The 20 top time wasters, stealers, nibblers, and how to nab them

"When I think of all the hours and hours of my life I have spent watching television, it makes me realize, Man, I am really rich with television." -- Jack Handey

In preparing for a media interview this week I rounded up the most common time wasters, which I thought I'd share with you. Next to each I've sketched briefly ideas for counteracting them. These come from various sources, including The Time Trap: The Classic Book on Time Management, The Naked Desk: Everything you need to strip away clutter, save time & get things done, and Never Check E-Mail In the Morning: And Other Unexpected Strategies for Making Your Work Life Work. I'm curious: What others do you find yourself dealing with? What methods do you use to combat them?

• Personal Disorganization. Adopt a system that efficiently handles your information and work-flows. A starting point: The World's Simplest Productivity Method, With Bonus Mini-Processing Examples.
• Multitasking. Stopping can be difficult, as it's a habit, but start with a Think, Try, Learn principle: Simply observe, which can lead to awareness and change. A tiny experiment: Keep a record of each time you task-switch, using hash marks. See if tracking it helps you change. Use Edison if you want some support and ideas while trying it out.
• Distractions. I distinguish two classes: Internal (thoughts and habits, such as constantly checking e-mail) and external (a poorly-configured environment, including clutter). Address the former through habit changing methods (Marilyn Paul has a nice section on the topic in It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys) and the latter through managing each type (contact me for lots of ideas to solve). You might also enjoy Dave's How to Overcome Distractions Anytime, which is very TTL.
• Interruptions. These include "corporate drive-bys" (unvited drop-ins), some phone calls, and the email dinger. Try standing up when people come in, closing your door, moving temporarily to a private space, and turning off the phone and email alert.
• Meetings. Eliminate unnecessary ones, make sure there's action agenda, set (and enforce) clear time limits, and implement follow up methods.
• Many popular activities. Examples include games, TV, Facebook, Twitter, and (prepare yourself) news. (Side note: I've found the best way for me to be stoned in a workshop, worse than saying "Kill your TV," is "Kill your Netflix" :-)
• Perfectionism. Broad topic. Starting point: Experiment with doing a tiiiiiiny bit less-than-perfect job on one task. Remember, "Good enough" ain't bad!
• Poor communication. Examples include unclear emails, email back-and-forth (try the phone!), and phone tag. Try "pre-answering" questions that might come up, such as options and alternatives (e.g., days and times you're available for a meeting).
• No daily plan. I recommend my product, Where the !@#% did my day go? The ultimate guide to making every day a great workday. For fun, to the right is a sample from today.
• Low-value information sources. games, RSS/information overload). go on a media diet. (You might enjoy Information Provenance - The Missing Link Between Attention, RSS Feeds, And Value-based Filtering and try tallying your various inboxes.)
• No automation. Get a text expander for chrissakes! (I love TextExpander for my Mac, along with Gina in her Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better.)
• Slow reading speed. Adopt a skimming method, which allows you to read most books in about an hour. See How To Read A Lot Of Books In A Short Time and A Reading Workflow Based On Leveen's "Little Guide".
• Wasted transition time. "Between" time is an opportunity to make progress on small tasks, such as reading, short phone calls, or going over paper documents. The trick is to anticipate these moments and carry the materials you'll need, such as "To Read" and project folders.
• Wasted driving/traveling time. A special case of transition time, commuting is an easy opportunity to improve yourself. Check out this and other tips at Mark's Tips for Car Travel.
• Trouble saying no. Remember that every additional commitment you accept must be balanced with something else on your plate. When you say yes, you either need to drop an equivalent project or be prepared to allocate more time for the new one, which - I can guarantee - you don't have. Use your goals to guide you.
• Ineffective delegation. Here's a nice categorization of delegation that a client shared with me. He uses it to make the executive-assistant communication really zing. This is gold, folks:
  
  1. Examine the situation - report to me and I'll decide.
  2. Examine the situation - suggest alternatives and I'll decide.
  3. Decide and recommend best alternative - get my approval.
  4. Handle the situation and report on your results.
  5. Handle the situation and report any challenges.
  6. Handle the situation - no need to report.
• Excessive socializing. I'll repeat Twitter and Facebook, in case you weren't paying attention above. Although I don't see how "sitting alone typing on the computer" is socializing. It's similar to "sitting alone and clicking the mouse" is like surfing. Not!
• Lack of self discipline. I like Steve Pavlina's definition, "Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state" (more here).
• Poor planning. Check out Simple Project Planning For Individuals: A Round-up.
• Procrastination. Procrastination ("an umbrella concept with multiple possible causes and deep underpinnings" - from How To Approach Solving Procrastination (Hint: Think Magnifying Glass, Not Tips & Tricks)) is a major topic. If you find significant time wasted here, make managing it a new project. Contact me for some experiment ideas. Related: Use The STING Method To Stop Procrastinating, and Some Thoughts On "Eat That Frog!" By Brian Tracy.

Is Think, Try, Learn for Christians?

(This is a guest post that a TTL friend wrote some time ago for a defunct blog. Posted here for your consideration.)

When I ask myself if Christendom is compatible with TTL philosophy, I think first of Jesus the person (insofar as we know of him from Scripture). He is TTL in many ways. Consider: adored children ("a little child shall lead them"), loved parties, turned water into wine, doodled with a stick in the sand when the legal authorities tried to trick him into being Wrong, and advised freedom from anxiety about the future ("Consider the lilies of the field..."). I imagine him laughing, playing, and frankly mocking anyone obsessed with money and status.

Then I realize that Jesus' freedom was anchored in cognitive certainty. A Jew who had committed the Torah to memory, he spoke without doubt about his "father in heaven" (who would meet the needs of said lilies in the field) and deemed the "law" of compassion non-negotiable. He therefore challenged the view that certainty and playfulness are incompatible; his assuredness that Yahweh was caring for his needs left him child-like and compassionate. The interdependence of a cornerstone of knowledge with freedom from anxiety fits what I know of psychology: Kids from stable homes (and those who are held more than others) have fewer anxiety disorders as adults, regardless of the culture. Jesus, then, exemplifies for me what Alexander Lowen believed about human nature: that "surrender" must be balanced by "grounding"; surrender alone is illustrated dramatically by schizophrenia; grounding without surrender by Puritanism.

Susan Wennemyr is a theologian who has been a college professor, stay-at-home mom, writer, and entrepreneur in conscientious investing.

When your lists undergo radical surgery (or should!)

Have you experienced a point where your time management lists (e.g., GTD's Projects, Actions, and Waiting For) have undergone deep-seated change? I've had just such a change in my Waiting For list (for non-GTDers, it's simply a delegation list - who, what, and when delegated): It has tripled in size.

In my case the cause is a number of new projects, plus largish activation of my marketing plan for Where the !@#% did my day go? (Side note: A huge thanks to Dave Seah for his Review: Matt Cornell's "Where Did My Day Go" E-book. Definitely review his blog - great stuff.)

This got me thinking about under which circumstances major list changes might happen, and I played with a 2x2 matrix: fewer or more tasks vs the same or different types (i.e., new-to-you kinds of work) of task. Tell me what you think:

1. Far fewer tasks, but still of the same type: You've undergone a convergence of focus (see Sometimes Laser, Sometimes Blind: How Natural Converge/diverge Cycles Explain Progress). Or: You've counteracted task overload by focusing on the 20% that make up the 70% of what matters (say).



2. Fewer tasks, but of significantly different type: You've been promoted or laid off.



3. More tasks of the same type: You've been asked to handle the work of a peer, say someone who's sick, and for whom there's no replacement.



4. More tasks, but different types: You've taken on a new (additional!) job.. In my case, being made an executor for my mom's estate.

I'm curious: Have your lists changed radically recently? Why? Or do you need to make such a change? Any books you like to help navigate change? (On my desk at the moment: Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life.)

Are you too hard to impress?

When I was in grad school I used to have an attitude about meeting people. It probably stemmed from feeling inferior, but it was a kind of "guilty until proven impressive" one. Until you show me you're impressive, I'll assume you're not.

This didn't work for me. It kept me from appreciating, connecting to, and learning from people. Now I actively look for things to be impressed about. Not the generic "That's great!" type, but genuine respect of people and their accomplishments. My thought is that we don't acknowledge these enough, and - if you look around your personal and professional circles - many people really are impressive!

So my tip is, Come prepared to be impressed. Show active interest in others. If you explore deeply enough, I bet you find something amazing in there.

What do you think? Are you too hard to impress? Are most people unimpressive? Does it change the nature of a relationship to be impressed? Do you feel you need to be acknowledged as impressive in return?

When is it best *not* to be curious or observant?

This weekend when talking about medical procedures, a witty niece shared this tip: Do NOT look at the instruments when you arrive :-) This makes sense. After all, why spook yourself more than necessary? This led to a question: When don't you want to/should be curious? An emerging Think, Try, Learn principle is that those two characteristics lead to a scientific version of being present. It's like my yoga teacher used to say: The past is over and the future hasn't happened yet, so the only living we have available is now. (They go on to say the body can only be in the present, so focusing on sensations will bring you here. I like the idea.)

Thoughts? Any good resources? How about Mindfulness by Ellen J. Langer?