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by Jd
5495 days ago
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I purchased a year subscription to RescueTime but now think it was a total waste of money and configuration. It is a minor curiosity to see where I spend my time, but gimmicks to keep me from doing things I am otherwise inclined to do (like spending an hour or so on HN a day), are not good long-term solutions -- often ultimately creating a backlash as they are perceived as solutions. For example, I know someone who created a weight-losing app in which you bid against yourself to meet certain goals for losing weight. It is sort of a perverse incentive and it is much better to encourage healthy habits (e.g. exercising, eating better) than try to stop people from doing things that they have an inclination to do. As an example, it is better to give someone who only knows McDonalds a good burger so that they go out of their way to eat a good burger (presumably less frequently) rather than creating a system that gives them a minor electric shock every time they show up at McDonalds. I suppose you could make a case for RescueTime on the basis of monitoring your employees, but I'm also generally opposed to this also. You should basically only hire employees that want to do their job, rather than hiring people or tools to monitor and "enforce" productivity. Which is to say, peak productivity comes from within and from being engaged in the project one is doing, rather than any quantity of external stimuli. I stopped perceiving a need for RescueTime as soon as I left behind crappy consulting gigs and started doing things I enjoyed again. |
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