Victoria,
This is a solid plan. Most people find they are more productive when they turn off distractions like social media during the work day. They also enjoy their social media moments more when they take them.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Nowadays I think that social media like facebook, twitter, etc were Time wasters for me.
What I do is to design some minutes during my lunch time to do this, not in my working hours. This allow me to get communicated with friends and family.
And give me the chance to break the routine during my lunch time, if I don't have any lunch with a client or a co-worker.
Amanda,
This is a pretty common issue. I think setting limits and scheduling social media time is a good solution. I suggest saving it for home or until the school day is done to jkeep yu from falling back into the behavior you described above.
Jeffrey Schillinger
A personal "time-waster" for me is social media. Too often I find myself online when I could be working on other productive things. Even when I am teaching and the students are taking a quiz or testing I find myself occpying my mind with that other than grading or preparing for what comes after the test or quiz. I limit my social media access to when I am at home or the students are on a break.
Paul,
I hate that. I like to blind copy everyone in large emails so that a "reply to all" does not fill everyone else's mail box.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I feel that a big time waster is getting E MAIL from people who "send to all" instead just the people that it is intended for.
Gene,
Thanks for your enthusiastic participation in this course.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Yes you are correct. I work at various schools and some are mostly at-risk. I have shown this video at the schools I work. The population of students really are inspired by this video. I once had a student come up to me after class crying because she was so inspired by this video. This is when I knew this was of great value to the population of students I teach. However, I do understand your point. I would not show this video to students at an Ivy league college because the population is different. Show this video to inner city youth at an at risk school and I assure you they will be inspired. (in my opinion) To see a class walk out discussing this video was great. The impact was surreal. Its challenging teaching inner city youth to grasp their attention is a challenge within itself. I suggest teachers experience inner city youth. I cant tell you how many teachers quit because they cannot handle at risk or inner city youth instruction. I challenge anyone who has never taught in this population to give it a chance and try something new. The feeling of reaching this type of population is more rewarding than any salary can pay. This was great discussion, thanks for your comments.
Gene ,
I liked the video. (I'm a Detroiter and he had a Tigers' cap on his head.) Sending this type of video can only help. The one caution is that you need to make sure what you send is appropriate for your audience and in line with your institution's values.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I have found that I can make time for my favorite television shows e.g. Law and Order, scandal, the have and have not's, Dallas, American Idol, etc. However, when they are more important things that need to get done I always seem not to have time. It wasn't until I came across this video on you tube that I was enlightened. http://youtu.be/xM_7j6t9IyU
After watching this video I started to DVR my favorite shows. Not only did I find more time for more important things, I actually saved time because I get to skip commercials. I have since changed my time waster activities by having more time for the important things vs. not important e.g. my favorite televisions shows.
Does anyone else struggle with this problem? You find time for your favorite television shows or sports shows, yet you have no time for more important things?
If anyone watches the youtube video, please share your comments about this. It really opened my eyes. I email my students this video as a resource on day 1 of classes. The students love it because they can relate to the speaker.
Thanks
G.H
John,
Thanks, John. I hope a few things in this course will help you reach the right balance.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I would probably say the biggest time waster was the need for cigarette breaks. I have recently cut down on the amount of them I take
I find that a big time waster of mine is not finishing tasks before starting another. Even when completing sections of a task I will find something else that "needs improvement" and become side-tracked. I sometimes find myself at the end of the work day, out of time with nothing finished and way too many things started. I start to feel unproductive and therefore invaluable, not how I think of myself. This has caused me to put in a lot of extra uncompensated work time in order to "catch up." It works because I actually end up ahead because I get a lot of things done. My problem is that they aren't done in a timely manner. This has led to conflicts at home as that "extra work time" cuts into family and personal time. I need to Prioritize better by keeping in mind the scheduled amount of time for each task and in doing so stay on target.
William,
Great post. Thank you for sharing this. I have had similar reactions when I thought I was being "helpful."
Jeffrey Schillinger
In the past I found myself "helping" my direct reports accomplish their tasks. I did this on my "own" time so I thought that I was really a team player. This resulted in an increased stress level for me, decreased personal time and a staff that felt they were not trusted to do their jobs. I have learned that I should allow them to complete the mission they were given, structure my personal time so that I can maximize rest and relaxation and finally have communcate with my reports to ensure they are not over burdened with work.
Jamie,
I have found closing my door for 30 - 45 minutes to limit interruptions is very effective. It is also a good idea to find polite ways to ask folks to come back later when you will have "more time to listen."
Jeffrey Schillinger
I find that constant interruptions are my biggest time-waster. Phone calls, people stopping by my office, etc. I try to limit the duration of these interruptions, but sometimes I find it difficult without appearing rude.
My second biggest time-waster is procrastination with tasks I'm dreading. I've found the best way to avoid this is to jump right into those tasks before others. Usually once I start them I find that they aren't that bad and I dreaded them for no reason. Even if the task ends up being as difficult as I excepted I feel much better once I have it completed.
Checking emails can be a big time waster for me because I can get really distracted. I have not tried this but I am willing to minimize this time waster by only checking emails 4 times a day.
Tequilla,
Not being patient enough to let others do things for you can be a challenge.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Working in the Career Center I have wasted time with alot of adminstrative and marketing duties that could clearly be handled by our student workers. Creating flyers and job postings are my responsibilty, however, someone can walk around campus and put them up. I believe it is my sense of urgency to get certain tasks done or job information out that causes me to do this. Whe I want the information out sometimes the student workers are not available and I do not want to wait. This is definitely something I can work on.
