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Time Killers
How To
Identify The "Time Killers" That Waste Your Time |
In other articles we've been focusing on
how valuable time is and how time lost is time lost forever. But now we come to a
new concept and that is 'Time Killers'.
The very words sound like sacrilege don't they? How can one talk
about killing such a valuable resource? But that's the way the story
goes. There are a multitude of time killers in this world and what you have
to do is identify these time killers, look out for
them and remain wary of them. Only then can you put your available time
to the best possible use.
The time killers listed below are more or less general.
They are things that most of us encounter. But apart from these,
each one of us may have unique time killers that are particular to
our employment and way of living. Be smart and identify these
killers. The
time wasters that I am referring to are quite ordinary every day things
that we see and use in our lives but often do not realize how much
of our time they take away.
Seven Terrible Time Killers
* Telephone calls
* Chatterboxes
* Traffic jams
* Finding parking spaces
* Meetings
* Bad machinery
* Long queues
The list could of course go on. But before we keep adding to the
list, I would like to elaborate on certain of the items listed
above.
How to handle Time Killers
Telephone calls
The funny thing about telephone calls is that these instruments are
indeed great time savers. In fact the amount of time that people get
to save thanks to telephones is stupendous. The problem arises when
telephones are not used properly. Most people do not understand and
even if they do they forget that telephones are not to be used for
lengthy conversations. For one thing, another person may be trying
to reach you and there is nothing as exasperating as trying to reach
a person over the telephone and being confronted with a busy tone.
So the first thing about a telephone conversation is that it should
be brief.
Another thing about telephones is that most people do not know how
to use a telephone properly. Instead of immediately identifying
themselves and asking directly for the person they want, some people
go on playing a lot of “who is speaking” games once they make a call
or answer the telephone.
Much can be said and done about cell phones. What
should be done is turn off your cell phone when you are having a
conversation or a discussion with more than one person. Consider
what happens when you receive a call on your cell phone. When a call
comes in you may ask the people you were talking with to excuse you
while you take your call but you leave them waiting while you chuckle and
hold a separate conversation
over your phone. Often we tend to give more importance to the caller
than to the person we were having the discussion with. Again the
same rule applies here. Be brief, especially during business hours.
Chatterboxes
The next comment is about chatterboxes. Haven't we all met them?
They simply love the sound of their own voice and once they open
their mouths, there is no stopping them. They waste not only your
time but their own time as well. Avoid such people, especially in
the workplace. Believe me,
it is much easier to avoid such people than to tell them to shut up
and if you get a telephone call from such a person, use a caller ID
facility or ask your assistant to divert the call.
Traffic jams
Traffic jams and finding parking spaces. Any one who has lived in
the city for even a short time will know what I am talking about.
There is no getting past a traffic jam at the rush hour. And will
someone tell me why it is called the rush hour when that is the time
when the traffic is the slowest?
The only thing you can do is anticipate the traffic jam and leave
home earlier. But that does not really
keep the time killer at bay. It just helps you to avoid being late.
In this respect you have two options. Either you could find
something constructive to do while you wait for the traffic to move
or a better option would be to
take subway and walk the rest of the way. You can get a long a lot
faster on your feet and it is a lot better for your health as well.
By doing so, you can also avoid the headache of finding a
parking space.
Lengthy meetings
Not surprisingly lengthy meetings and discussions can prove to be
awful time killers particularly if the meeting does not have a clear
agenda and if there are people who love top talk among the group. It
has been found that most middle and senior level mangers spend
nearly 70% of their work time talking. And in most organizations,
parleying has been made into a fine art.
Inefficient equipment
Poorly working equipment is a time waster. How many of us have
wanted to sit and scream and bang the daylights out of a PC that
does not give us the required data or information. A computer that
takes a long time to start up, a photocopier that gives shamefully
faint photocopies, even a leaky faucet or a stubborn drawer or door
knob can waste a lot of time and send us up the wall. If you have
such equipment or machinery, get it changed at the earliest possible
date. It is worth the amount of time and energy that you waste on it
every day.
Long queues
Long queues certainly waste a lot of time. That does not mean that
you have to jump the queue. If you can get the job done over the
telephone or can reserve your ticket in advance, do it, even if it
means a few extra dollars, it is worth the time you may have to
spend waiting.
Apart from these each person may have particular time wasters, like
for instance, a car that refuses to start in the morning, difficult
hair that insists on looking like Medusa's head on a bad snake day,
an elevator that takes for ever to reach your floor. Use your common
sense and try to find alternate methods or even better, if you
cannot find an alternate method, you could put the time to some use
like read memos or briefing papers in the elevator.
