Response Magic 
Time Wasters To Avoid
Begin Managing Your Time Right Now
Don't put off dealing with your time management issues any longer.
The more you wait, the further behind you will fall; the further behind you fall, the more difficult your situation will get.
Here are 40 actions that most people do to waste their time:
How many of them do you participate in?
1. Spending too much time during the day reading email
2. Being a member of too many online communities
3. Putting off tasks you don't want to accomplish
4. Checking your social media accounts too often during the day
5. Excessive text texting
6. On the spur of the moment, watching Youtube videos
7. Googling on the
internet at random
8. Taking on too many jobs at once
9. Multitasking
10. Complaining or gossiping about others
11. Accusing others of making faults
12. When you first start using new items or software, you don't read the manuals and instructions.
13. Daydreaming
14. Spending too much time pondering insignificant decisions
15. Looking through a cluttered environment for misplaced documents or other objects
16. Excessively neatness
17. Performing tasks that could be entrusted to others.
18. Micromanaging your employees is number
19. Allowing subordinates and team members to load problems on you that they should be able to solve themselves.
20. Unnecessarily shifting priorities
21. Failing to take steps to minimize interruptions
22. Writing letters, memoranda, and reports that a secretary or assistant could write
Failure to set goals and
objectives (number 23).
24. Failure to set a daily schedule
25. Failure to establish priorities
26. Crisis management
27. Poor meeting planning or management
28. Failure to maintain a proper filling system
29. Misplacing data and materials and failing to return them to their proper locations
30. Making use of antiquated methods
31. Failing to automate time-saving tasks that could be automated.
32. Involvement in personal disputes
33. Personal insecurity
34. Ineffective communication or poor listening skills
35. During business hours, there are too many personal activities and phone calls.
36. Involvement of too many persons in decision-making
37. Not completing one task before moving on to the next
38. Making or receiving unimportant phone calls
39. Spending an excessive amount of time on phone calls
40. Carrying out trivial or unnecessary duties (busy work)
So, make a plan to eliminate those hours - wasters
Make a note of your most time-consuming hobbies, and then plan to remove or dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend on them to better manage your time.
Writing down the cause of the problem and the methods to remedy it in a worksheet is the greatest way to get something done about those time-wasting activities.
List what needs to be done and who else needs to be involved as you prepare to tackle each challenge.
Start with minor problems if the biggest drain on your time appears to be too complex to solve right now. After you've solved the minor issues, you can move on to the more serious issues.
Thank you sir
ReplyDeleteThe post is quite insightful. There. are so many time eaters . We may engage in them without knowing. We need to be disciplined with our time to achieve alot especially in areas of financial management. Time is money. One way we can avoid excessive time wasting is having a to do list and ensuring one accomplishes them. Give one's self reward when one does it and always strive to do things better when at the end of the day, one doesn't do his to do list.
Set goals and targets and work towards them on daily basis.
Thank you
Good job Dr. Ebube
Delete1. 1. Making and receiving unimportant calls. This is a huge time waster for me and from now I would have a scheduled time I would make calls, if I receive a call during my busy hours if it's not urgent and important a simple "can I call you back later, or please could we continue this conversation later" ends that call.
ReplyDelete2. Writing letters and memos a secretary should write. As someone who has knowledge of the Microsoft tools, though there's a secretary who is designated to type letters, quotations and memos I always find myself doing it so I don't have to proof read again. She'll have to resume her job cos even when I type I'll also have to proof read.
3. Spending so much time on social media. As a bit of a socialite it's easy to be drawn to Instagram, Facebook and so on. I'll draw up a SMT (social media timetable) on when to post, visit and comment on people's post and try to stick with my SMT.
4. Looking through a cluttered environment for a document. I prepare loads of quotations and often leave them in files on my desk at the office so at times some of these quotations move up to points where an invoice or receipts have to be generated.. then I start looking for which belongs where. I'd use colored files to stratify which belongs where.
5. Failure to set a daily schedule. In other to avoid overdoing or under doing things I'd always set and stick to my daily schedule.
2. Listing the activities to be done and the people who are to be involved and also cutting down on my hobby times.
Great job Prosper
DeleteA. Failure to set a daily schedule.: I will overcome this by having daily to do list and sticking to it. B.Making or receiving unimportant phone calls.: I will overcome this by minimize making unnecessary calls and reducing the rate at which I pick calls from people I consider not very important especially during the day that I should be productively maximizing my time. C.Checking social media accounts too often during the day :I will overcome this by by disciplining myself to map out dedicated time that will be specific for that instead of often. D.Being a member of too many online communities. : I am guilty of this but funny enough I was added to the communities. I will overcome it by exiting some of the groups myself. E.Daydreaming: I do it too. I will overcome it by sticking toy goals and working assiduously on my plans to actualize the goals at hand instead of day dreaming. 2. The best way to nip distractions in the bud is to have a plan and be disciplined enough to strictly adhere to it . In addition to control ones mind to resort to meditations once the distractions spring up as distractions can come up anytime. And also to go away from the distracting stimulus.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Dr. Dennis
Delete5 time wasters from the list and describe in exact details how you would overcome each of them.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me appreciate the academic work and the intuitive listings of these time wasters, sincerely, this was articulate and insightful.
On time wasters: these are the ones I selected.
Making use of antiquated methods: the age has evolved and everything is almost electronic and ICT compliant now. Relying on the old method of dealing with daily tasks causes time wasting. For instance, nobody should be talking of not knowing how to use the computer and phones to perform certain functions now instead of devoting time to visit a business centre when one can do so with ease from home. Not knowing how to drive in this age is really a challenge when Ordinarily, such tasks that are bucking some can be dealt with this skill with apt. I have engaged myself to learn skills to help run the tasks efficiently and elucidate them.
Another is; Not completing one task before moving to another. Seriously, I am a victim. I packed up myself with so many to activities, each time one cluster against another, it becomes a challenge, immediately, that will need an attention which will inadvertently divert the previous task on the desk.
I have disciplined myself to ensure every task is finished before going over to another.
Being a member of too many online communities. I just deleted as many as possible. Seriously,this was one of the fastest consumers of my time. I just pinned down on strict discipline not to be involved in this too many groups and stick with the ones that are educative, informative and can offer financial knowledge.
On the spur of the moment, watching YouTube videos; Sometimes, I don't sleep because I wanna watch these videos since there is no time during the day. Sometimes, the left over are carried down to the day and mixes up with the task of the day, at a time, every activity become overloaded and overwhelming. I just disengaged myself from it before reading this.
Finally, checking your social media accounts too often during the day. I am just victim. Though sometimes, I do to actually ascertain the level of progress I have done recorded with the transactions I do online but along the line, drift into something different. I have taken steps to concentrate fully on the business I run thereto.
How to nip it. I focus strictly on the task that is achievable. Sometimes, I start with minor problems that is achievable with ease before going over to the bigger task. This principle facilitates energy and Spurs one into the mood to do more.
Once more, thanks to the convener for this iconic engagements, gracias.
Great job Ben
DeleteExcessive phone calls...the way out would have been leaving the phone on silent especially when walking or driving BUT for a medical Dr like yours sincerely, there is a challenge . Some calls are just unnecessary but on the other hand some of them can be life-saving.But maybe one can insist on calls not lasting more than a minute and total avoidance of social calls.
ReplyDelete2.failure to set a daily schedule..very common and gives room for unnecessary wasting of time discussing politics and gossiping...one should endeavour to plan the day with timelines hrly.
3.failure to set priorities..this makes us to spend valuable time on unnecessary unimportant tasks with a wrong feeling that they are urgent and important
4.goggling at the internet at random...this is currently becoming a pasttime and wastes both time and data..one may start putting off data on the phone until after the he days runs except it becomes very essential
5.being in so many online communities..very dangerous and common.we should evaluate each group for relevance to our goals and vision, otherwise we leave the group..
The only option to avert these habits is to start instituting personal discipline withing us...
Wish to commend Jerry the First for this great discourse
Hi
ReplyDelete