Thanks, Richard.
What is keeping you from preparing adequately?
My "time waster" would be not preparing for the upcoming day. I know in advance most of the daily meetings but knowing there will be student issues and staff issues I am just walking into the building and gearing up to putting out fires. I jump from one task to another and then wonder where the day went. When it comes accomplishing a goal I feel I do my best under direst or stress.
Anything on Internet is a real time waster for me in general. I go on to check e-mail and lose track of time. I end up responding to e-mails, following links in emails to lesson plans, new materials, etc. Then from there, who knows? As I mentioned before I have adult ADD, so I sometimes have difficult from keeping my mind on track with my original goals. Time-wasters are abound on the Internet for me.
Robert,
I always found that staying a bit later tended to help me finish checking papers and planning lessons. Students tended to leave fairly quickly after class. Once I helped the ones who stayed, I had some uninterrupted time to get things done so that I was ready to go when I came in the next day.
It is also important to build reasonable expectations in your students. Next day is notalways reasonable.
I would tell them ahead of time when they should expect things to be graded and returned. If I told them three days, I mad sure they were ready to be returned in three days. They did not bug me about them until the date I said they would be returned.
It worked well for me.
Not Prioritizing lengthier tasks in a time schedule that facilitates it. For example, grading 20, 50 question tests on a day when I have 4 classes to teach rather than on a day that I have only morning classes to teach. It is a waste of time to come to school early, knowing that a task cannot be completed because of other issues.
I never realized how many time wasters occupy by normal day. The biggest time waster is not allowing enough time for unexpected interuptions. In the future I will allocate more time for this.
Hank,
Email can be manageable if we treat it like any other daily task. It is common for us to think we have to read each email right away and respond almost as quickly. Setting aside email times, and turning email off during the other times, should be pretty helpful.
Let me know how it works for you.
E-Mail!! I waste too much time just getting through all of the junk. Most of the list-serves are valuable to our business but most of the traffic doesn't apply to my specific office. The value is the one time in ten that it saves me from making the same mistake. The solution for now is to set at least a full hour aside each morning for e-mail, then staying off until after lunch for another hour.
Not estimating the lenght of time or the full depth of the problem has made me start back over too many times. Take more time out in the beginning to understand scope and who all is needed to make the project work are key for me.
Those are bad time wasters for me. In addition, find that I try and visit with other managers to find out what all is going on with the company. That will take too much time out of my day trying to stay in the loop vs working
Christine, I agreed regarding instant messaging and taking break. Once a day, my collegue and I, take a walk around the building to get away from the computer screen.
I tend to go on the web to review news sites, stock quotes and sports resutls. Specifically, Monday mornings after NFL games!!
I have similar issues. I have found that I have to turn off the instant messaging and close my email for periods during the day so that I can get things done uninterrupted.
I do a lot of stops and starts throughout the day. This is mostly due to the fact that I have instant messaging for work. I am showing as available which allows anyone to start a conversation. I also have trouble sticking to one thing for anything more than 15 min and I need to take a break from it and think about other things. It helps refresh my mind.
Thanks, Tracy.
Steve Covey writes about a logger that is less productive at the end of the day because he will not stop cutting trees long enough to sharpen the saw. Developing a plan is equivalent to sharpening the saw. By taking that time, we will save time in the long run.
Thanks, David.
I was in the same position as you when I was a Dean. I found two things to be helpful. Once per week or so, I would work from home a few hours before coming into the school. I found that I could do more in those two hours than I could in three or four at the school because there were no interruptions.
I also blocked out time on my calendar for important projects. That way, I had "an appointment" and was unavailabe.
I always made sure someone was available to work with students who needed immediate assistance during these periods.
Biggest time wasters for me is unscheduled visits from coworkers and students. I work at a very small school so I know everyone. Students and coworkers like to come by and chat about non work related things. I find myself getting caught up in it because I feel I would be rude to turn them away. After going through the course, I feel like I will be more comfortable to shut my office door at certain times to keep the visits down and complete my tasks and work.
I too, underestimate how long it REALLY takes to complete a task, even everyday, routine tasks. This topic reminds me of a funny but pointed story....My Mom bakes a lot of muffins, but she burns them almost every time! If the directions say that the muffins need to bake for 12-16 minutes, she'll set her kitchen timer for 16 minutes, only to find that the muffins are already burned. I think to myself, "How many times do you have to burn the muffins before you realize that you are cooking them too long?!?" If I apply the "muffin concept" to my own personal and work life, I could say, "How many times do I have to do _________ (fill in the blank) before I realize that it takes me twice as long as I think it will?!?"
To remedy this, I need to honestly and accurately PLAN more time (even extra time!) for every task, then JUST DO IT!
Kenny,
Many folks, including me, find the Internet to be a distraction at work. I have found that taking a surfing break, (simultaneous with my coffee break, a couple of times a day gives me my "surfing fix." Other than that, I try to keep my web browser closed.
For me, the biggest thing that I waste time with is internet surfing. I do not really surf for anything specific, just seeing what is out there. I tend to do this more when I am trying to put off things I am not really into doing. I get my work completed on time and accurately, but I seem to lose time to the internet.
I have never really tried minimize time wasters in my life because I always meet my deadlines and responsibilities. I might do something about time wasters if I got into a habit of not meeting my responsibilities, but I have no issues with that.
