Most of us are taught not to waste time. However it is easy to get into habits that, upon close examination, can be found to be big time wasters. I'd like to cover 3 points that, if not kept in mind, can cause us to become less efficient and to waste more time.
Phone and Email Interruptions:
As small children most of us saw our moms and dads rush to the phone each time it rang. We may have even been taught that it was the correct way to operate - to answer the phone the moment it rang. The simple sound of the old telephone bell can stir many of us to jump as though getting orders from a drill sergeant. This can last well into our adult years and throughout our lives. The same can be said for emails. Many folks are notified instantly when a new email arrives and are compelled to read and even handle those emails as they come in. Since interruptions of a train of thought or activity are a scourge of production, perhaps we can see that it is rather obvious that the interruption that comes from phone calls and a constant stream of emails can do much to inhibit the amount of production we are able to get during a day.
The problem with phone calls and with emails that are being constantly monitored is that they intrude into our lives without regard to what we are doing. If we saw another person who did this to us, who came interrupting us regardless of what we were doing, we would think they were being rude and, perhaps, believe them to be almost psychotic.
The real key to handling phone calls and emails, most experts in time management agree, is to control them by handling them during certain times of the day.
Each of us will chose our own workable way. A common routine regarding email is to check the email, first time for the day, just after lunch. The theory is that checking email in the morning can often derail our best laid plans for certain production targets in the morning. Checking the email right after lunch is a good time and then these emails can be handled according to their importance.
It is, unarguably, important to shut off the alarm notifying that email has arrived. What I personally do is turn off the automatic checking for email and check email manually. This way I am in full control of the incoming communications.
The phone can be a bit different because we might want to be available more often, especially for new clients. However if we are doing any kinds of projects, it is essentially impossible to be available all the time for phones. Many people find it best to have certain hours designated during the day for answering the phone. When calls come in during times outside these designated periods, we simply informed them, with our answering system or secretary, that we will get back to them at a certain specific time of the day. And we, of course, keep that promise. This allows us to control the times of our communication and allow us to have time relatively interruption-free. This is our time for production.
We each will handle this in our own way but a careful inspection of the situation will likely reveal that phone interruptions and email interruptions need to be controlled if we have any real chance of increasing our productivity.
Perfectionism:
Life takes action. Successful actions are cycles of action each with a start, a change and a stop. We need to be masters of each of those aspects of action in order to control our lives.
The idea that things can be perfect, or there is such a thing as perfection, is a lie that many of us adapt in our lives. Who knows where these concepts come from. Perhaps some sort of heavy criticism that we got as younger people or even as adults. Regardless, if perfection becomes our standard, what it tends to do is trap us into actions and we lose access to the all-important stop button. We get stuck in cycles of action that never end. These may be the paintings that are never finished, the reports that are never completed-you get the idea.
If we find ourselves not getting things done because we if we are not are trying to achieve perfection, not turning out products because they are not quite perfect enough, perhaps it is wise to figure out why we are trying to be perfect. Perhaps a simple definition of what perfection is would be of value. You might find it is very difficult to define.
No doubt about it, we should perform a great job at what we do. But we should leave perfection to the less productive in our society.
Multitasking:
With today's many amazing tools and communication deices we are capable of having almost countless numbers of things coming at us at any given time. We can keep many screens open on our computers, be listening to talk radio or running the television while we work, and, basically, find ourselves doing, or attempting to do, many things at one time.
There are folks who have Facebook open on their computers all the time. Some folks have Twitter running. Many are being notified of every email that comes in as it comes in. And what they find is that they have attention on these items rather than on getting the actual job done.We can easily end our days, when we have these kinds of games going on, where despite an amazing amount of activity, we have really gotten very little of value done.
There isn't any such thing as multitasking. We might think there is by looking at professionals in operation such as pilots. It appears a pilot as multitasking. But in reality what he or she is doing is doing several things as one action. Walking is another example of that. If you look at the activity of walking you are doing many things but reality you're doing one thing - walking.
Being productive requires the ability to concentrate on one thing at a time. It is best to do one thing, then the next, and the next, etc. If we do that we will find our own efficiency skyrocketing.
Efficiency is not something we seek for its own sake. Efficiency is simply a label that we use to indicate how much we get out of something. Since time, for the most part, is a fixed commodity, we create time by utilizing it more efficiently. Keeping in mind the above 3 points can take us a long way to becoming more efficient and more productive.
Phone and Email Interruptions:
As small children most of us saw our moms and dads rush to the phone each time it rang. We may have even been taught that it was the correct way to operate - to answer the phone the moment it rang. The simple sound of the old telephone bell can stir many of us to jump as though getting orders from a drill sergeant. This can last well into our adult years and throughout our lives. The same can be said for emails. Many folks are notified instantly when a new email arrives and are compelled to read and even handle those emails as they come in. Since interruptions of a train of thought or activity are a scourge of production, perhaps we can see that it is rather obvious that the interruption that comes from phone calls and a constant stream of emails can do much to inhibit the amount of production we are able to get during a day.
The problem with phone calls and with emails that are being constantly monitored is that they intrude into our lives without regard to what we are doing. If we saw another person who did this to us, who came interrupting us regardless of what we were doing, we would think they were being rude and, perhaps, believe them to be almost psychotic.
The real key to handling phone calls and emails, most experts in time management agree, is to control them by handling them during certain times of the day.
Each of us will chose our own workable way. A common routine regarding email is to check the email, first time for the day, just after lunch. The theory is that checking email in the morning can often derail our best laid plans for certain production targets in the morning. Checking the email right after lunch is a good time and then these emails can be handled according to their importance.
It is, unarguably, important to shut off the alarm notifying that email has arrived. What I personally do is turn off the automatic checking for email and check email manually. This way I am in full control of the incoming communications.
The phone can be a bit different because we might want to be available more often, especially for new clients. However if we are doing any kinds of projects, it is essentially impossible to be available all the time for phones. Many people find it best to have certain hours designated during the day for answering the phone. When calls come in during times outside these designated periods, we simply informed them, with our answering system or secretary, that we will get back to them at a certain specific time of the day. And we, of course, keep that promise. This allows us to control the times of our communication and allow us to have time relatively interruption-free. This is our time for production.
We each will handle this in our own way but a careful inspection of the situation will likely reveal that phone interruptions and email interruptions need to be controlled if we have any real chance of increasing our productivity.
Perfectionism:
Life takes action. Successful actions are cycles of action each with a start, a change and a stop. We need to be masters of each of those aspects of action in order to control our lives.
The idea that things can be perfect, or there is such a thing as perfection, is a lie that many of us adapt in our lives. Who knows where these concepts come from. Perhaps some sort of heavy criticism that we got as younger people or even as adults. Regardless, if perfection becomes our standard, what it tends to do is trap us into actions and we lose access to the all-important stop button. We get stuck in cycles of action that never end. These may be the paintings that are never finished, the reports that are never completed-you get the idea.
If we find ourselves not getting things done because we if we are not are trying to achieve perfection, not turning out products because they are not quite perfect enough, perhaps it is wise to figure out why we are trying to be perfect. Perhaps a simple definition of what perfection is would be of value. You might find it is very difficult to define.
No doubt about it, we should perform a great job at what we do. But we should leave perfection to the less productive in our society.
Multitasking:
With today's many amazing tools and communication deices we are capable of having almost countless numbers of things coming at us at any given time. We can keep many screens open on our computers, be listening to talk radio or running the television while we work, and, basically, find ourselves doing, or attempting to do, many things at one time.
There are folks who have Facebook open on their computers all the time. Some folks have Twitter running. Many are being notified of every email that comes in as it comes in. And what they find is that they have attention on these items rather than on getting the actual job done.We can easily end our days, when we have these kinds of games going on, where despite an amazing amount of activity, we have really gotten very little of value done.
There isn't any such thing as multitasking. We might think there is by looking at professionals in operation such as pilots. It appears a pilot as multitasking. But in reality what he or she is doing is doing several things as one action. Walking is another example of that. If you look at the activity of walking you are doing many things but reality you're doing one thing - walking.
Being productive requires the ability to concentrate on one thing at a time. It is best to do one thing, then the next, and the next, etc. If we do that we will find our own efficiency skyrocketing.
Efficiency is not something we seek for its own sake. Efficiency is simply a label that we use to indicate how much we get out of something. Since time, for the most part, is a fixed commodity, we create time by utilizing it more efficiently. Keeping in mind the above 3 points can take us a long way to becoming more efficient and more productive.
About the Author:
Download, free of charge, our one-of-a-kind daily planning tool called the Time Coach. Also, visit DayPlanner.info for more Time Management and Day Planning Hints and Tools.
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