Skip to main content

It's All About Timing

From very early days here in law school, my fellow 1L's (first year law students) and I heard about the importance of time. As students, we have been learning to manage our time in order to get things done on time. As lawyers, we have been told that we will be tracking our time in fifteen minute intervals for billing clients. I decided that it is never too early to apply and learn career related skills. To that end, over the holiday break, I dug out one of my favorite parenting tools. Here it is:
Yep, it is that magical bit of technology known as a kitchen timer.

When the boys were young, we employed these lovely gadgets in many different ways. Quite often, we would make a game of cleaning up their rooms by setting the timer for fifteen minutes and scrambling to clean up as much as possible in that time. This made a game out of cleaning and it also made it more bearable. Those handy timers also were employed in our school room (we homeschooled). Of course, the timers were also used in cooking class (that is homeschool speak for making dinner). After many years of service, the timers had been languishing unused until this one was returned to service to help me track exactly what I was spending my time doing here at school.

However, I am afraid that my poor timer is going to fall back into disuse since I was introduced to Toggl* this week. In the words of the developer, Toggl is "a simple online timer with a powerful timesheet calculator." Basically, it is a timer on steroids. I am using the free basic version, and it is suitable for my needs. (Although, if you have need of more features, there are other versions which would be suitable for business use). Also, it has the option to mark time as billable which means it will be able to move right into my law office after graduation.

So far, I have tried the web browser, the mobile app, and the desktop app and I like them all. The best part is the graphical displays showing exactly where my time has gone. Here is a screenshot from my phone:
Mobile App Screenshot

As if that wasn't enough, Toggl also incorporates a "game" to help motivate you by unlocking "achievements" for using the program. It is a good thing that I am not competitive...(Hubster, stop rolling your eyes!).


If you are in need of a way to track time, give it a try! It may just suit your purpose.

*Not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the web. I look forward to reading what you have to say!

Popular posts from this blog

In Memory of...

I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Washington DC during National Police Week .  While there, the Hubster ran the Police Week 5K and we visited the Law Enforcement Officers Memoria l.  The memorial is a sobering reminder that so many have given all in the pursuit of public safety.  Unfortunately, it was raining so the pictures aren't great, but the rain seemed fitting--almost as if angels were mourning with those gathered there.  The memorial itself is surrounded by a beautiful park setting with trees and seasonal flowers and is composed of two curved marble walls engraved with the names of the more than 19,000 officers who have died. Each of the memorial walls is flanked by a lion protecting its cubs and keeping silent vigil. Seal embedded in center of the memorial plaza It seems that every day a new name is added to the list that will be inscribed just before Police Week begins.  The park and memorial are beautiful and worth a stop if ...
1 comment
Read more

Albemarle County Ordinance Update

A dministrators of false alarm units are often called on to present information to the local government officials.  In preparation for my debut briefing the Supervisors in my county, I visited Albemarle County last week for their  Board of Supervisors meeting .  The Albemarle County Police Department was before the board to present some updates to their false alarm ordinance so it was a good opportunity to witness public reaction.  The great thing about local government is that the public has the opportunity to participate.  Albemarle County and many other counties allow citizens to have their time to air their opinions simply by signing up before the meeting begins.  The number of people who sign up, determines how much time each speaker is given.  For this meeting, there were so many people signed up, that the time limit was reduced to two minutes each. The agenda for each meeting is generally posted in advance but the public commentary doe...
2 comments
Read more

Queen of the Dairy

Did you know that the Dairy Queen Blizzard turned 25 last year?  I remember when the Blizzard was introduced which makes me officially...old.  Anyway, there was no Dairy Queen in the town where I grew up but there was one where my great grandfather lived.  Do you remember when a trip longer than 15 minutes lasted fuh evah?  When I was little, the 65 minute drive to my great grandfather's small town felt like an eternity.  Maybe it felt so long  because  I was hoping for that extremely rare occurrence of a stop at the Dairy Queen.  My parents were teachers  and the budget was always tight, but occasionally we would stop at DQ and we could get a small cone.  We never got to choose--it was always just that small vanilla cone, but it was a treat nonetheless. Once I was able to drive and had a job, those stops at DQ were almost mandatory when I ventured on my own to my grandparents house.  I probably tried something different each time-...
2 comments
Read more