After schools closed down due to COVID, many students find it hard to keep up with their work; the general lack of motivation coupled with the isolated feeling at home has kept even the best students from maintaining their study habits. Things like a forgotten homework assignment, lost materials, or severe procrastination has become a regular issue. While these gaps in organization and management of time will take some time to seal, there are a few apps that can help relieve the day-to-day struggle.

One of the best apps to deal with distractions is called Forest. The app is available for both Android and iOS phones and has a free plan as well. Whenever someone wants to focus on their work, they have to “plant a tree” or set a timer in the app. The app counts down for that specified time and locks everything else on the phone, except important apps such as calling and searching. If the work period is interrupted, and you end up canceling the timer, Forest plants a dead tree, just to show you your lack of concentration. Forest not only disables any distractions during your work time, but it also motivates a person to grow their forest, as it has a wide array of trees and other things to decorate with.

Another app that is tremendously useful is MinimaList. MinimaList is a simple to-do list in which you can list down your priorities for the day, and check them off as each one completes. Although it is only available for iOS devices, there are other apps similar to this one that can be installed on Androids. One of the best features of MinimaList is its clean and aesthetically pleasing interface. The app, aside from being a to-do list, is also a focus timer. Enabling its “strict mode” allows you to set a timer for each item in your list: the app reminds you to put down your phone each time it senses you pick it up during your focus period.

While these are just examples that help boost productivity, there are so many others that shut off your phone to lessen distractions or help you maintain a sense of what you have to get done. In the end, improving your organizational and time-management skills depends on your willingness, and using these apps is one instance that leads to significant changes.