The first is called RescueTime and it’s a downloadable system that monitors which you actually do while you’re online, whether it be email checking, site surfing or banging away on a project in Word.

I used it while working on PromoteANYTHINGOnline and found it to be pretty helpful. Here’s how it works:

You download the software to your computer and set up RescueTime to your own specifications. Nothing technical or complicated here, it just helps it recognize time well spent from time that may be not so well spent.

It tracks where and how you spend your online time, whether you know you’re doing it or not. You can check it periodically at the site directly and also sign up to receive weekly updates sent via email.
If you decide to give it a try, I strongly suggest those weekly updates. They’re real eye-openers!

You may well discover that those “few minutes” spent checking this or that out really amounted to hours wasted in a short span of time. Needless to say, this is an excellent tool for help with keeping the “blinders” on while you’re working on something.

I found it very helpful and more than a little enlightening. Unfortunately, I also found that it slowed my computer down considerably. I heard from others who reported the same. So I reluctantly uninstalled it.

However, I recently completed a virtual house cleaning of some junk I’d accumulated and never used. I just might give RescueTime another try.

I think it’s worth a try, and it’s free.

The second is also downloadable and a great tool for getting the most from your online working time. It’s called The Action Machine and you can set up your tasks with a time limit, during which you focus exclusively on that task until the timer alarm sounds. The cool thing about this tool is that you can set up all your day’s work at once or set up some to occur every day.

This guy has thought of practically everything and better yet, he’s constantly updating the software. I’ve received two updates since I first installed it – one of which I was about to suggest when I saw the email with the link!

At around $25, The Action Machine is a definite steal and it’s something you’ll certainly put to good use.

I’ll keep you posted about how it’s working for me!!

It’s not just a cool name, it’s a very usable tool with some very unique features.As part of the “Daily Target Praxis” which leads you through a sequence of preparation for the day ahead in an fun and entertaining way, you list all the things that are part of the plan for the day – phone calls, appointments, errands, tasks, whatever – in an online format that’s clear and well…simple.

Once you complete the DTP in about fifteen minutes or so, you’ll have that list to refer to throughout the day. Click a little garbage can icon beside each item as you complete it and all that’s left is the rest of your list.

There’s also a place called Dream Catcher to stash those ideas and inspirations too good to forget yet dangerous to your current focus.

What I liked best – and I may just be easily impressed – is the Backward Planner feature in the Major Focus section. List all the steps needed to reach your desired goal and you’ll have a very handy reminder of each day’s tasks toward getting where you want to go.

There’s also the Browser Bodyguard, which I never used, and then there’s the Wimiki. Set up a block of work time on the Wimiki and get started. When the block of time is over, you stop…because it stops you. A pop-up announces that it’s break time, and you take a break, drink some water or walk the dog. Ready to get back to work? Reset the Wimiki and you’re ready to roll.

That’s why I like Simpleology. Simple to use and simply effective.

P.S. Oh, did I mention…it’s FREE??

There’s also a pretty good OFFline tool that’s worked for quite a few over quite a few years. It’s called a pen and paper.

From Ben Franklin’s famous pros and cons decision making process to mindmapping techniques now being taught to kindergarteners, the pen (or a handful of markers) when coupled with an ordinary piece of paper has proven itself one heck of a sword against the dragons of time, effort and distraction.

Personally, I’m a big fan of a three-tool approach – one black pen, one red marker and one or more sheets of plain white paper, preferably mounted on a clipboard. Maybe that’s FOUR tools. A legal pad is fine too.

I write what I intend to do that day on the paper with the black pen. Writing down too many things will scare the dickens out of you and then you won’t want to do anything on the list.  Three to five items is manageable.

Prevailing wisdom claims that listing the toughest and/or least enjoyable task first with the purpose of tackling it first will make every other item seem like cake, because you did the worst first.

I say do that if you can. If nothing else, it’s worth a real try. I’ve discovered that I still balk at doing the toughest task at the top of the list, but I know that if I don’t do it then or by the end of the day, it’ll be carried over to the next day anyway. After seeing it for a few days, it gets done even if mostly out of a sense of shame than anything else.

Now the best part…the red marker. When you finish a task on your three to five task list, resist the natural urge to scribble or cross it out with your black pen. Reach instead for that red marker.

There must be a scientific study or two somewhere about the benefits of this technique, but here’s how it goes. Pop the cap off your red marker and make one strong straight line all the way across the task you’ve written on your list. Don’t scribble and don’t be dainty. Draw it like you mean it.

(If you’ve got a nice broad-tipped red marker, so much the better!)

Doing that will produce the most “DONE” feeling you’ve ever experienced, aside from collapsing after that marathon ten years ago. Both you and your brain now know for a fact that you have completed that task and it felt good. Really good. Good enough to make you want to do it again. You and your brain also know that the feeling will only happen again if you actually complete another task and then do it.

Another benefit is that you and your brain will feel increasing amounts of that “DONE” feeling as you mark off each new item.

Want to keep that feeling going? Save those daily sheets with those beautiful red lines through those completed tasks for at least a week and even a month or more. That’s solid visual proof that you did something on the way to reach your goals.

Your habit of DOING will grow stronger every day!

Image from Wikipedia

I’m currently looking at getting my act a little more together, especially now when I’m also looking at shorter and fewer work days in the near future (and not always by my choice).

During this week, I’ll tell you about different things I’ve tried, some I may have just heard about andhaven’t tried and at least one thing I’ve tried that actually worked and did me some good.

A few will be computer-based and a few won’t.

If you have a fave productivity system/tool/resource that helped you keep the dreaded focus and time management monsters at bay, please mention them in a quick – or even not so quick – comment.

More from me tomorrow…got some time that needs managing right now!