The Office Gal

Being a fairly simple, one-person team when it comes to writing, I need to really focus on how to keep my productivity up when reviewing future topics; I tend to wander around the web, looking for nothing in particular. That is my first reason to look into a time management tool. My second reason; keeping track of the sites and blogs I should be on to make sure that I am using my time productively while I am visiting.

As I am opening up my newsletter from Business Week, I stumble onto an article, You Don’t Have to Ditch the Day Job by Tony Wright. Although this particular article has nothing to do with this post, the author - Tony Wright - does; particularly his on-line startup, RescueTime. A new time management tool that looks into how I use my time on-line, RescueTime is exactly what I need it to be; my babysitter of both time and the web to help me manage my time to be more productive.

Now of course I love that it is a free download. No reason to not try it, right? Once the tool is downloaded, RescueTime feeds to the on-line ‘dashboard’ and shows me: each site I have visited and the amount of time spent at each (in easy to use time allotments). I can view by day, week, month, or year, and even have the ability to tag sites so that I can view productivity in a clearer format.

Yes, I downloaded it. Yes, I am still processing. Yes, I am happy so far. I have really been able to look at the sites I visit and narrow down their use into my grand scheme and see how to take that time and split it up. I also know when I am most productive and can better fill that time actually utilizing the web best to get my blogs out there.

For the loaner like me, this application is a great tool and will keep me on track, but don’t you managers out there fret. RescueTime Business is on the way. Very much the same tool as the one-man team, with the business application, managers will be able to track employees time and where it is spent. Can be a useful tool for the employee that seems to never get anything done.

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Tags: applications, office productivity, office tools, Time Management