Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom How to Rescue Your Time

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom How to Rescue Your Time By now, you probably have an idea of how I feel about wasting time at work. Last year, I even went as far as to write that I thought we shouldn’t spend a minute of work time on personal tasks because it’s a slippery slope. Well, according to Salary.com’s 2013 Time Wasting Survey, 69 percent of employees copped to wasting time at work every single day. And I suspect the real number is actually higher because, just like all people think they are good drivers, all people also think they are maximally productive. Thirty-four percent of survey respondents said they routinely waste 30 minutes or less each day while on the clock. That’s not so bad. Unfortunately, a quarter waste between 30-60 minutes daily and 11 percent waste several hours daily on non-work related items. Bad habit. Since I run my own business, I thought I would be more likely to waste time because I wouldn’t feel as guilty as someone who gets paid for every hour they waste at the office. But a recent experiment puts me squarely in the 30-60 minute range. And I know that number is accurate. How, you ask? Introducing RescueTime RescueTime is a nifty little program (and no, I’m not a company spokesperson) that runs in the background of your electronic devices and tracks the time you spend on individual applications and websites. For more about RescueTime and how to use it effectively, check out the full post at Intuits Fast Track blog.