by Francis
(October 24, 2012)
I’m not sure if this is for everyone. But one of the Pro features from the RescueTime tool is that even when I’m away from the computer for 5 minutes, I receive a pop-up form which looks like the picture at the top. This makes me accountable for almost every minute.
If I was at the workplace, this would be a great tool to keep me accountable. Was I discussing important matters in a meeting or did I do other work, then the fields are right there. There’s one option I miss, though.
What about an option to say ‘Sorry I did not work’?
This way the RescueTime offline tracking tool could effectively track when I’m procrastinating off the computer.
No problem – although this option is a little hidden, you can change what each button says and even add more buttons in the settings. Call them “eating”, “sleeping” or “goofing off” – now you can track all that.
Sometimes, when I’m guilty of not working AND am too lazy to track the time exactly, I usually just click ‘Don’t log this time’ instead.
If you sign up for the service for free, they give you a glimpse in to the Pro features for a week or two. After that, the Pro features are turned off. With that, this pop up is also turned off.
Perhaps, it’s not that bad of a deal. But if you can’t really handle pop-ups, simply disable them in the setting. Your choice.
Comments for Even When I’m off the Computer My Productivity Is Tracked!
| Oct 24, 2012 | Get creative with labeling your newly created categories! If you really want to go crazy with this time tracking tool, think hard about how productive each of your manually tracked activities are. Perhaps you want to create an activity “quality time with your spouse” and mark it as “very productive”? Or you go to a meeting, record that time accordingly, but mark that as -1 slightly unproductive, because that’s what meetings often are? And then, when you review your statistics, you can decide if you spend too little time with your family and too much time in meetings. |
| Aug 05, 2014 | The Virtual Manager The very first time I tried rescuetime, I was totally drained after my shift. I think it’s because of the feature that requires you to stay on the keyboard and mind the productivity level and/or I am just getting-to-know the software that I am conscious to the point of exhaustion. But, when I get to know this software and am able to adapt to its nature that pops out whenever you try to procrastinate—it’s just natural. |
| Aug 05, 2014 | Too much pressure lowers your productivity and creativity I can understand that this tool can let you feel pressurized. Think of it as a backup solution to hubstaff to prove your productivity even if you go offline. Don’t think of it as a mean watchdog program, but as a helpful reminder tool (it’s not a person, just one other tool) to keep you on track. I guess everyone is different, when using productivity software. When I first used it, I immediately forget it was running in the background. After collecting data for a few days I checked it to improve my working patterns. Then, I just check it from time to time to see if I am still on track. Perhaps you could try using it more casually, like that? Too much pressure may keep you productive, but it can stress you out of being creative. |
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