Measuring Productivity (with RescueTime)

measuring productivity pulse with rescuetime

I’m reviewing my weekly productivity (using the RescueTime app).

Maybe you will find this useful.

  1. My “Productivity Pulse” has been increasing the past couple of months to 82.
  2. I spent 63 hours on my computer (which is primarily only used for work purposes)
  3. 31% of that time was working outside of “business hours” (before 7am or after 8pm)
  4. I spent more than half of a “work day” on Sunday – when I should be honoring the Sabbath
  5. Only 5 hours was spent on Facebook!
  6. Using the premium version of RescueTime, I can see how much time was spent editing each recording. Not including the RX processing, etc, my editing averages to be about 1.7x.
rescuetime how fast can i edit a podcast recording

Observations from these numbers:

  • My Productivity Pulse was in the 60’s when I first started tracking, so RescueTime app has definitely been an eye-opener for me!
  • I’m not upset for working more than a typical 40-hour week because:
    • I get to work from home
    • Building and launching the Academy is like a 2nd job
    • We are quarantined, after all
  • Working outside of “business hours” during the week isn’t a big concern to me for the same reasons mentioned in the bullet above
  • Working on Sunday is NOT something I am okay with!
  • 5 hours of Facebook is less than an hour a day. That’s okay considering I run three groups
  • Getting done in only 1.7x the length of the file is pretty good. I’m very happy with that

Note: For some reason, RescueTime isn’t measuring iZotope RX activity. I use the RX Batch Process, which means I can toss files at it, let it chew away at the file, while I do something else. But it would really help me come up with a full “start-to-finish” measurement of time if it were reported.


How I can improve productivity next week:

My greatest opportunity is clear:

!!! Get my clients to send their files on time!!! (2-3 business days prior to the due date).

Other opportunities are:

Use Facebook on my phone for personal stuff and only on my computer for work/business/marketing purposes. I should be able to get it down to 3.5 hours (30 minutes a day).

Note: Twitter was 55 minutes last week, which is mostly personal use. That needs to be cut out too.

I could also outsource more work to get my total hours down. That’s important to realize – because eventually we will again be visiting each other, traveling, attending conferences, etc. Time will become extremely valuable again.

More productivity equals more profitability

I use RescueTime, which is normally $6 a month. Considering it has helped me focus more on work, I can easily say it saves me at least 3 hours a week.

If you estimate making $20 an hour (the very least you should be valuing your time at), then RescueTime would be “making you” $80 a month.

How do you measure productivity?

What do you do to track your work day?

What can you be doing to improve productivity?

Do you mind working extra right now?