An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day - Peter Bregman - HarvardBusiness.org

by Peter Bregman | 2:27 PM July 20, 2009 Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, and checked my email. Two hours later, after fighting several fires, solving other people’s problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my computer and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I first turned on my computer. When I teach time management, I always start with the same question: How many of you have too much time and not enough to do in it? That means we start every day knowing we’re not going to get it all done. But even with those lists, the challenge, as always, is execution. We need a trick. Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru, knows all about tricks; he’s famous for handcuffing himself and then swimming a mile or more while towing large boats filled with people. But none of that is what impresses me.

To do list, simple, easy, fast, sharable: Ta-da List Hello, We launched Ta-da List back in January of 2005 so everyone could have a fast and free to-do list app in their web browser. There wasn’t much out there that was good in 2005. My, how things have changed. Because we haven’t given Ta-da List much attention in the last few years, and as part of refocusing our efforts on Basecamp — we’ve decided to retire Ta-da List. But don’t worry — any to-do lists you already created here at TadaList.com will continue to work. Thanks to everyone who used Ta-da List over the years. Onwards, Jason Fried, Founder & CEO, Basecamp

Klok - Personal Time Tracking made Easy - Free Software Getting Started with Klok 2 New to Klok? No problem. Here's a quick guide of what you'll need to be productive with Klok. Create a Project...or two Before you can track your time you will need to add some projects to track time against. To change project details double click on the [New Project], this will open the project summary tab screen where you can change the projects name and other attributes such as hourly rate for the project, estimated hours for the project and whether or not the project is billable. On the properties tab you can change other attributes such as the projects color in week view, Project Code, Contact Name, Contact Email, Contact Phone if applicable. Start Tracking Some Time Now that you have added a project you can start tracking time against it. You may also drag a project name from the project name list on the left and drop it directly to the week view screen. Make Klok your own... Set up Klok to work the way you want. What to do with the data...

10 Adobe AIR apps that make you more productive Adobe AIR apps are some of the best designed, most useful applications you can have on your desktop. Last month, I highlighted 10 applications to try out, if you're thinking about using AIR apps . This time around, I want to take a look at 10 apps that will make you more productive. Trust me, they will help you save some time. Be more productive Agile Agenda Agile Agenda is a project management tool that helps project managers keep their team on track. Agile Agenda is quite impressive. Agile Agenda gives you the option of trying it for 3 days or 30 days, or buying a license. Doomi Doomi is an extremely simple to-do-list app that lets you quickly add items you need to complete. File Furnace File Furnace is a unique app. Google Calendar Invoice Creator If you're looking for an easy way to transfer all your meetings from your Google Calendar to a program that will bill those with whom you met, Google Calendar Invoice Creator is for you. My top 3 1. 2. 3.

When is the Best Time to Tweet? As fleeting as Tweets are, it is not surprising that marketers wonder about - and experiment with - the best times to send a Tweet. Certainly this is a subject of intense interest to email marketers and much of the same reasoning that is used in timing an email marketing campaign can translate to a Twitter campaign. But not all as - obviously - Tweets are far shorter and can be blasted out, with slight changes in content, by the hour. Around the Clock The Social Media Guide found 9:00AM Pacific Time is the best time to Tweet. Another handy tip from Social Media Guide - if you want to target a specific person, try Tweet O'Clock to determine when is the best time to tweet that individual. Gary McCaffrey believes any time between 9:00AM and 3:00PM is best based on Twitter referrals to his websites. Malcom Coles says 4:01PM is the best time to tweet based on a survey he conducted - with 11 am to 12 the next best window of opportunity. Twitter Time Fingerprint

Facebook Privacy Makes The Cover of Time Magazine 8 Excellent Time Tracking Utilities for Mac – Mac.AppStorm Time management is a constant battle for most people in their day-to-day lives. It is a vital part of any workflow, even more so those in which billing is dependent on time worked. Several applications make it easy to log, calculate, and even create invoices based on the information collected. Most of the applications can also manage tasks associated with a project and can even assign project to individual clients that have specific needs. Billings Billings A very nice application with many counterparts, Billings provides very professional looking invoices, and makes time tracking super easy. Price: $39.99 Developer: Marketcircle Requires: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later, however Mac OS X 10.5 or later is strongly recommended. Harvest Harvest Being fast, easy, and streamlined definitely has its perks, especially when time is of the essence. Price: Starting at $12 per month (Plan based variable pricing) Developer: Iridesco Requires: Modern internet browser Billable Billable On The Job On The Job iBiz