Money I can only gain or lose, but time I can only lose. So, I must spend it carefully. ~Author Unknown~
Fact……We all have 24 hours or 1440 minutes or 86400 seconds in a day.
There is no one anywhere that had, has, or will have any more or any less.
So what are you doing with your 86400 seconds?
Sometimes we are in circumstances beyond our control, but most often we can control most of how we spend our day.
Here are some things I find are time suckers and result in unproductive time during our day.
- Computer– Let’s face it. Many of us read a lot of blogs, look at a lot of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. We sit down to do one quick thing and the next thing we know, 30 minutes or even 2 hours have come and gone.
- Phone – Phone conversations with friends are great but sometimes not timely. Phones can even be mini computers where we spend time playing games or getting involved in social media.
- TV– Oh my. This can be a total time sucker! How many hours of TV/Netflix can you watch in a day or night without really realizing how much time has passed? With at least a gazillion TV stations, movies, and shows at our fingertips, it is easy to channel surf our way into oblivion.
- Twirling– This is a common practice when dealing with my clients…….they twirl. They start cleaning out a desk drawer, see something that needs to go somewhere else in the house, they go to that spot, they see something in that area that needs attention, they take that somewhere, they see something in that other area of the house that needs attention and this goes on and on and on. Then at the end of the day, the desk drawer remains cluttered, unorganized and relatively untouched. Twirling and not being focused will suck time out of productivity.
- People– I know this sounds a little harsh and it does not encompass all people all the time. I am specifically talking about those people that stop by your office for a chat, regardless of what you are doing. I am talking about those people who use you as their personal water cooler to catch up on the latest and greatest news, sports and office related banter. If you work at home, it can be a roommate, spouse or child.
- Perfectionism– Trying to do things perfectly will absolutely suck time out of your day and your life. No one is saying you should not give any project or task your best but many people will not begin or move to another task unless perfection can or has been achieved.What are your personal time suckers? Where are you wasting valuable time that would be better spent somewhere else?
Next week’s blog post will be on how to solve the time sucker problems.