Greg Davis

Seems like a pretty good idea if you already use Google Calendar and you have any inclination to keep a journal of some sort (ie. training log or work journal).

Using it as a journal

I’ve already begun using it as a personal journal – recording anything from how often I use the health club, to personal feelings or ideas that I wish to jot down somewhere.

It works by simply creating a new “event” as an individual journal entry. The events are automatically date and time stamped, so you always know when you wrote something. And, obviously, since it’s a calendar – the events are organized by “day,” keeping a chronological archive of all entries ever written.

The event name is the journal entry headline, and you can use the description part of the event as the body of the journal entry.

via Matt Thommes / Using Google Calendar for other purposes.

Google Calendar’s reminder features are awesome. To my knowledge they are one of the only services that get away with sending SMS messages to mobile phones without paying some additional charge to enable receiving SMS from email. The only problem is using GCal reminders is limited to events only, not tasks or random reminders.

Solution? Create a specific calendar just for reminders (or anything else you’d like to have SMS’d to you). You it toggle it on/off when you look at your calendar so the reminders don’t clutter your calendar. Works for recurring reminders and all that jazz.

I had noted previously that I find it really useful to set a timer when doing computer work.. turns out some of gone a little further and coined “The Pomodoro Technique, which is:

a time management method that can be used for any kind of task. For many people, time is an enemy. The anxiety triggered by “the ticking clock”, especially when a deadline is involved, leads to ineffective work and study habits which in turn lead to procrastination.

The aim of the Pomodoro Technique is to use time as a valuable ally in accomplishing what we want to do in the way we want to do it, and to enable us to continually improve the way we work or study.

It’s good idea, when spending a lot of time doing computer work in one sitting, to get up every once and a while and just move around. Especially for shoulder and back health. The problem is no matter how convinced we are of this it just doesn’t happen.

Well not only can a desktop timer be a good idea for professionals tracking time spent on projects, they can be used for just about anything, including making yourself get up every so often. I think about 25-35 minutes is a realistic interval.

Since I started using it the other major benefit I have noticed is that I regularly question my productivity. If the timer goes off and I haven’t accomplished much (or not on my highest priorities), I have an “Oh crap” moment to get myself in line.

I use this extremely simple timer for windows.

A few good articles:
Productivity Tip: How to use a digital timer to get things done
The Power of 48 Minutes
Boosting Productivity With a Timer