August 24, 2011

Would you like 10 hours a week back to get work done?

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If you'd like to recover lost time, find and destroy the time traps in your life. 

Oh yeah, you've got them, and they masquerade as legitimate business activities or required breaks. You know they are time traps, because you can't prove they are adding any value to you or your company.  In my estimation, the average person probably loses 25% of their work week to non-productive activities. 

It varies, of course, on the individual.  Read Todd Duncan's excellent book Time Traps to find some of yours.  In my case, I had to track activities for a week in my journal, coding each one for productivity or refueling value.  It was an EYE OPENER.  Just tracking my web surfing and social media browsing alone identified way to much time spent for too little value.  A simple RSS feed reader solves that, bringing only the best information to my attention.  Whack! 

Checking financial markets?  Whack!  Seeing how your company or book or friends are doing on some index? Whack!  Checking to see if anyone commented on your post or responded to your comment?  Whack! 

Then, there are standing meetings or phone calls.  Scrutinize each one with time in mind - can you space them out (once a month instead) or replace them entirely with an email summary? By applying the productivity test to a week or two's activities, your journal will show you where the fat in your schedule lives.  I'm not saying that you need to become a time miser, holing up in your cube 'getting things done' - but I am suggesting that you likely have some blind spots in your daily bizlife that are gobbling up your precious time. 

After one month, if you journal-delete and rejournal, you'll recover the time you need to execute, plan and productivity dream your way towards success.  

Posted at 5:46 AM in Business Effectiveness  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

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