If you are an employee who is made to work from home, you probably know how difficult it is to find motivation and focus on your daily round. You try to concentrate your attention on your work but in some instances, you can’t control this situation. In this scenario, it is more profitable to download time tracking applications, which will help control your online activities and see how much time you spend on work and how long you just surf the net.
Below, you can find a list of the best tools and techniques allowing you to track your time and become more productive. Look through them and probably, you’ll find the best tool, which will help you be more organized and more responsible.
1. RescueTime
Some users consider this program to be a lifesaver because this is a powerful application which can generate your daily scores and measure your productivity. You will receive a report, showing the most productive hours (when you are more productive, in the evening or in the morning).
Besides, if you upgrade to the Premium version, you’ll receive more additional features. One of them is the capability to block distracting sites as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc. The program allows you to set a definite amount of time when you can use these websites, but when this time runs out, RescueTime will automatically block these websites.
This application has an intuitive interface and a variety of highly customizable options.
2. Timing
This is a highly effective tool which enables users to track their productivity at home. The main purpose of this program is to observe how you use your computer and classify your activities. The application provides you with a timeline, which allows you to check whether you were productive or not.
You can find here standard categories as “Games”. “Office” and “Web Browsing”. If it is not enough, you can enter them manually. Several clicks and you’ll see a report, generated in the form of sophisticated graphs. They will show how much time you allot to different activities.
The range of applications, Timing monitors is wide and varies from standard web browsers as Safari or Chrome to such apps as Photoshop, Microsoft Office or even Parallels Desktop.
You can test the functionality for free, but if you appreciate all features offered by the app and wish to get more, you can buy a monthly subscription (the price is $9.99 per month).
3. Creating Schedules
This method has zero chemistry with tracking software products but it can help those people who used to control everything by themselves. If you work at home on a rolling basis, you should schedule all tasks you need to do per day. Otherwise stated, you should take your notebook and write down all tasks you need to do the next day, item by item. Don’t forget to write an approximate amount of time you are going to spend on this task. As soon as you finish one piece of work, you can commence the other duties.
4. Toggle
This is another time tracking application, which can help every person who works at home to boost productivity. The biggest advantages of the app are its clean interface, a broad selection of features and a simple design. To run the app, you just need to fill in a memo regarding your daily tasks and then, you should press the button and the program will start tracking. After that, you’ll see all-time records which describe your online activities. The primary aim of Toggle is to provide you with a clear picture of all your completed assignments. If you wish to test all features, offered by the application, you need to purchase a subscription.
5. Time Doctor
This is another extremely useful solution for those who wish to be more effective. It has a little bit different algorithm of work – it diagnosticates your weak points and provides you with useful solutions. It allows you to keep a check on the ways how your team uses computers. The application can monitor what websites your employees browse and their keyboard activities as well.
This is a number one tool for managers, who need to control the work of their team remotely. Nevertheless, to use this tool you need to notify your staff about this.
All these techniques and programs will help you stay more productive while working at home. If you can’t control your time, modern software solutions will do this for you.
