You’ve surely seen a time management website that promises to make you more efficient. In a sense, Time Management Tao itself operates on that premise, though we take a more educational approach towards this end than providing you with tools and shortcuts.
Anyway, is a time management website really helpful? Does it save you time? Or is it just another way to waste time online?
Many of us who struggle to manage time are struggling under an overwhelming burden of tasks and deadlines.
- You’re a caregiver for your family.
- You probably have pets that depend on you.
- You have regular chores around the house, in your yard, and personal care to handle.
- This is in addition to everything related to your job, career, dreams, goals and future.
Whew! That’s a crammed personal schedule.
So how to solve your dilemma of not having enough time? A time management website that is supposed to save you precious minutes or even hours can be a boon – if it works the way it is supposed to. A time managing website may charge you for access, or offer stuff for free. Some have basic services for free, but you will have to pay for the premium features.
A time management website like Myhours.com will help you track the time you spend on projects. You’ll be able to tell which components of your work are the most profitable, and help you deliver on your biggest goals. Of course, you’ll first have to enter enough data to enable the system to correctly identify your activities as being useful or not.
The trouble with a website like this is the learning curve you need to go through before you get the hang of things, and the time that you spend on setting things up at first. While it may suit specific professionals such as writers and freelancers who get paid for their time, it may be wasteful to work with such a system for many others.
Toggl is another time management website which gives you a timer to click on and off when you begin and finish a task. This helps keep a log of your online time, which can let you identify interruptions like unscheduled email checks, phone calls, or people breaking your work flow. Knowing how often you get sidetracked will give you a kick in the pants to concentrate on work and focus better.
The problem with using a service like this is that you’re often unconscious about distractions and delays that take you away from your work. It’s usually a few minutes (or hours?) after you’ve been lured away into Facebook’s rabbit holes, or YouTube’s video entertainment, that you realize you’re not working – and have forgotten to log the time you transferred attention!
Other programs make this switch automatically, each time you change an application or program. It will not uncover which browser window you work on, or whenever you click on to a time-wasting website, though. The automatic nature of the time log is appealing to some users.
Knowing what fraction of your work day is spent actually on project related activities can serve as a useful indicator of your efficiency and ability to resist distractions.
If you’re the kind of person who thrives on specific reminders related to your ‘to do’ list, then a service like FlyLady can be of value. It will send you emails throughout the course of your day, based on a schedule you input into their system previously. The reminders force you to focus on a specific activity at a particular time of the day, driving you towards getting all items on your list done.
A time management website can be of some value in identifying where you spend most of your time in the day, and to assess in a general manner how efficiently you use the time at work. But don’t expect it to automatically improve your time management skills. You’ll still need to master the 3 core principles of Time Management Tao:
- Find your center – know WHAT to do
- Understand your order – know HOW to do it
- Pick your timing – know WHO to use & WHEN
