Management Growth Strategies Eliminating the Time-Wasters Introduction “When every physical and mental resource is focused, one’s power to solve a problem multiplies tremendously.” (Norman Vincent Peale)
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n order to achieve maximum productivity and performance, you have to eliminate the time wasters in your life.
You are surrounded by time wasters on all sides. They tear away at your minutes and hours, holding you back from producing the critical results that are essential to success in your career. The Law of the Excluded Alternative says, “When you choose to do one thing, you simultaneously choose not to do all other things that you could do at the same time.” Every minute of every day, you can minimize time wasters by asking, “Is what I am doing right now the most valuable use of my time?”
In this lesson you will learn: ■
The various time wasters that reduce your productivity and performance
■
Proven techniques to eliminate each time waster
■
How to diagnose the time wasters that are your biggest enemies
■
How to move from a reactive to a proactive daily work schedule
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Eliminating the Time-Wasters
1.
The starting point of great success in every area of life is clarity.
1)
Be clear about your answer to the question, “What are you trying to do?”
2)
“How are you trying to do it?”
3)
“Could there be a better way?”
4)
Clarity is achieved by applying the 80/20 Rule to every activity, before you begin.
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When you are clear about your tasks, you are better able to concentrate on the one or two things that you can do that will really make a difference to you and your company.
1)
The greater clarity you have, the easier it is for you to set priorities.
2)
The more you concentrate single-mindedly on your most important tasks, the easier it is for you to eliminate the time wasters.
3.
One of the greatest sources of time wasters in life is other people.
1)
Some of the major time wasters are socializing, gossiping, drop-in visitors, unexpected phone calls, excessive meetings and recurring problems.
2)
Your goal is to be known as the person in your business who never wastes time.
3)
Rule: “Work all the time you work.” From the time you work, throughout the day, work all the time.
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4.
The first of the major time wasters is the telephone, which interrupts and distracts you each time it rings.
1)
Have your calls held during periods when you want no interruptions.
2)
Have your calls screened so that you only speak to the people you need to.
3)
Treat your telephone at work as a business tool, not a social tool.
a)
Get on and off fast.
b)
Get straight down to business on a business call.
4)
Set an agenda for each phone call, and take notes.
a)
Start by telling the person your goal for the call.
b)
To end the conversation, say “I know you are busy, so I’ll let you go.”
5)
Batch your calls; return all of your phone messages and calls at the same time.
5.
A major source of time wastage at work is drop-in visitors; there are several ways to take care of them.
1)
When someone asks, “Have you got a minute?” you immediately reply by saying, “Not at this moment, I have to get this job completed.”
2)
If somebody drops in on you, immediately stand up and remain standing while you talk.
3)
Put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door.
4)
Walk the visitor to the door saying, “One more thing before you go...”
© Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.
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6.
One of the major sources of time wastage at work is meetings, even though they are an essential part of business life.
1)
The average person spends 3-5 years of his business life in meetings, and about 50% to 70% of the time is wasted.
2)
The first way to save time in a meeting is to either not hold the meeting at all, or don’t go if you don’t have to.
3)
Determine the purpose of the meeting before you hold it or attend it.
4)
Always have an agenda, a written list of items to be covered at the meeting.
5)
Determine and set a start and stop time for each meeting.
6)
Assume the latecomer is not coming and begin punctually.
7)
Start with the most important item on the agenda.
8)
Leave as soon as you have made your contribution.
9)
If it is your meeting, distribute Minutes of the meeting immediately afterwards so everyone knows what happened.
7.
One of the biggest time wasters in organizations is firefighting, dealing with problems and crisis that arise unexpectedly.
1)
The best way to avoid a crisis is to anticipate it in advance.
2)
If a crisis or problem arises more than once, it is because no one has implemented a policy to deal with it.
3)
In dealing with a crisis, first stop and think before reacting.
4)
Ask questions carefully to get the facts of the matter.
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5)
Delegate action to resolve the crisis whenever possible.
6)
Be decisive; whatever has been decided, get on with it immediately.
8.
One of the great time wasters at work is idle socializing, which takes up 30% or more of one’s time. 1)
Deal with your tendency to socialize by asking, “Is this what I have been hired to do?”
2)
Resolve to work all the time you work, and save your socializing for evenings and weekends.
9.
Indecision is a time waster in business and personal life, almost always caused by ignorance or fear.
1)
The less knowledge you have about a situation, the more likely you are to be indecisive about resolving it.
2)
Fear of failure or criticism causes a person to become paralyzed in the face of decision making.
3)
80% of all decisions should be made immediately, only 20% should be put off until later.
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. Most work today is done by “knowledge workers,” who require a good deal of time and discussion to achieve clarity on their responsibilities. 1)
Knowledge work requires a lot of your time to discuss and agree with what needs to be done.
2)
You cannot rush knowledge work, but you can keep an 80/20 focus and a productive pace.
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Discipline yourself by asking, “Whose time do I waste?” 1)
Admit that you waste the time of other people by keeping them waiting or by not making decisions so that they can take action.
2)
Ask the people around you, “How do I waste your time” and take action on their answers.
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. Perfectionism is a major time waster; it holds you back from getting started and from completing the job. 1)
Evaluate, “How well does the job have to be done?” If a certain level of quality is acceptable, that is all you need to contribute.
2)
Ask the person who needs to use what you are producing, what level of quality they require.
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. In personal life, television is one of the major time wasters; the average adult wastes 25% of his or her free time in front of the screen. 1)
Too much television watching causes a person to become passive, apathetic and to lose one’s enthusiasm.
2)
Senior executives, the highest money-earners, watch less than five hours of television per week.
3)
There is an inverse relationship between how much a person earns and how much television he or she watches.
4)
You can gradually reduce the amount of television you watch by watching one half less each week.
5)
Do not turn the television on until 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm, and then go to bed by 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm.
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. One of the greatest time wasters in your life are non-goal-oriented activities that do not move you toward the things you want to be, have and do. 1)
Everything counts! Everything you do is either moving you toward one of your goals, or moving you away from it. Nothing is neutral.
2)
Each time an activity comes up, ask yourself, “Is this moving me toward my goals or not?”
Perhaps the very best time management tool of all is the word “No!”
Just say no if the task or activity does not move you toward something that
is important to you.
Your ability to identify and eliminate the time wasters in your life, to discipline
yourself to work most of the time on the activities that are most important to you,
is essential to success and high achievement.
Action Exercises
1.
Self-analysis: the starting point of eliminating the time wasters in your life is for you
to analyze which ones are having the greatest effect on you. The most common time wasters in business are listed below. Give yourself a score of 1-10 on each one, indicative of how much of a problem they are to you. (One being the lowest and ten being the biggest problem.) Add your own special time wasters at the bottom of the list.
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Time Wasters
Score 1-10
Priority
1.
Telephone interruptions
__________
__________
2.
Drop-In Visitors
__________
__________
3.
Meetings
__________
__________
Fire-fighting
__________
__________
Personal disorganization
__________
__________
Lack of objectives
__________
__________
Lack of priorities
__________
__________
Lack of deadlines
__________
__________
Poor delegation
__________
__________
Over-commitments
__________
__________
Unclear lines of responsibility or authority
__________
__________
Poor information
__________
__________
Procrastination
__________
__________
Indecision
__________
__________
Inability to say “no”
__________
__________
__________
__________
4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
Lack of standards and progress reports
or too many reports/bureaucracy
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Time Wasters (continued)
Score 1-10
Priority
17.
Fatigue
__________
__________
Poor filing system
__________
__________
Lack of planning
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
Lack of (or unclear) communication
__________
__________
Lack of procedures for the routine
__________
__________
__________
__________
18. 19. 20. Red tape/delays 21. Socializing 22. 23. 24. Special requests 25.
Having to read “everything”
before making a decision
__________
__________
26.
Other________________________________
__________
__________
27.
Other________________________________
__________
__________
28.
Other________________________________
__________
__________
29.
Other________________________________
__________
__________
30.
Other________________________________
__________
__________
2.
Set priorities on the above list of time wasters using the ABC Method –
(A = a major time waster, B = a medium time waster; C = a not important time waster). Then number your A-1, A-2, A-3, etc., in order of how much of your time this activity wastes.
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3.
List your three main time wasters, based on your analysis above:
1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
4.
List the immediate solutions that come to mind for your three biggest time wasters:
1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
5.
What three people in your work life potentially waste more of your time than
any other? 1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
6.
Whose time do you waste in the course of your workday?
1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
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7.
What are the three greatest benefits you will enjoy from getting your time wasters under control?
1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
What specific action are you going to take immediately to stop wasting time and getting more done at work based on this lesson? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________
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