For Christmas many many years ago, my friend Alex Mandossian sent us a timer as a gift.  In the card he sent along with it he said one of the most useful tools he has is a timer.  He went on to explain how chunking your time and setting a timer becomes a great productivity tool.

I've used a timer ever since, and in today's Tuesday's Tips & Tools we are featuring a free timer that runs on your computer.  You can find it at e.ggtimer.com This tool is a very simple timer that allows you to chunk your time just by typing the amount of minutes or hours you would like in the box on their page:

So, how have I used this tool?

I like to organize my time so that I don't spend all day on one task.  For example, if I am checking email, I will set the timer to 15 minutes, and I will just spend 15 focused minutes on email.  Then I'll reset the timer for 45 minutes to work on my next blog post.

In addition to using this countdown timer, I will write a list of the tasks I would like to accomplish.  Then i will write down a time that I would like to allocate to that task, next to each task.  I will then plug each one into the e.ggtimer.com to keep myself accountable and on time, and I will then cross off that task and time time I spent on it, and move to the next one.

I am guilty of being a serial multitasker!  I multitask like crazy…. and we've all heard that multi-tasking can be very inefficient.  Using a timer helps me to avoid multitasking and allows me to focus on one task at a time for a specific amount of time.

Enjoy this free countdown timer and let me know how you are using it in your life!