There are two types of time killers in everyone’s life. Unless
you deal with both, you’ll lose productive time every single day
and be a lot less effective than you could be.
Some time killers are more of less common to most people. This
article will tell you more about how to deal with them.
Apart from that, there are also other time killers that are
highly specific to each individual. They have to do with your
habits, personality and working style.
To eliminate such time wasters, the first and most essential
step is to be a keen observer of how you spend your time. Once
you have a handle on what specific habits or situations are
robbing you of your time, you’ll be better positioned to deal
with those issues. And deal with them you must, if you want to
be more productive.
Before you do that, let’s look at six common problems that waste
mammoth amounts of time and what you can do about them.
Time killer #1: Phone calls Someone said that the telephone may
be the most misused of all modern conveniences! Phones turn out
to be time wasters instead of time savers because they’re
incorrectly used. Where do we go wrong in using phones?
Do you make the mistake of not starting a phone conversation
correctly? When you telephone someone, you should straightaway
identify yourself and ask for the person you want to speak to.
Instead, if you get into a “who is speaking” routine, you waste
valuable time even before the conversation has begun.
The other big issue is how long you chat on the phone. Phone
conversations are best kept brief. Going on and on over the
phone not only wastes time, but may also prevent someone else
from reaching one of you with an urgent message.
Now that mobile phones are ubiquitous, a whole new range of
phone usage problems have sprung up. If you answer a mobile
phone while you are in a meeting with someone is obviously an
irritant to that person. Unfortunately, most people give the
person calling more importance than the person they are with,
which is extremely bad etiquette.
If you must have a lengthy conversation on your mobile phone, at
least excuse yourself and leave so that the other person is not
left hanging while you chat and giggle on the phone.
Time killer #2: Machines that don’t work well In many
organizations, this is a bigger time killer than many people
realize. Examples: A photocopier that takes a long time to
produce the first copy, a desk drawer that gets stuck all the
time, a door knob that won’t open the door till you jiggle it
several times and so on.
Until such machinery is either repaired or replaced, it will
continue to waste time and lower productivity.
Time killer #3: The endless talkers We all know people who are
in love with their own voices. They lose all sense of time once
they start talking! In the process, they can easily waste hours
of your time as well.
The best way to deal with such folks is to avoid them in the
first place. That’s much better than requesting them to shut up!
Ask your secretary to divert their calls, or use caller ID to do
the same thing.
But make no mistake -- they are serious time killers and you
need to deal with them appropriately.
Time killer #4: Traffic jams This one’s a huge problem in most
cities. Calculate the amount of time you spend each day in
traffic jams, multiply that by the number of work days in a year
and prepare to be astonished at the colossal waste of your
productive time.
One solution is to leave an hour early. Of course, that still
kills your time, although it does help you avoid being late.
Where possible, walk to work, or take the metro part of the way
and walk the rest of the distance. You’ll probably get there
faster. Plus, you’ll be in better health too.
Another approach is to use the time you’re caught in the traffic
to do something constructive. Like listen to a CD on self
development or on a professional topic. That way, at least you
get something useful out of the time that would otherwise be
lost.
Time killer #5: Queues These days, you can use the internet or
the telephone to eliminate much of the need to stand in queue,
whether it’s for booking tickets, doing a routine banking
transaction, etc. Where possible, utilize those options, because
they save you considerable time.
Time killer #6: Meetings Meetings are supposed to boost
productivity. Unfortunately, in most cases, they tend to lower
it. This happens largely because of bad planning.
Take the time to prepare a crystal clear agenda for the meeting,
including what outcomes you’re looking for. Then communicate
that to all meeting participants in advance. Just this one step
will go a long way to converting meetings into productive
activities instead of time killers.
Deal constructively with these time killers as well as others
that are unique to your situation. And you’ll discover that
you’re adding hours to your day and getting more done in less
time than ever before.
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