So since I started using askubuntu.com I've spent entirely too much time here answering other people's questions. Now maybe someone could help me with that by answering this one. I'm looking for time management software for Ubuntu.
There are a number of these programs floating around for Windows. RescueTime is one that is very popular. The key features that I'd like to see in a linux app that RescueTime has are:
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Automatically records what application you are using, including what websites you visit.
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Reports and graphs on your time usage.
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Notifications for when you have spent too much time on "distractions."
While RescueTime doesn't officially support linux, there is an open source RescueTime Linux Uploader. Unfortunately, it seems to only support Firefox and Epiphany for website tracking. I'm a Chromium user.
The other major drawback to RescueTime is that it is a web service. I'd much rather not upload detailed information about how I spend my time to some third party. Google already knows too much about me as it is.
Project Hamster, a GNOME time management app, comes so close. Sadly, it does not automatically track what you are doing. If I had enough discipline to manually report to an applet what I was up to, I doubt I'd need this. (How cool would it be if they provided some Zeitgeist integration to handle that part?)
Best Answer
Hamster doesn't automatically track your actions, but it can be set to remind you every few minutes, which I actually find more useful. You can ask yourself every n minutes "am I still doing what I was planning to do?", "should I stop now?", "why am I not doing what I planned to be doing?" Then you can change course right away, rather than at the end of the day finding you spent three hours on askubuntu. :-)
Ultimately I want to develop more mindfulness of where I'm using my time, and these questions help.