By Solo Studio
The Next Web reporter Owen Williams has discovered a super simple, but super valuable, productivity hack hidden in his laptop. There’s a setting buried in System Preferences on OS X under “Date & Time and Clock” that has your computer audibly read out the time every hour, half-hour, or quarter-hour. With the setting on, you’ll begin getting a regular vocal reminder from your computer of the time:
[I]t actually made me far more aware of how I was spending my time and how far through the day I was.
Consider this; it’s easy when you’re a knowledge worker to stare into your screen for much of the day before suddenly realizing you haven’t achieved much when 5 PM rolls around.
When your computer is audibly saying the time to you, it’s a regular reminder to get back to work. And it actually works. This ridiculous trick has actually made me write more consistently throughout the day and has reduced my time spent on distractions; I’m now more aware of where the time goes, as opposed to just letting it slip away.
Being held accountable to time, the concept that powers Laura Vanderkam’s uber-popular 168 Hours time log, forces you to minimize unproductiveness and stay on track. Letting your mind wander beyond the boundaries of your work is, of course, essential to creativity. But having a consistent nudge (“Hey, it’s been an hour”) ensures you maintain the best balance between focus and distraction.
Windows user? You can configure this too, but fair warning: it’s a little more complicated to set up.
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