Are you looking for a way to increase productivity and create positive habits? As a Business Owner in Silicon Valley, I strive to find new and better ways of executing my work. Efficiency and results are the hallmarks of an excellent Recruiter. Thus, I try to explore new ways to up my game all the time. Thus, this was a GREAT marketing email sent to me by Nick Loper at VirtualAssistantAssistant and I thought I would pass these productivity tips along.

Most of these are free or have a free version.

Note: Some of these are PC-only, but most will have a Mac version or Mac equivalent.

1. LastPass - Free browser extension that securely saves your login information for websites, AND lets you share it with your virtual staff without showing them the actual password.
2. Text Expander - Create your own keyboard shortcuts that expand into commonly used sentences of paragraphs. You'll feel like a total productivity ninja when you write 90% of an email with a few keystrokes!

There are several different options for this, including system-wide PhraseExpress. I use a Chrome browser extension called Auto Text Expander.

3. ClipX - A newcomer to my arsenal, this is a clipboard manager that stores the last 25 things I've copied and let me paste whichever one I want.
4. ScheduleOnce - Eliminates the 5 email back-and-forth that it often takes to set up a simple phone meeting.
5. Streak - Gmail CRM extension that allows you to track prospects in your sales pipeline, schedule messages to send later, and build templates for commonly used emails.
6. Nudgemail - Another email tool where you can bcc "1week@nudgemail.com" (or any time combination) to get reminded about a certain message later. It helps me work toward inbox zero and make me look like a genius when I "remember" to follow up with people months down the road.
7. IFTTT - "If this, then that" is a cool tool for automation I know I'm just barely scratching the surface of. One of the "recipes" I use to automatically add new blog posts to my Buffer stream for social sharing.
   

   Tips to Increase Workplace Efficiency

8. Fancy Hands - US-based task assistance service. These guys proofread articles, check-in for flights, and as you may have seen, even respond to Virtual Assistant Assistant surveys on my behalf.
9. LeadPages - This is paid software but it saves a ton of time in creating email capture forms and landing pages that have already been optimized for conversions.
10. Screencast-o-Matic / Jing - Free screen capture software to quickly give video training to a virtual assistant, explain to tech support what's going wrong on your end, or offer up suggestions to a client on how they could improve their website.
11. Awesome Screenshot - Free Chrome extension to quickly capture, mark-up, and share screenshot images.
12. Treadmill Desk - I start every morning on my treadmill desk and like to get a few miles in before breakfast. I find it helps get the blood pumping and build some early physical and mental momentum into my day.

If you're curious, I actually wrote a book on the subject a while ago.

13. Podcasts - When I'm driving, at the gym, or walking the dog, I'm usually listening to podcasts. It's a super-easy and free way to invest in my entrepreneurial education.
14. Toggl - Free time-tracking tool keeps you on task.
15. Good old' Pen and Paper - As I said before, I'm all about my to-do lists, and for me, those still live in analog form in pen and paper on my desk.

Although low-tech, #15, my old stand by still can't be beaten. Sometimes you need quiet and to put your thoughts on paper. What do you think? Any to add to my list?