How I tackled time wasters in my business and banked extra hours in my work week.
I dont know about you but I dont like water cooler talk, Im not into midday chats over the phone with colleagues about nothing in particular and I am not into wasting time I could otherwise be enjoying away from my desk.
Time wasters annoy the crap out of me.
I have better things to do and sooner I identify a time waster the quicker I can focus on getting the most out of my day.
While you probably welcome some distractions as breaks, there are plenty of time wasters you could do away with and start using your time more wisely.
Heres a few you might want to consider as the ultimate time wasters:
Meetings
Seriously the bane of my existence, why people want to meet is beyond me in this world. I strongly avoid any face to face business meetings. I run a digital agency, I have no need to see people in person and I have realised if they do want to see me in person and they are that sort of client I don;t want to form a partnership with them.
Meetings are pockets of time in my life I dont want to give away and suck the productivity out of my day. Avoid meetings at all costs, if you absolutely cant work out something have a very quick Skype chat (and outline that this will be literally 5 minutes and no more) and discuss anything that needs to be said and then carry on with your day.
Emails
Sometimes you can write back and forth to someone a dozen times without your point getting across. If you know a phone call will quickly clarify the point, phone the person quickly run through the issue/concern and get everything sorted without the barrage of emails.
As well as this, I would recommend turning off your emails for certainly periods throughout the day. Some of the best time savers I know only check their emails twice a day and leave a note on the email auto responder that unless something is burning down they will check at 9am and 3pm and will respond after this time. Only having your emails on a few times a day will literally save you hours of possibly distraction time and you go in and out of your email program.
Being online ALL the time
Its hard when we work online, but if you are working on content or a project that doesnt require you to be online, disconnect and five yourself the time to be completely engrossed in your work without the web.
A quick news search or scroll through Facebook could wind up wasting an hour of your time and do that each work day and youre just giving away time that you could be billing. Set up a time each day for scrolling through the web, whether it is when youre eating or a set time when you know your concentration is low just dont do it all day or youll never get anything done.
Office distractions with colleagues
I work with my husband but thankfully he works all day with earphones so I have a completely quiet environment.
Often if he wants to chat, I will put on earphones without any sound on them just to signal I dont want to be distracted and I am working on something important.
Chats are fine, but being chatty all day is reason enough for getting a new work space.
Messy work desk or environment
If youre working in a pigsty you probably arent feeling motivated, declutter and clean your space so you have exactly what you need.
If you only need a screen plus laptop only have these two things on your desk.
Lack of lists
I use an only list creator to provide me direction each day, tasks are outlined in my online calendar and I schedule time for each task. Doing this allows me to know what I have coming up and how many billable hours I will be getting done each day - flying by the seat of your pants wastes time.
Uninvited guests
Sometimes you cant really avoid it but if you do have people that are coming and you work from home, ask them to come when your workday finishes otherwise youll be kissing goodbye hours of your day. The same applies for trades who are working on your home, ask them to work after hours if possible or before you start or work offsite so you dont waste an entire day in your calendar.
Other things I have focused on to remove the time-wasters from my day:
- Engaging professionals to do work that I cant do myself - if I need graphic design done I could either spend 5 hours trying to do it or 1 hour engaging the professionals - the outlay is far smaller and I will tick off something on my list without it draining 5 billable hours
- Boundary setting - this is a big one and one I continue to work on. Being generous with your time and any pro bono work is one thing but it will end up making you resentful if you end up continuously doing this. Set boundaries and be generous with your time to an extent, not to your detriment.
What have you focused on to clear the time wasters ?
Time wasters annoy the crap out of me.
I have better things to do and sooner I identify a time waster the quicker I can focus on getting the most out of my day.
While you probably welcome some distractions as breaks, there are plenty of time wasters you could do away with and start using your time more wisely.
Heres a few you might want to consider as the ultimate time wasters:
Meetings
Seriously the bane of my existence, why people want to meet is beyond me in this world. I strongly avoid any face to face business meetings. I run a digital agency, I have no need to see people in person and I have realised if they do want to see me in person and they are that sort of client I don;t want to form a partnership with them.
Meetings are pockets of time in my life I dont want to give away and suck the productivity out of my day. Avoid meetings at all costs, if you absolutely cant work out something have a very quick Skype chat (and outline that this will be literally 5 minutes and no more) and discuss anything that needs to be said and then carry on with your day.
Emails
Sometimes you can write back and forth to someone a dozen times without your point getting across. If you know a phone call will quickly clarify the point, phone the person quickly run through the issue/concern and get everything sorted without the barrage of emails.
As well as this, I would recommend turning off your emails for certainly periods throughout the day. Some of the best time savers I know only check their emails twice a day and leave a note on the email auto responder that unless something is burning down they will check at 9am and 3pm and will respond after this time. Only having your emails on a few times a day will literally save you hours of possibly distraction time and you go in and out of your email program.
Being online ALL the time
Its hard when we work online, but if you are working on content or a project that doesnt require you to be online, disconnect and five yourself the time to be completely engrossed in your work without the web.
A quick news search or scroll through Facebook could wind up wasting an hour of your time and do that each work day and youre just giving away time that you could be billing. Set up a time each day for scrolling through the web, whether it is when youre eating or a set time when you know your concentration is low just dont do it all day or youll never get anything done.
Office distractions with colleagues
I work with my husband but thankfully he works all day with earphones so I have a completely quiet environment.
Often if he wants to chat, I will put on earphones without any sound on them just to signal I dont want to be distracted and I am working on something important.
Chats are fine, but being chatty all day is reason enough for getting a new work space.
Messy work desk or environment
If youre working in a pigsty you probably arent feeling motivated, declutter and clean your space so you have exactly what you need.
If you only need a screen plus laptop only have these two things on your desk.
Lack of lists
I use an only list creator to provide me direction each day, tasks are outlined in my online calendar and I schedule time for each task. Doing this allows me to know what I have coming up and how many billable hours I will be getting done each day - flying by the seat of your pants wastes time.
Uninvited guests
Sometimes you cant really avoid it but if you do have people that are coming and you work from home, ask them to come when your workday finishes otherwise youll be kissing goodbye hours of your day. The same applies for trades who are working on your home, ask them to work after hours if possible or before you start or work offsite so you dont waste an entire day in your calendar.
Other things I have focused on to remove the time-wasters from my day:
- Engaging professionals to do work that I cant do myself - if I need graphic design done I could either spend 5 hours trying to do it or 1 hour engaging the professionals - the outlay is far smaller and I will tick off something on my list without it draining 5 billable hours
- Boundary setting - this is a big one and one I continue to work on. Being generous with your time and any pro bono work is one thing but it will end up making you resentful if you end up continuously doing this. Set boundaries and be generous with your time to an extent, not to your detriment.
What have you focused on to clear the time wasters ?
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison