Overcoming Your Worst Time Wasters
- Curb Your Commuting. If you have to live far from work or school, take steps to reduce the time you waste driving. Join or form a carpool or use public transportation as often as possible so you can spend that time reading, working or catching up on correspondence.
- Don’t Be Such a Social Networking Butterfly. Facebook, Twitter and similar sites are lots of fun but very addictive. Do you really need to follow all your friends’ comments and activities all day long? Turn them off, unsubscribe or promise yourself that you’ll only check once or twice a day. All the little comments you would have made throughout the day suddenly won’t seem so important anymore.
- Multi-task When You Watch TV. If you have a DVR or TiVo, make a habit of only turning on the television when there’s a recorded show you want to watch. Surfing the channels to find something “good” always ends up wasting your time with sub-par viewing. While you watch, take care of other tasks: fold laundry, pay bills, do the dishes, roll out the stationary bike or do some sit-ups.
- Mind Your Meetings. Do you ever have days when you spend more time in meetings than actually doing productive work? Talk to your supervisor or HR Department about addressing the number of meetings in your department or company. If you do have to attend a meeting, make sure the person calling the meeting sends out an agenda in time for everyone to prepare. Always have a specific goal and ending time. Try to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand when it gets off track.
- Don’t Worry, Keep Busy. Worry is probably one of the most useless time wasters of all, in both your professional and personal life. Occasionally, you might worry about something that’s under your control, such as a large event you’re planning or a project you’re completing. Rather than worry, make a detailed project outline and follow it to ensure your success.
Most worries, though, are about things you can’t control. No matter how much you worry, it won’t affect the outcome – so why bother? To keep yourself distracted from your worries, keep busy with work, activities you enjoy and helping others.
Question: What are your worst time wasters, and how do you conquer them?
