Rescuetime
Time Management, Productivity, & Project Tracking Software (Mac/PC) | RescueTime
I am currently trying this program out. Since I am working from home there is the possibility of me being being distracted a lot. When I went to work distractions were usually coworkers coming to hang out at my cubicle....But now I have distractions from online forums or random internet browsing.
I started using it yesterday and I have the program monitor my Monday through Friday 7am until 6 pm. My work schedule is inside that time but I wanted to gather "data" to see how much I wander away and become non productive.
Essentially I want this to help me modify bad habits I developed over a lifetime. I sometimes lose track of time and wonder "what the heck happened to all the time I had??". I know basically what happened but I want to "exactly" I was doing and for how long.
There are the "nudges" you get that pop up and ask "so what have you been doing for the past 20 minutes" if you have not shown any activity for that long. You enter in what you were doing and can classify it later as productive, kind of productive or non productive AKA screwing off.
There is the "Get Focused" switch that disables you from surfing to sites based on categories and reminds you if you select "Get Focused" and wander off which I did....
You can see graphical reports and tweak them since you know which activities are truly productive or what is not.
I can create "projects" and select those to record and see if I veer off and how much I veer off, and set 20-30-60 minutes "goals".
I think this can help a lot with studying for certs and school with the free version.
Since I am doing auditing full time now I am trying this to help develop better staying focused habits.
I am currently trying this program out. Since I am working from home there is the possibility of me being being distracted a lot. When I went to work distractions were usually coworkers coming to hang out at my cubicle....But now I have distractions from online forums or random internet browsing.
I started using it yesterday and I have the program monitor my Monday through Friday 7am until 6 pm. My work schedule is inside that time but I wanted to gather "data" to see how much I wander away and become non productive.
Essentially I want this to help me modify bad habits I developed over a lifetime. I sometimes lose track of time and wonder "what the heck happened to all the time I had??". I know basically what happened but I want to "exactly" I was doing and for how long.
There are the "nudges" you get that pop up and ask "so what have you been doing for the past 20 minutes" if you have not shown any activity for that long. You enter in what you were doing and can classify it later as productive, kind of productive or non productive AKA screwing off.
There is the "Get Focused" switch that disables you from surfing to sites based on categories and reminds you if you select "Get Focused" and wander off which I did....
You can see graphical reports and tweak them since you know which activities are truly productive or what is not.
I can create "projects" and select those to record and see if I veer off and how much I veer off, and set 20-30-60 minutes "goals".
I think this can help a lot with studying for certs and school with the free version.
Since I am doing auditing full time now I am trying this to help develop better staying focused habits.
Comments
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Asif Dasl
Member Posts: 2,116 ■■■■■■■■□□
I could really use something like this, thanks for sharing. I have come across a great time management lecture which you might find useful.
YouTube - Randy Pausch Lecture: Time Management -
earweed
Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
Thanks for putting this on here. I spend way too much time here on TE and on other forums. It'll help a lot while I'm studying.
Can I rank sites like Books 24x7 and technet as "good" and TE as "limit time there"?No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives. -
tpatt100
Member Posts: 2,991 ■■■■■■■■■□
Thanks for putting this on here. I spend way too much time here on TE and on other forums. It'll help a lot while I'm studying.
Can I rank sites like Books 24x7 and technet as "good" and TE as "limit time there"?
Yeah there is a +1 +2 Not productive and a +1 +2 Productive. So you can tweak it a bit. I seem to be having an issue with Chrome 6.0 but I guess it takes a bit to sync what you setup. I was doing some studying and I added all my forums as "really not productive" lol and it blocked me after selecting them. -
earweed
Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
I don't want to be totally blocked. I did set it for just monitoring daytime mon-friday. It automatically upgraded me to the pro trial, does the free version take over after 14 days?No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.