The first step to a successful and productive year is to complete your annual goal setting. Goal setting helps create an action plan for staying on task. The most difficult aspect of goal setting may not be establishing the list, but following through. To help keep myself on track, I use my smartphone and it never leaves my side, day or night.

There are a plethora of apps for every device in the productivity portal (except for maybe Windows Phone, but keep reaching for the stars!). Unfortunately, there isn't one killer app that fits all. In reality, having a single point to monitor all your plans probably isn't the best. Every app has its strengths and weaknesses.

Finding the best app for each job is more important than having a single repository of information. For me, the most important feature for any productivity app is they are able to talk to each other, while focusing on the single item they are supposed to be best at. When I look at productivity apps, there are five areas I need help with: email, calendars, task lists, project tracking and notes.

Email: CloudMagic

Even though it's more than 30 years old, email is still a tricky problem. CloudMagic is a free email client for iOS and Android with options to link Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Exchange and IMAP email accounts. There are several other apps in the marketplace that offer the same functionality, but what makes CloudMagic different is its integration to other apps. By tapping the “cards” icon in an email, you can create a task in Todoist or Asana, or add it as a note in Evernote. By immediately being able to create an action item, this makes organizing your emails much easier.

Calendar: Sunrise

Sunrise is the king of all calendar apps. With iOS, Android and a Chrome desktop extension, Sunrise is available everywhere you are. Sunrise has the ability to join calendars from Google, iCloud, Exchange, CalDAV, Facebook, and LinkedIn, giving a single interface for all of the calendars across services. Sunrise also has integration with Todoist and Asana so I don't have to enter information twice from a task list to the calendar. With so many integrations, Sunrise makes it possible to easily track my time while being able to enter the event into any of the many locations the event could exist.

Projects: Asana

Managing projects is difficult, especially when having to coordinate with several people weeks to months in advance. Asana offers the ability to create projects with actionable tasks and subtasks. Both tasks and subtasks can be delegated to other members who are signed up with the service and projects can be shared with them. Asana makes it easy to add projects from my goals now and add tasks and subtasks as the projects details grow. Available on the web, iOS and Android, I can monitor progress and add tasks to projects from any device. Asana also has integration with CloudMagic and Sunrise Calendar, so I can add a subtask to a project from an email and have it automatically added to my calendar if there is a due date.

Tasks: Todoist

Not every task applies to a project. Personally, I use Asana for large projects or action items that require many steps to reach my final goal. Todoist fits perfectly for the small tasks I need to do every day. Simple and straight to the point, Todoist is a minimalist task list that has integration to CloudMagic and Sunrise. I keep my Todoist similar to a reminder list, with my personal goals incorporated. The separation of business projects in Asana and personal goals in Todoist gives each app focus for whatever I'm doing at the time I need them.

Notes: Evernote

There is not much more I can say about Evernote that hasn't already been said thousands of times by productivity specialists. If you are unfamiliar, think of Evernote as the filing cabinet to everything in your life. To truly be productive with Evernote, you have to enter everything. But Evernote makes it easy. Evernote has integration to CloudMagic, Sunrise and Asana. These integrations keep Evernote up-to-date on what's happening in your day. Evernote has a long list of features, and keeps growing all the time. Even if you decide not to use any of the other apps listed, Evernote is a necessity.

Tying It All Together

Using the above apps, I have found a good balance to being productive, informed and focused. My methodology is to add clearly defined goals into my Evernote notebook. For business, I create projects in Asana, and for personal goals I assign tasks in Todoist. Using CloudMagic, I can quickly add information from everyone involved to my goal list in Evernote, and create actionable items in Asana or Todoist with Sunrise keeping me up-to-date on the steps ahead of me. All of the planning has been done, which leaves just one thing left to do: execute.