The Buffer community shared their favorite productivity tools, tips and books in #bufferchat!
Catch our weekly Twitter chat, #bufferchat, every week on Wednesdays, 9 am PT/Noon ET/4 pm GMT, for valuable industry insights and networking with nearly 400 other smart marketers and community managers.

What are your top three essential productivity apps?
Resources shared by the community:
- Evernote
- Todoist
- Feedly
- GoogleKeep
- Trello
- Buffer
- MeetEdgar
- Hootsuite
- BuzzSumo
- Outlook
- Slack
- Headspace
- Toggl
- SEMRush
- WordTracker
- GoogleDocs
- Sprinklr
- Basecamp
- Asana
- Ghost
- AnyDO
- Wunderlist
- AwesomeNote
- ProductHunt
- Sunrise
- Nozbe
- Stitcher
See the full tweets in answer to question 1 here!
How do you balance authenticity with automation?
- “With one rule. Automate content NOT conversation!” @lifeofaworkgirl
- “Integrate your brand personality into whatever you’re automating…only use automation for select things. Always BE THERE.” @weintraubl
- “Schedule a few basic things in advance, but make sure you’re available for interaction / engaging regularly.” @sarahfromDC
See all the great answers to question 2 here!
What’s the greatest productivity advice you’ve ever received?
- “The best productivity advice: Plan your work and work your plan. Love that one!” @madalynsklar
- “Focus, focus, focus. Don’t try to do everything & get swamped and stretched. Less is more – go for quality” @bditcheva
- “If something takes less than 2 min to complete, or can be started in 2 min, do it. Our director swears by it!” @brighthausgroup
See all the great answers to question 3 here!
What productivity book or method has helped you with your workflow?
- “As with everything, find what works best for you. Keep testing your workflow to find optimizations.” @benbrausen
- “Mindfulness has helped me more than anything. Bringing myself back to the present helps me focus on the task at hand” @J_rouser
- “I prefer to use classic methods such as manually writing out my to-do list. Repetition helps me remember!” @Anne_E_Mercer
Books recommended:
- Getting Things Done by Dave Allen
- The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey
See all the great answers to question 4 here!
How often do you reflect on your routine and workflow?
- “Daily! Doesn’t mean I make changes everyday but means that I react if needed and change routines as needed!” @joelrrenner
- “Daily or weekly. Daily, if I feel things aren’t flowing. At the end of week I think about improvements for moving forward.” @TheMissNicolina
- “Every time I use a workflow or routine I evaluate how well it worked for that task and how I can make it better” @sales_prodigy
See all the great answers to question 5 here!
For anyone working alone, remotely or freelancing, do have any tips on self-motivating?
- “Keep a routine. Have regular “office” hours. I keep my laptop ONLY in home office and don’t go into office when not working” @lucyrk78
- “Work out your style. If that means work at night, do it. Don’t be afraid to test something new” @biancajsmith
- “I’ve worked remote for 17 years, build a solid to do list, knock it out then take a break enjoy being remote” @rockatdell
See all the great answers to question 6 here!
Who do you follow for good productivity tips?
- SocialMedia2Day
- Jeff Goins
- Entrepreneur
- Buffer Blog
- Minimalists
- Pat Flynn
- John Lee Dumas
- Tim Ferriss
- Charlie Gilkey
- Gary Vee
- Michael Hyatt
- Forbes
- Business Insider
- TED Talks
- Lifehacker
- Hubspot
- Hootsuite
- Social Media Examiner
- Stever Robbins
- Mary E Fern
- Neil Patel
- Brian Clark
- Jerod Morris
- Remotive.io
- Harvard Biz
- Inc
- Medium
- Check out this Twitter list created by Lindsey Weintraub from suggested people to follow on productivity!
See all the great answers to question 7 here!
Thank you so much for everyone who joined in on this great chat!
Catch #bufferchat each Wednesday at 9 am Pacific/noon Eastern and join our Google+ community for the latest news. We also have launched a brand-new Slack community to continue these awesome conversations all week long! Join 500+ people there!
Do you have any comments or answers to these questions? Leave your thoughts in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!
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