Work-life balance means something different for each person, but entrepreneurs typically experience a much more complicated hybrid. For many small business owners, work is life, and the two are so tightly entwined that completely compartmentalizing them will never be possible.
In addition to our recent list of apps that will help with your productivity, we rounded up six apps that are designed to enrich your life — either by saving time, by reminding you to take a break or by adding a beneficial habit to your routine. While many of these apps have a premium version, all have a free version with enough features to make it worth a download, and are available both on Android and iOS.
ATracker
“ATracker is a time tracking application which is very easy to use and requires minimal setup.”
What do you get when you cross a calendar, a time tracker and a planner? ATracker, which lets you schedule your day by task, then tracks your time spent in each activity with a simple touch. ATracker compiles how you spend your time in an easy-to-read pie chart, showing you at a glance how your day is actually spent.
If you live by Socrates’ dictum “the unexamined life is not worth living,” then ATracker can serve as your first step into examining how your time is allocated.
Breathe
“At Stop, Breathe & Think, we believe that taking a few minutes each day to feel the calm is as important as regular exercise. If we can help more of you regularly find peace of mind, we’re doing our part to help make the world a better place.”
When you open the Breathe app, you begin by checking in on how you’re feeling physically, mentally and emotionally. After that, you’ll receive suggestions for audio meditation sessions, ranging from about 4–10 minutes. Alternatively, you can simply set a timer and soundscape for your own meditation.
Breathe automatically tracks your check-ins and meditations, allowing you to gauge how things have been going.
Pacifica
“Pacifica offers daily tools for stress, anxiety & depression based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, relaxation and wellness alongside a supportive community. You can track your mood, set daily goals, complete mindfulness meditations and relaxation activities as well as connect through peer support groups.”
If you’re ready to take a deeper dive into guiding your mindfulness, Pacifica might be the right app for you. With myriad tools, tracking systems and prompts, Pacifica guides you through self-care in a way that feels accessible.
Finally, Pacifica includes a community board that lets you connect with other individuals so you can offer and receive advice. This positive message board adds a level of connectivity to the app, which many users will find refreshing and you could even use as a tool to connect with other small business owners.
Nav
“Nav is the ONLY source for both personal and business credit score access, with advice on how to build your business credit to get funding and save money.”
We couldn’t talk about useful apps without talking about ourselves. Using Nav to understand your full business credit profile helps small business owners get loan-ready faster.
The average entrepreneur spends approximately 33 hours applying for credit, according to a report from the New York Federal Reserve — that number is just too high. You can spend more time doing things you love instead of applying for business credit cards and loans. (You can sign up for Nav for free here.)
BreakFree
“A first of its kind, revolutionary mobile app, aimed at controlling smartphone addiction and helping you maintain a healthy digital lifestyle.”
By far the simplest app on this list is BreakFree, which helps you monitor your cellphone usage. It tracks how many times you unlock your device, as well as shows you how much time you’re on it. If you’re on your phone too much, a reminder pops up to make you aware of the fact.
As much as we talk about staying connected, doing more remotely and relying on your phone to get business done, putting your device down at the right time might help you balance your time between work and your home life.
IFTTT
“Do more with the services you love.”
If This, Then That (IFTTT) is an automation app that brings together over 110 services to help you get more done. Enabling, linking, and performing certain actions can trigger other actions automatically so that you can reduce redundancies in your routine.
For example, you can set IFTTT to share your Facebook post automatically on your Instagram and Twitter feeds, saving you the chore of doing all three (are you starting to see how this might benefit your business?). Or you might tell the app that you want it to automatically email anyone who posts a comment on your WordPress site. With integration services including YouTube, Google Drive, Alexa, Evernote, FourSquare, LinkedIn and more, the possibilities are ever-increasing, and so are your chances at saving time doing duplicate work.
LogMeIn
“It’s time to take control of your schedule, reclaim your free time and work the way you want. With remote access from LogMeIn, all your computers are just a click away.”
Here’s a bonus app for you that misses a main criterion because it’s only free for 14 days, then you have to pay $249 per year after. LogMeIn lets you control your computer from anywhere with an Internet connection. Think of it as using a virtual mouse to run your main computer’s hardware, meaning that you’re not restricted to mobile apps or weaker processing power when you’re on the go.
That means you’d be able to access every file, every program and every project that’s on your home computer just by logging in. While some business owners might use it enough to justify the hefty price tag, those with upcoming vacations can still get a lot from the free 14-day trial.
With these apps at your fingertips, we hope you’ll be able to get more work done and free up a little more time for yourself. Just remember that balance is the key to productivity and happiness.
This article was originally written on May 8, 2017 and updated on July 6, 2017.
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