Getting rid of your time wasters will free up time for more important and meaningful tasks, allowing you to function at your peak performance level. When your valuable time and energy are spent on time wasters, your focus on high priorities is diminished. This can translate into projects turned in late, less quality time spent on critical tasks, and mistakes made. Your brain can only focus 100% on one activity at a given moment, so practice making the best use of your time.
Take time to look at a normal workday. Evaluate what you do on those normal days and categorize each task as important, critical, or not important? Are the areas you categorized as not important time wasters that you can either get rid of or modify? Here are some examples of possible time-wasters at work:
Timewaster: Searching through piles of documents on a disorganized desk Solution: Clean as you go & organize before you leave each day
Timewaster: Surfing the internet Solution: Consciously give yourself time limits on the internet
Timewaster: Listening to or participating in gossip Solution: When the gossiper comes to you say this, “Is this about you or me?”. They may look at you funny, however, they will stop approaching you with any gossip.
Time waster: Constantly checking your email/emails not well organized in sub-folders Solution: Set specific times to check emails. Develop strategic sub-folders and place emails needing extra work in a separate sub-folder.
Time waster: Constant interruptions from visitors that are not work-related or a non-emergency Solution: Ask habitual offenders to email their requests and you will get back with them at a specified time in the morning or afternoon.
Time waster: Unnecessary meetings or ones that drag on too long Solution: Set a meeting agenda ahead of the meeting, assign a timekeeper for the meeting, and stick to it. Add no side talk to the ground rules.
Organize your time effectively to get rid of the time-wasters in your day to be in “the flow” more often. Being in “the flow” is when you are getting a lot of work done in a short period of time without feeling pressured or stressed. #RisingEQ