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What are the best productivity products to help you make the most of your workday? We discovered a bunch of great ones at Amazon. We found ways to organize, ways to connect, and ways to stay focused. There are products to help you de-stress, and stuff to help you stay healthy while working hard. But the item we picked as our favorite was the one thing that promised to start our day off on the right note. Our Best Overall Productivity Product is the Echo Spot from Amazon.
Effectively, it’s an alarm clock—a smart alarm clock. The Echo Spot has all the features of Amazon’s popular Echo Show, including Alexa and the ability to control all of our smart home devices (like the coffee maker). But the Spot is a round, compact Echo with customizable clock faces. That’s it. It’s smaller, subtler, and less intrusive than the Show. But it’s just as informative and helpful—and it comes in at about half the price.
More Than An Alarm Clock
The main reason the Echo Spot is our Best Overall Productivity Product is that it keeps us from burying our faces in our phone the moment we wake up. We’re awakened by any sound we want, be it an alarm, music, or streaming video content. And with a quick word to Alexa, we get all the essential information we need to kickstart our day, such as weather, news, traffic, and, most importantly, our daily calendar. It’s read or displayed to us (or both) before we even get out of bed, so we know what we’re in for before we hit the shower. If we lived in a smart home we could ask Alexa to turn on the lights, start the coffee maker, make toast, or whatever we need. Before our feet ever hit the floor.
And that’s a positive way to start the day. Instead of being jarred awake by a blaring alarm that sends us immediately into our phone, where our nose may need to be planted for much of the day ahead, we awake informed, and aware. No screens required. Many days, we don’t even look for our phone until we’re dressed and ready to head out the door. On those days we do early morning runs or gym sessions, we often don’t see our phone for literally hours after we wake up.
The Echo Spot can do all those other Alexa things, too—like stream content, play music and source recipes. But it’s best in the mornings, when it allows us to start our day prepared and energized.
What other productivity products did we enjoy?
- DeskView Window-Mounted Portable Standing Desk—This Shark Tank-derived device is a wonder. It sticks via high-grade suction cups to any non-porous surface, like glass walls and balconies, providing a 24-inch desk space so we can work on our laptop no matter where we are;
- Beats Studio3 Noise Canceling Over-Ear Headphones—The noise canceling and audio clarity on these cans is almost as good as you’ll find on headphones twice the price;
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity—David Allen is one of the world’s renowned experts on the subject, and his groundbreaking book is essential reading for anyone who constantly gets bogged down;
- Upright GO Posture Trainer—One of the biggest problems with maximizing productivity is the negative effects it can have on your health. This amazing little device keeps your back straight, your head up, and your eyes on the prize.
What’s the best productivity product? It’s a rather subjective subject, since so many of us get bogged down by different things. But any of the items below can—and will—help you make the most of your time at work, so you can make the most of your time after work.
Here are the best productivity products you can buy.
