Seven Time Killers That Waste Your Precious Time

Seven Time Killers That Waste Your Precious Time

Telephone calls
Chatter boxes
Traffic jams
Finding parking spaces
Meetings
Bad machinery
Long queues

The list could of course go on. Let's first look at these.

How to handle Time Killers.

Time Killer : Telephone calls

The funny thing about telephone calls is that these instruments are indeed great time savers. In fact, the amount of time that people get to save thanks to telephones is stupendous. Most people use this for lengthy conversations. You may miss an important call or someone might be trying to reach you urgently. So the first thing about a telephone conversation is that it should be brief.

Identify yourself and ask directly for the person you want this saves a lot of time is playing the “who is speaking” games.

Turn off your cell phone when you are having a conversation or a discussion with more than one person. Answering the phone when you are having conversation with others can be rude unless the call is urgent or important say that you will call back later. Again be brief. A mobile phone is to be used to get an important message across to a person who you were not able to reach on the land line.

Time Killer : Avoid chatter boxes.

Haven't we all met them? They simply love the sound of their own voices and once they open their mouths, there is no stopping them. They waste not only your time but their time as well. Steer clear of such people. Believe me, it is much easier to avoid such people than to tell them to shut up and if you get a telephone call from such a person, use a caller ID facility or ask your secretary to divert the call. 

Time Killer : Traffic jams and finding parking spaces.

There is no getting past a traffic jam at the rush hour. The only thing you can do is anticipate the traffic jam and leave your home a half hour or one hour early. But that does not really keep the time killer at bay. It just helps you to avoid being late. In this respect you have two options. Either you could find something constructive to do while you wait for the traffic to move along or the traffic light to change or a better option would be to take subway and walk the rest of the way. You can get a long a lot faster on your feet and it is a lot better for your health as well.

By doing so, you can also get rid of the headache of finding a parking space.

Time Killer : Meetings and Discussions

Lengthy meetings and discussions can prove to be awful time killers particularly if the meeting does not have a clear agenda and if there are people who love top talk among the group. It has been found that most middle and senior level mangers spend nearly 70% of their work time talking. And in most organizations, parleying has been made into a fine art.

Time Killer : Bad machinery

How many of us have wanted to sit and scream and bang the daylights out of a pc that does not give us the required data or information. A computer that takes a long time to start up, a photocopier that gives shamefully faint photocopies, even a leaky faucet or a stubborn drawer or door knob can waste a lot of time and send us up the wall. If you have such equipment or machinery, get it changed at the earliest possible date. It is worth the amount of time and energy that you waste on it every day. 

Time Killer : Long queues

That does not mean that you have to jump the queue. If you can get the job done over the telephone or can reserve your ticket in advance, do it, even if it means a few extra dollars, it is worth the time you may have to spend waiting.
 
Apart from these each person may have particular time wasters, like for instance, a car that refuses to start in the morning, difficult hair that insists on looking like Medusas head on a bad hair day, an elevator that takes for ever to reach your floor. Use your common sense and try to find alternate methods or even better, if you cannot find an alternate method, you could put the time to some use like read your morning paper in the elevator.