Dealing with Top 5 Time Wasters

Is lack of time a serious problem that has you by the short hairs? Do you feel that time is slipping through your fingers leaving you too little to accomplish everything you have planned? Isn’t it necessary to run through your routine to see what time wasters are operative in your case robbing you of these precious hours? You may improve your daily schedule in quite a remarkable way. Here are the best time management tips ever.

Here is your workday all nicely planned with everything dovetailing, when – hey presto! – something happens that seems to require your attention, and a lot of it! What do you do?

Here are some tips before you jumpstart:

1. Look into the matter closely to see whether it is your own crisis or somebody else’s. Or, the problem arisen may seem to be urgent but not actually propelling your work any further.
2. Pose yourself a question what is the best way to use time right now several times a day – it will sharpen your focus and help bring up priorities.
3. It’s wise to expect problems and allow for them in your schedule. Should you strike a problem, you have time to handle it, and if nothing comes up, you have some time to spare for a short break or for catching up with whatever you have to do.
4. Sometimes you can anticipate developments; then, why not take preventive steps and later be prepared for it when it comes?

1. Overload of Work

You can pile up a load of work that’s too big unthinkingly, then rush about to do it all, maybe attempting to do several things at once. To avoid that, again, you need a well-thought-out schedule.

Hints to prevent that happening:

1. Mind your goals are realistic enough, planned accurately with all time arrangements in due places and the most important affairs provided for before others.
2. Make sure you set enough time for each task and have some time for unexpected croppers-up.
3. It’s always better to have your most important affair completed every day before you leave for home.
4. Try to have one task completed before you move on to another one.
5. If you’re getting involved into some other task, consider whether it’s really up your street, and if no, brace yourself to politely turn down the suggestion.
6. When it is possible, share your work with others – see if someone else can do some of the tasks better or quicker than you.

2. Dawdling

If you sit doing nothing but pondering over a puzzler or a difficult solution,- well and good! But if you just don’t feel like getting down to the task at hand, you can find yourself frittering away more time than you can afford.

Think of the ways you can watch out for this:

1. Never delay doing what you are to do, while you will be weighing arguments pro and contra, precious time will be slipping away, and you may seriously derail your schedule.
2. Should you try to postpone a task because you believe it is overwhelming, see if you will be able to break it up into smaller tasks and get them done one after another. It will do great things to your motivation and may step up headway in a marked manner.
3. If you tend to put off certain tasks which you consider repetitive or boring, set special time for them and in this way you will dispense with much of the temptation to avoid them.

3. Telephone calls

We can’t get by without the telephone nowadays, yet it can steal so much time that it is amazing when you come to think of it.

Can we sort phone calls out?

1. Fit in a special spell for returning phone calls. Group them as much as you can so as to prevent your day from phone interruptions to some extent at least.
2. Try not to indulge in social small talks during a business call. If the other party flies off at a tangent, be ready to divert the caller back to the point.
3. If you have time limits, be sure to inform your interlocutor about it as soon as it is appropriate, best of all right from the start.
4. Try and curb the attempts to put you on hold. Arrange for a call back or leave a message if there’s danger of it happening.
5. Make your messages short and clear, don’t forget to mention what time it would be convenient to call you back.
6. Think if you can settle these points via e-mail instead of phoning, to make it less disruptive for your day.

4. Unexpected Guests & Callers

When people come up to you asking for a minute, it is likely to be a very long minute! Mind you know some ways to deal with unexpected visitors in the most effective and acceptable manner.

Here is some help towards it:

1. When a caller is approaching you, stand up to meet them, thereby showing that you are busy. This way you can make the conversation be conducted standing, and the atmosphere becomes more business-like and less laid-back.
2. Get the caller to tell you the purpose of the visit as soon as possible, and react at once by readdressing the caller to proper authorities or dealing with the matter straightaway.
3. Avoid unnecessary chatting and set a time limit for the conversation. If necessary, arrange for a follow-up at the time convenient for you.
4. Never show that you are ready to postpone whatever you were doing. On the contrary, make it clear that you are eager to go back to the task at hand.
5. Have some time planned for discussing everyday issues with your colleagues or other persons involved, it may help eliminate with unexpected interruptions.

5. Cluttered workplace

Do you just put things down on your desk without minding where exactly they landed – and then rummage for them for quite a while sometimes? Do you often miss documents?

Here are some solutions for that:

1. Don’t make your desk one limitless inbox – set up two boxes for in and out papers and then you can further clear up things by keeping them on some cabinet.
2. Set a time when you sort out your documents or your mail. It will be more efficacious if you use the FAT system to help you including File, Act and Toss stages:

• File – keep special folders where you can store everything you may need;
• Act – peruse documents and mail and respond as required to most pressing matters;
• Toss – do away with whatever items you no longer need.