Power Tools: 4 Essential Items to Keep You Organized and Track Your Progress in 2024

Rise and Grind, Queen!

We’re two months into 2024 and the hard workers are starting to separate from those hardly working. If you’re reading this (and you’re not Aubrey Graham) it’s not too late; your being here proves that your goals align with the ambitious, successful, self-sufficient queens. The fast-paced world of finding independent success demands efficiency and organization. Now that you have the vision and the blueprint for your personal journey, it’s time to talk power tools.  

We’re not discussing the difference between an Allen wrench and an Allen key (and tbh, we probably couldn't tell you anyway). Instead, we’re curating a list of essential apps and tools we keep in our build-a-boss kit that every queen can use to stay sharp on the journey to the top. 

Remember, success is a marathon, not a sprint, so keeping yourself prepared and well-organized can make all the difference in the journey. Here are our top five Power Tools we use to stay organized and motivated all year long:

1. An Easy-to-Use Calendar

There’s an old phrase in physics and philosophy that goes, “The simplest answer is almost always the best.” An effective calendar is the simplest and yet the most essential tool we can recommend to any queen aspiring to greatness. Today, our economy is a complicated mass of schedules, locations, and video calls, so having a calendar is an indispensable tool for staying organized. There are benefits to getting a physical calendar and placing it somewhere visible in your workspace calendar but for the digital natives, apps like Google Calendar or Todoist are our favorites because of how easy they are to customize. Features like color coding, team collaboration, meeting room integration, and notes are built in, which can help streamline your workflow and productivity in the long run. By keeping a dedicated centralized space for managing your schedule, you’ll never miss an important meeting or deadline.

2. Project Management Software:

For multi-hyphenate queens who are constantly juggling projects and competing deadlines, project management software is a productivity game-changer. There are dozens of platforms to choose from, and more than a few offer free tiers (with limited features), only adding to the hype surrounding these software. With project management software you can create boards to visually organize your tasks, set deadlines, and monitor your progress in real-time.  Having a bird’s eye view of your personal scope of work can even help you identify places where you might need to collaborate or delegate tasks to keep operations running smoothly. 

Trello or Asana are both popular, effective options, but we’re partial to Monday.com. This cloud-based software has a highly customizable interface that caters to the users' specific needs, making it easy to learn and even easier to use. It’s a collaborative platform with clean aesthetics that can help you step up your organization. Whatever you choose, we highly recommend jumping on the project management bandwagon, that way you and stop being a perpetual planner and start executing on your excellent ideas.

3. Time-Tracking Apps:

You might be thinking “That’s a funny way to say ‘watch’” (ba-dum, tss) but the power tool we’re talking about won't help you count down the seconds until Friday. Whether you're a corporate queen or a fierce freelancer, time tracking can help any working professional gain a better understanding of how you spend your time at work. If you want to be better at optimizing productivity, you need a system that’s going to keep you honest and accountable. 

Implementing time-tracking tools, such as Toggl, Clockify, or RescueTime, can help you see where you fall off in productivity and give you key insights about how and when you work. Use these tools to set specific goals, then compare the actual time spent to your estimate. This is simple data that can come in handy when you need to find places to refine your routine.  With this information, you can adapt your habits and improve your process in a way that is comfortable for you, progressive, and effective. 

4. Note-Taking Tools:

Step away from the sticky notes queen, it’s to make a change. Keeping your thoughts, ideas, and important information as organized as possible is a skill that is underutilized and often mismanaged. With smart devices being widespread, making a quick text or voice note is simple, but these native apps are severely lacking in organization and collaboration features. Enter 2024  note-taking apps. 

At TCQ Evernote and Notion take the top spot. Not only do these apps do the best job of creating systems to prioritize and separate your initiatives, but they each have the best sync capabilities we’ve seen on the market. The seamless syncing of information across devices, browsers, and other digital platforms is almost uncanny, with images and handwritten notes populating from your smartphone to your browser with little to no issue. Features like this are a slam dunk for the creative queens who need to access creative ideas without missing a beat.  

By making a habit of utilizing these tools on a regular basis, you're creating a solid foundation for your future success. At TCQ we’re on a mission to help our readers learn how to create success that lasts. Keep up with our weekly communications and blogs for more tips and tricks for forging your future, and remember, 

We’re in your corner, Queen

With love,

The Team at TCQ