Free Productivity Tool

As you may have noticed from the blog's absence last week, I began feeling the need for better organisation, and, in the process, found a 100% free productivity tool.

It happened like this. In the midst of it everything else we had a powercut. (Yes, they do happen in London, mostly to do with people (endlessly) digging up the road).

Anyway, we had one. And because we had one, I had a proper, old-fashioned clock on my desk, in order to keep track of time during phone-coaching sessions.

The power came back, but the clock stayed. And during that day, I was more productive than I had been in ages. Other than a two-hour power cut, the only thing which had changed was the clock. So I began extolling its virtues to my Long-Suffering Spouse. Who listened patiently, as I explained that seeing the time in analogue made me (as someone who doesn't "think in numbers") made me much more aware of time passing than figures in the bottom right of the screen.

"You know you can get a picture of a clock on your screen, don't you?" he said.

I didn't. But as it turned out, you can get, not just that, but a note-pad for a ready-made to-do list (say goodbye to endless scrappy Post-it notes) and many other delights as well.

The secret is Google desktop gadgets, which are available here:

http://desktop.google.com/en/gettingstarted.html

My estimation is that they've boosted my productivity in recent days by around 20%.

Hope this helps you too.

Clare