work-life balance out of whack? try these 8 tools

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Work-Life Balance Out Of Whack? Try These 8 Tools .

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Work-Life Balance Out Of Whack? Try These 8 Tools.

According to a study by The Alternative Board, about 49 percent of entrepreneurs work more than 50 hours a week, resulting

in limited time each week to handle personal responsibilities and goals.

Fortunately, there are a number of apps and tools on your smartphone that can help organize your daily routine, decrease the stress of email, and — ultimately — lead to improved work-life balance.

Try these eight tools to help you do just that!

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: Working for a small business, you may have odd hours that revolve around work and family. Instead of constantly switching between these schedules, Cozi gives you a home base for all scheduling needs.

Details: The Cozi app will help balance your family and work schedules in one place. The app has multiple handy features such as the ability to send reminders via email or text message. It also allows you to share your schedule with family members or colleagues so everyone is on the same page.

Tool: Cozi Family Organizer

I’d Like to…

Get Control Over My Work and Family Schedule

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: Instead of wasting time on distractions during your work hours, Focusbar helps you stay on task, so you can quickly and efficiently finish projects. Ultimately, this will give you more free time to start new projects or shut down earlier.

Details: Simply enter a task into Focusbar, and a small reminder will appear on your screen periodically, as well as each time you switch to another window, giving you a gentle nudge to refocus.

I’d Like to…

Stay on Task so I Can Leave Work by 6 p.m.

Tool: Focusbar

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: We all have habits we wish we didn’t have, and some we’d like to introduce into our lives. Whether you want to start shutting off your electronics earlier each day, or add exercise to your workday, Way of Life will help you make it happen.

Details: The Way of Life app helps you to both break bad habits and build new positive ones! The app allows you to set goals, send reminders and measure your success with eye-opening graphics and charts.

I’d Like to…

Add Exercise to My Workday

Tool: Way of Life

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: It’s important to stay on top of news that impacts your industry. This will help you and your business remain relevant in our fast-paced world. Thanks to Nuzzel’s ability to curate the most important events in your network, you won’t waste time scrolling through unnecessary content.

Details: The Nuzzel app curates the best news stories shared by your friends on Facebook and Twitter into an easily digestible format — no more social overload.

I’d Like to…

Keep Up With News and Friends on Social Media

Tool: Nuzzel

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: In a digital world of distractions, it can be easy to spend time on things that don’t move your business forward or contribute to your personal well-being. Eternity Time Log will track how you’re spending time and suggest areas to fit in more personal time or extra work.

Details: Find out how much time you spend working versus how much time you spend on personal tasks. Then adjust to become more efficient.

I’d Like to…

Use My Time More Efficiently

Tool: Eternity Time Log

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: Relationships are key to your success, and building personal connections with clients is one of the advantages you have as a small business. Rapportive helps you save time by providing social media profiles of the people you email so you can quickly follow them, “friend” them or just get to know more about them.

Details: This Gmail plug-in gives you intel on colleagues or customers by displaying their social profiles when you're having a conversation with them via email.

I’d Like to…

Build Better Relationships with Clients and Colleagues Tool: Rapportive

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: Calls, texts and notifications from your phone can destroy both productivity and downtime. Setting your phone to Do Not Disturb will ensure you aren’t bothered when you’re trying to finish that investor presentation or when you’re trying to have dinner with your family.

Details: This smartphone setting sends phone calls to voicemail and holds text messages and notifications until you turn it off. You can also “whitelist” certain phone numbers so you don’t miss important calls.

I’d Like to…

Eliminate Interruptions on Nights and Weekends

Tool: Do Not Disturb cellphone setting

How It Will Change Your Work-Life Balance: When you own a business, it can be tempting to work 24/7, but the body and brain need downtime. Pacifica leads you through guided meditation and relaxation techniques that reduce stress, sharpen your memory, and improve your performance and attention at work and home.

Details: This app tracks your mood and provides relaxation techniques such as mindfulness meditations and muscle relaxation. You can also monitor health goals and notable thoughts or feelings you may be experiencing.

I’d Like to…

Reduce the Amount of Stress in My Life

Tool: Pacifica

Advice Action InspirationApps and tools can help you

create work-life balance, but

too many apps can promote

chaos in your life. If you

haven’t used an app in six

months, delete it from your

phone, computer or tablet.

Decide which area of your life

needs the most help, and

download an app that will help

you find balance today. If you’re

not sure, start with Eternity

Time Log, which will identify

where you’re spending most of

your time.

“The question I ask myself

almost every day is, ‘Am I doing the most important

thing I could be doing?’” — Mark Zuckerberg, founder of

Facebook