Do You Have The Time?

The major cause of wasting time is, unfortunately… YOU!  By failing to delegate, allowing interruptions, unpreparedness to prioritise and so on. Simply reflect and ask yourself if you occasionally slip into any of these?

Self-analysis could be worthwhile if you wish to be more effective. A few areas to consider might jog your memory and assist your effectiveness. Give yourself permission to take a look at the following habits which might be useful in providing food for thought.

Are you:

• Trying to do too much at a time?
• Communicating badly?
• Lacking organisation?
• Waiting until the time is right?
• Failing to delegate?
• Capable of doing all the work you undertake?
• Failing to plan?

Be self-critical, and don’t sabotage your improvement by falling into the activity trap. Activity does not necessarily equate to productivity.  Many of us can be busy doing nothing, as the words of a song from the distant past spring to my mind.

Filling up a day simply because you have to work say, 9am – 5pm is symptomatic of problems. If you work a regular 8-hour day then it is only fortuitous that the work you should have done in the day took exactly 8 hours. Ask yourself if you are time oriented or task oriented. There is a difference and it could be worthwhile reflecting on activities from a previous day.

Is there anything wrong with finishing work early as long as the job has been done and done well? This is a question relating to time-management and understanding that the clock keeps ticking whatever your activities, and accepting that time itself cannot be managed, but your activities in those ticking minutes can.

It could be that you are self-motivated and work for yourself. Whether that is the case or not, yesterday has gone, the future will come and what you do today could have great impact on your efficiency and effectiveness.

‘A woman asked her husband to hang out the washing when the machine finished the wash; she was on her way to the shops.  The man agreed and continued with his reading.  He heard the machine come to a stop and made his way to the laundry.  Seeing the fridge door open he looked inside and decided to have a drink of ice-cold water.  The container was empty so he proceeded to fill it from the tap, which was dripping.  Being a bit of a handy man he thought it was time to put a new washer on to relieve the irritation of the constant drip.  The urgent telephone ringing took him away from his task and he politely agreed to answer a telephone survey. While he was answering the questions, he noticed the hinges on a cupboard door, and remembered his intention of oiling them a few days ago. However, before he could attend to that chore, his wife walked in complaining about the overflowing sink, and having to put the washing out to dry!’

Recognise any of the above? Please call me if you need help with your time management.

Kind regards,

John