You might remember the earlier which I had quoted in which I mentioned the farmer, a jailbird and the couple in love. It might have been difficult to figure out the differences behind the same concept of time applied to three different instances. In order to clear that up, I would like to introduce you to two people. The first person is Ben and the second person is Bob. Please say hi to Ben and Bob. Ben and Bob say hi to you reader.
Right, now that you have said hi to one another let me proceed to tell you a little more about these two fine gentlemen. Ben lives in the city. He works as a Market Analyst for a firm called. Oops For privacy reasons, Ben has asked me not to reveal the name of his company. Well, I guess that thats ok with us Ben. We are not too nosy are we. So getting on with Ben, Ben loves his job and he is one of the best in his field.
He has an office on the 56th floor of one of those skyscrapers down town. In fact, even if he takes an elevator, it would take him a good 2 minutes to reach his floor. I need not say that Ben has a very busy life. He does a lot of running around, he does market surveys, he does not do it directly; he has people to do the dirty work for him. But still he does a lot of running around and he is on his toes all day long. No he is not a ballet dancer; that was just a figure of speech that I used to tell you how busy he is. So lets take a closer look at Ben life without appearing nosy.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling Thats bens alarm clock gone off at 6 in the morning and Ben is up already. Just look at him, though he is in his well underwear, he still looks as large as life and as right as rain. What makes a man all perked up than a good night sleep. There, Ben is already out of the bathroom and he has put on a track suit. At half past six, he is already in his car and heading for the gym.
I forgot to tell you that Ben is one hell of a looker and is very conscious about his trim body. And in order to keep it that way he works out in the gym every single day and that too for an hour. So that means at quarter to eight he is on his way back home. There is a fifteen minute drive from his apartment to the gym. At 8.15 he has had a shower and dressed and is going down the elevator holding his morning paper in his hand. His office is only a ten minute drive from his apartment but at this rush hour, the traffic just crawls. So Ben chooses to use his electric razor in the car while he is driving, dangerous though it may seem.
People will do anything in order to cope with the time which is kept moving. But it is so important to know on how to deal with the time management.
There are two main categories that time wasters or time bandits can fall under. The first category is self generated internal time wThere are two main categories that time wasters or time bandits can fall under. The first category is self generated internal time wasters. These are the things that you do yourself to waste time and are the easiest to control. The second category are the external time wasters. These are the things other people do to waste your time. This can be more diffucult to control, though it can be controlled with a little bit of effort and ingenuity.
Let's look at the self generated internal time wasters and some possible solutions:
1) The lack of planning and priorities. Many people never get anything accomplished because they don't know where to begin or how to proceed once started. It is important that you keep a weekly schedule. List your priorities in order of importance. If needed, discuss the priorities with your boss or coworkers. Make a schedule that starts at the beginning of each week and incorporates all of your priorities into the schedule with goals for completion dates. List every hour and what you should be working on for that hour. Schedule tight so there is not a lot of time in between projects. Too much time between projects is wasted time.
2) Disorganization. Disorganized people spend way too much time looking for lost items. Keep your office neatly organized and free of clutter. If you can't do this yourself, recruit a friend or hire someone to help you.
3) Procrastination. This is a big time waster. Set a deadline for those projects that you don't want to do. Plan a reward for yourself when finished. Work on the project in small chunks until completed. Sometimes it helps to work on it first thing in the morning to get it out of the way.
The second category of time wasters is the external time wasters. These are not as easy to control since they involve external factors. Here are some solutions to help control or at the very least, keep them to a minimum:
1) Visitors. If you get a lot of visitors dropping to your work area this could be a huge time waster for you. The solution is to move your desk so that your back is to the door. This will make you seem less approachable. When someone stops in to talk, stand up. This will send the message that you don't have time to chat. If all else fails be honest. Tell them thanks for dropping by, but tactfully let them know that you need to get back to work.
2) Telephone calls. Screen your calls. Let the voice mail take your calls during the day when you are busy. Schedule time during each day when you will return the calls and let your clients know when that time will be. Keep your answers short and to the point and end the conversation politely when it has achieved it's purpose. With a little practice you can be personable and still keep the conversation short.
3) Mail. It can flood your desk and take it over before you it. Schedule time each day to go through your mail. Make it a rule to handle each piece of mail only once. Throw out the junk mail immediately, file" information only" mail in a file box to be read later and respond to the others by telephone or fax. Faxing a response is a great idea because the response is immediate and takes very little time.
4) Email. Clean out your email box daily and don't use your business email address for personal use.
Using these solutions, your productivity will increase and your stress level on the job will decrease. The best part is, you can say goodbye to the time bandits forever!asters. These are the things that you do yourself to waste time and are the easiest to control. The second category are the external time wasters. These are the things other people do to waste your time. This can be more diffucult to control, though it can be controlled with a little bit of effort and ingenuity.
Let's look at the self generated internal time wasters and some possible solutions:
1) The lack of planning and priorities. Many people never get anything accomplished because they don't know where to begin or how to proceed once started. It is important that you keep a weekly schedule. List your priorities in order of importance. If needed, discuss the priorities with your boss or coworkers. Make a schedule that starts at the beginning of each week and incorporates all of your priorities into the schedule with goals for completion dates. List every hour and what you should be working on for that hour. Schedule tight so there is not a lot of time in between projects. Too much time between projects is wasted time.
2) Disorganization. Disorganized people spend way too much time looking for lost items. Keep your office neatly organized and free of clutter. If you can't do this yourself, recruit a friend or hire someone to help you.
3) Procrastination. This is a big time waster. Set a deadline for those projects that you don't want to do. Plan a reward for yourself when finished. Work on the project in small chunks until completed. Sometimes it helps to work on it first thing in the morning to get it out of the way.
The second category of time wasters is the external time wasters. These are not as easy to control since they involve external factors. Here are some solutions to help control or at the very least, keep them to a minimum:
1) Visitors. If you get a lot of visitors dropping to your work area this could be a huge time waster for you. The solution is to move your desk so that your back is to the door. This will make you seem less approachable. When someone stops in to talk, stand up. This will send the message that you don't have time to chat. If all else fails be honest. Tell them thanks for dropping by, but tactfully let them know that you need to get back to work.
2) Telephone calls. Screen your calls. Let the voice mail take your calls during the day when you are busy. Schedule time during each day when you will return the calls and let your clients know when that time will be. Keep your answers short and to the point and end the conversation politely when it has achieved it's purpose. With a little practice you can be personable and still keep the conversation short.
3) Mail. It can flood your desk and take it over before you it. Schedule time each day to go through your mail. Make it a rule to handle each piece of mail only once. Throw out the junk mail immediately, file" information only" mail in a file box to be read later and respond to the others by telephone or fax. Faxing a response is a great idea because the response is immediate and takes very little time.
4) Email. Clean out your email box daily and don't use your business email address for personal use.
Using these solutions, your productivity will increase and your stress level on the job will decrease. The best part is, you can say goodbye to the time bandits forever!
Both Mitch Johnson & Shafir Ahmad are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Mitch Johnson has sinced written about articles on various topics from bowling, Hunting and Nokia Phones. Mitch Johnson is a regular writer for ,. Mitch Johnson's top article generates over 301000 views. to your Favourites.
Shafir Ahmad has sinced written about articles on various topics from Lose Weight, Bodybuilding Supplements and Time Management Skills. Shafir Ahmad is the author of "The Experts Guide to Managing Your Time". If you are not managing your time, you are wasting it. Don't waste time! Get your 7-Part eCourse on. Shafir Ahmad's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.