Tired of not getting things done at work? Sick of being unproductive due to all the distractions around you? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Go through the following 4 time wasters and see how you can avoid them.
#1: Instant Messaging
Your productivity can suffer a great deal if you don’t properly manage your instant messaging habits. Yes, IM can be a good intra-office tool, but it often works against you than for you. There are many times when a harmless work-related discussion quickly escalates to a hot gossip session.
The Solution: If you’re serious, then log off from all your IM clients when working. If you’re unable to disconnect, at least have a status up that says you’re “busy” so that you’re not disturbed by anyone.
#2: Email Addiction
Email is one of the best ways to communicate, but what happens when you get addicted to it? That’s right - it interferes with your work and brings down your productivity levels. A lot of times this convenient way of communication becomes a time waster when you keep exchanging messages back and forth.
The Solution: If you’re discussing something, then go for a face to face conversation. If not that, call them up when you’re done with work. But if you still need a written record, then reply back with a short note outlining what you want to say so that you can get back with the details later on.
#3: Unnecessary Meetings
Ever had those meetings where you discuss how you should have more meetings? Yes, we all have at some point of time. Getting together for a meeting to discuss everything that needs to be discussed in the next meeting is a bad idea, and a definite waste of time.
The Solution: Every meeting needs to have a purpose and a well defined goal that needs to be accomplished. This is done by setting an agenda and focusing on the task on hand. Successful people like Afghan business entrepreneur Ehsan Bayat never waste time on useless meetings, and you shouldn’t too. Period.
#4: Poor Multitasking
Who doesn’t like to get good at multitasking? We all do. But multitasking can also go wrong if you do it poorly. In other words, there is a certain limit to the things you can do or manage. Exceed this limit, and you end up wasting time while your quality of work gets affected.
The Solution: Prioritize your tasks and know what needs to be done when. Focus on the top priority items first and the rest later. The better you get at setting priorities, the better you get at multitasking.
Conclusion
It doesn’t really matter what type of business you’re running or how you work, if you’re not taking care to avoid the time wasters we discussed above, you are losing out on productivity.
Vijayraj Reddy
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