Rescue Me, Rescue Time?

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Anybody, and I’m looking at myself the most critically, can find themselves getting sucked into the blackhole that is the internet, the WWW, the interwebs, the intertubes or whatever you want to call this giant time sink. It’s inevitable, and it’s why Google stock is worth so damn much. Humans follow their noses and those targeted links are the bullring in your nostril. Computers themselves, even devoid of the interwebs, offer tantalizing ways to waste your time… diddling around in iPhoto or finding an entire afternoon sacrificed at the altar of iTunes organizing and creating smart playlists. So, in steps a service/product called Rescue Time.

The product looks very promising… it doesn’t ‘block’ out websites or keep you from using certain software during designated hours.  Rather, it tracks every single application you use and every single website you spend time perusing. You can then go back and just look at what you didn’t accomplish and where you didn’t accomplish it. If sufficiently shocked and motivated to do something about the mess, you can tag these timesucks and start taking control over it all.timegraph.jpgIn the few short days in use here at MacLitigator, the results were astounding and will certainly alter workflow, focus and hopefully squash the incessant and heretofore unrealized need to repeatedly check email. Perhaps the best recommended method for using this software is to install and then forget about it for a few days. After 2-3 days, come back and you will see exactly where your weaknesses lie, and can then implement a plan to address those weaknesses. An added bonus for all you billable hour monkeys, you can go back and recreate information for timesheets.

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