Friday Reflections – Episode II

In this week’s episode, I highlight two productivity tools I use often. I’m not a brand ambassador for either of these tools i.e. I am not getting paid, so there are no conflicts of interest here.

RescueTime for Time Assessment

This app/program, once installed, tracks and rates your productivity based on the websites accessed and software used on your electronic devices i.e. mobile phones, tablets and personal computers. Social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) are grouped in the distracting category, while design and composition apps (Word, PowerPoint, Visio) are in the productive category. Results are provided on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Personally I get a weekly update in my email and check the chrome app every so often. Sidenote: The screenshots above are from weekly review emails.That 10% spike in productivity from Feb 26th to Mar 5th was because I was working on a proposal submission during the week of March 5th.

I have been using this utility for a while now (a search of my Gmail tells me I officially started in July 2014) and initially I only used it on my desktop. I avoided putting it on my phone because knew my mid 70% numbers would drop once I added the app on my phone. I eventually added it on my phone earlier this year because I had to get a relatively accurate value.

I currently use the free version of the utility, which also allows goal-setting and category modifications for the apps and websites e.g. if twitter is a work-based tool, then you would want to change it’s category. On the other hand, the paid version will allow you to block certain websites, obtain alerts etc. Check it out.

Weekdone for Weekly and Quarterly Planning

Professional weekly plan from 2 weeks ago (Scrubbed of key details).

This is a website/app based on the OKR philosophy for management i.e. Objectives and Key Results. Quarterly [open-ended] objectives are set and attached to key [measurable] results, metrics that aid in achieving the objectives. In addition, there’s a separate section for weekly [granular] plans (my sample weekly plan is shown above), which are tasks that will be performed to hit the key results. These weekly plans are grouped by plans (to be done), progress (done) and problems (plans requiring modification) and the plans can be linked to the quarterly objectives, attached to due dates and a host of other things. Tasks not accomplished in one week are automatically transposed to the next week.

I have not been using this app for as long and I sense that I have been under-utilizing the site, because I have not learned as much about the ins and outs. in the current iteration, I have been leveraging this tool to consistently keep my boss in the loop due to the nature of my work. Check it out.

Overall, as someone who enjoys lists, setting targets and optimizing professional and personal goals, tools like this have been helpful for me and could be for you as well.

Enjoy your weekend and continue to be the better version of yourself.