My time-waster is a disorganized system for processing email. I get close to 150-175 per day and I don't take the necessary step to file or delete emails I no longer need to work through. This clogs up my in-box and makes me waste time finding the emails I still need to follow up on. In the future, I will process emails using the system outlined in the training to know what I need to work on without hunting for it.
The biggest time-wasters are from staff and students with unscheduled interruptions, hanging out or talking on cell phones within close proximity of the office. It makes it difficult to focus and complete assignments. We have been closing the office door more often with a sign to let them know we are avaiable, and it has reduced the distractions.
One way for me is to not stop by other offices and ask the question how is everything. I could go straight to my office and start work and let others come to me when they are in need. I am not sure that I have let go of some of the responsibilities or ownership to my department managers, I still feel that I have to be in on every move my department makes.
This is exactly what we go through here. It is bad enough to have so many meetings in a day but then we meet and go over what we are going to go over later in the day. Then we get others involved and go over it again. And if that’s not bad enough we will get off track and go into another topic as soon as someone comes into the office just to stop by.
Time wasters I am not sure there is a way to control or to plan for these when you are not the one making and demanding the meetings all day.
Most of my wasted time comes from having to attend meetings that have nothing to do with my department but I am assured it pertains to the company as a whole and we all should be there. If we could get the upper management to understand that we all do not need to sit for hours on end, it could take something like an e-mail update and we would be good to go.
Wow! good comments - similar situations. I too have drive-bys, drop-ins, STOMP-ins, emails dings become rhythm rather than alert-sometime I just tap my foot to melody rather than answer ïŠ. To get things done I keep track -(Sesame St "Count") As Countess I time and mark things. What I don’t do is have system for concluding visits. I plan to post “Daily Activity Log Chartâ€, (at first I considered “Time Wasters Chart†but had rational moment) then WRITE Initials-and time in/out. Maybe get chime clock to mark each 15 min. I don’t leave office to drop-in without clipboard with items to ask and return with comments noted. (Then I put in pile :-). pj
Thanks, Amy.
A lot of folks name social media sites as their biggest time wasters. The nmost effective strategy I know of is to keep the sites closed until you have a few minutes to look at them when you are having a beverage and recharging.
Those who feel they have to be plugged in constantly and respond immediately tend to be the most adversely impacted by social media sites.
One of my personal time-wasters would be spending too much time on e-mails and social networks. I could find myself sometimes taking 3 or 4 hours. To minimize wasting time I have set up a schedule, that when I am at home I do not spend spend more then one hour in a social network and prioritize my e-mails and only spend more then one hour a day on my personal e-mails.
By far most time wasted is in the form of emails, particularly when these communications are in the form of a CC or BCC. More often than not these emails consume a lot of time, are not directly related to personal tasks at hand and can take away one's attention and focus. To this extent, I have asked many peers to avoid copying me with these kinds of emails unless they are pertinent or directly related to my department, also insisting on an urgency title in the subject title.
FACEBOOK! I am a procrastinator. However, I do get my work done, on time and complete... I'm not sure that I will ever stop my time-wasting with facebook because it cleanses my mind and allows me to reload to tackle my next task.
Mitch,
I do not think the "visit" is the issue. I think the issue is what happend during the visit. I make it a point to visit most, if not all, of the other managers every day to make sure we are aware of what each of us is doing. If I am not careful, we could slip into time-wasting activities during these visits.
Thanks, Debra. Lots of folks have issues with social media. Turning off access and reminders except for during short, planned times during the day seems helpful to a lot of people.
I have several time-wasters. The worst one in my personal time was Facebook. I resolved (for the most part) my 'addiction' by deactivating my account for two weeks. I found after that period that I know longer needed to check it every hour or two. As for work-related time-wasters, it has to be research. As an instructor, I am constantly researching but often times find myself focusing on the tangents rather than the original area that I intended to study. So then most of the material that I've just spent hours pouring through isn't directly related to whatever it is I'm discussing in class.
I wonder why time spent visiting with other managers is considered time-wasting? I would think there are a number of valuable work-related benfits from that time spent. It may be that beneficial relationship building or positioning occurs.
Thanks, Mitch.
Lot's of folks have a similar issue. I found that staying off the Internet is easier if I make sure all the windows are closed unless I need to have them open for the task I am completing.
I typically take a quick look at a few sites during coffee breaks and lunch.
Hands down the biggest time waster for me is internet surfing. I am an information soak and thus feel the need to feed that throughout the day. I would like to think that a reasonable amount of the information informs the work I do but I suspect a majority does not.
In addition to doing the time assessments suggested in this course, I think I could apply an analysis of my internet time. I do think there is value to a certain percentage of the time spent online but I would like to increase the work related usage.
Underestimating the time that things I am unfamiliar with will actually take. I have been working in my field for more than 40 years and for the most part I am able to estimate time very well but when an unfamiliar task rears its ugly head I often underestimate the required time. This can and often does put me behind for the rest of the day, and it is very hard to get back on schedule.Also as a person hired for his artistic skills contemplation of the task can often seem to take an inordinate amount of time. I allow for this time due to experience but am often pushed by clients or those above my immediate manager (who understands the demands of creative enterprise) to get things started more quickly which often results in having to do them over.
Unnecessary meetings throughout the day, unplanned meetings about prior meetings discussing previous meetings!
My biggest time wasters are corporate procedures that don't adequately address the real issues I face in the day to day operation of the business unit I belong to.
I have tried saying no or not at this time but with our company NO will not work. We seem to get further behind and ultimately it means staying at work longer or coming in on the weekends.
Our work style is crises management and not sure how to change when your company cant or either won’t change.
