhausting and can be annoying.
Getting a desk lamp will make changes you never knew you needed. In fact, the Head Desk lamp even offers four different lighting modes for reading. The brightness can also be adjusted according to your comfort.
#7 Portable Monitor
When working on studying, we often need several documents open at once. With paper, this is pretty easy. All you have to do is spread everything out on your table. But what about the digital world? Sure, you can open multiple tabs. But you still have to keep minimizing, resizing and adjusting. Plus, the laptop screen is so small that it’s not the most comfortable experience. Portable Monitors tackle all these problems with their display. They let you view everything at the same place, without having to go back and forth between pages. This not only saves a lot of time but also reduces the chance of typing errors. They also make great travel monitors as you can even carry them around to different locations, without having to set up multiple monitors in a fixed place.
#8 Sloped Laptop Stand
Although laptops allow you to work from anywhere, they can be pretty uncomfortable. When you spend too long in front of the screen, typing on the keyboard, you can suffer from health problems.
Your wrists begin to hurt, you’ll face back pain, and it’s also harmful to the eyes. And although we all try to maintain a good posture, it’s normal to slip up and sit the wrong way.
To help out with workplace ergonomics and make work a better experience, get a sloped laptop stand. This is designed to elevate the laptop screen while keeping the keyboard tilted.
This position makes it easier for you to type and causes less strain on the eyes and neck. It even increases airflow around the laptop, so it doesn’t overheat.
#9. Desktop organizer
The first step to productivity is to declutter your workspace. Having a messy table is never helpful. It makes finding everything much more difficult, and can make you feel frustrated.
With a desktop organizer, you have separate spots for your stationery and your gadgets all in one space. This way you know where everything is, at the reach of your hand.
A desktop organizer will keep your workplace neat and clean. Some organizers even have sticky note sections for quick reminders. This will also give off a good impression to others, and make you seem a lot more responsible.
#10. Portable Scanner
A portable scanner is the productivity gadget of dreams. In today’s day and age, everything needs to be in the digital format. However, certain documents are still in hard copy format, and this can’t be changed.
A scanner helps with this by letting you convert documents to soft copies. Usually, they’re bulky and found in offices. But now, there’re portable options so that you can use them everywhere you go.
Having a portable scanner on your desk will save time and boost your productivity. Anything you want to digitize, you can do instantly.
Portable scanners like the VuPoint Magic Wand and the Doxie Flip are popular options. They offer to scan for various width ranges and can carry out multiple scans within a minute.
Conclusion
Being productive all the time isn’t easy. There are numerous distractions around and the slightest, inconvenience we face can hinder our workflow.
But luckily for us, in this day an age, there is nothing that technology can’t solve. So, do yourself a favor and buy the gadgets that you need.
Trust me, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much more productive you’ll become!