Identify The Time Wasters And Learn To Remove Them From Your Life

I find the concept of time very contradictory. We always complain of not having enough time yet we seldom use this resource mindfully. People who do not find time to complete their projects or to meet deadline spend hours on Twitter or Facebook. It is important to learn to manage our time. But it is equally important to know how not to waste time. Do you waste your precious time on mindless activities? Can you identify the time wasters that are eating into your time and making you inefficient? Check it out yourself.

Interruptions

This is perhaps the greatest of the time stealers. As you try to concentrate hard on the project at hand, a colleague passes by your cubicle and engages you in a gossip. A phone call makes you lose your focus and you end up wasting time. These stealers interrupt the flow of work. The only way to deal with them is to maintain separate slots of time for different activities and attain life balance.

Unable to say “No”

So many people suffer from this syndrome. They just don’t know how to say no when they should. Either they feel embarrassed or shy or simply lack courage to say no to something that is not worth their attention and time. Being assertive and knowing what is important is extremely important to manage time effectively.

We need to think and find out the reasons behind our inability to say no. It may take a little bit of practice but will save a lot of time and stress.

Lack of planning

Do you maintain a journal at work? Are your days planned beforehand and are you able to stick to the plan? If your answer is in the negative it is likely you are wasting your time. People who plan well and execute their plan effectively are the best users of time. When you work in a haphazard manner, you do not work according to your priority and hence waste time on unimportant things. So learn to organize your life and you will see how you can manage your time too.

Procrastination

I once suffered from this problem and know how it leads to waste of time. Putting things off is a very bad habit. It makes us waste our time and energy. It leads to unnecessary worries and negative thoughts that do not serve any purpose. So learn to overcome procrastination and you will learn to manage time.

Do you suffer from any of these symptoms? What are you doing about them? Unless you take any action you will continue to run short of time. So identify the time stealers in your life and chuck ’em.