Overview
It’s not hard to see that the modern world is full of distractions. Between social media, streaming videos, and all the articles you could ever hope to read, there is more to do during your day than ever before. While all of these developments are useful tools and great means of entertainment, they can easily get in the way of productivity. RescueTime is an app designed to help you take control of your time and recognize when you’re being distracted and when you’re being productive. As a result, you can get more out of your day and accomplish your goals.
Pros
RescueTime has a number of important features that help you take control of your time to be productive. One of the most useful features is that it can block distracting websites by choosing the amount of time that you can spend looking at them. This lets you establish a schedule to maximize your productivity, and receive notifications when you’ve reached your allotted time for the day on a given site.
Another appealing aspect of RescueTime is the fact that it has different versions at different price points. There’s a free version which gives you an accurate picture how you spend time each day, so you can gain a better understanding of where you’re losing productive time. The premium version lets you block websites and gives you access to other tools like tracking time offline, receiving alerts, and more. Finally, there’s a team version for small businesses that provides detailed readouts of how a team is spending its time by compiling information about the individuals in the team.
Finally, RescueTime does a good job of providing a psychological boost by letting you track your accomplishments throughout the day. This can be the difference between sticking to your time management and accountability routine and falling to the temptation of distractions.
Cons
There are some drawbacks with RescueTime. The most prominent problem is that you have the ability to turn off or ignore alerts at any time. This means that you need to be able to exercise some degree of self-control for the application to be effective. While you ultimately have control over any internet filtering and time management app, other apps make it much more difficult to get around the barriers you place to keep yourself focused.
Verdict
RescueTime is a good app for people who can stay on task with some gentle nudging. It’s also an excellent choice if having a list of your daily accomplishments will give you a boost when it comes to staying on task.