Top Ten Time - Wasting Behaviors

Written by Posted On Thursday, 19 September 2013 13:06

With all the things you have to accomplish in a given day, wouldn't it be nice if it were just a bit longer? But when you cut out some serious time - wasters - or at least reduce the amount of time you devote to them - it'll seem like you're gaining one, two, three or even more hours to your day to invest in activities and pursuits that are important to you.

1. Hooking Up to the Tube: According to the A.C Nielsen Company, the average person in the United States watches more than 28 hours of TV a week. Think about it: If you could eliminate that much viewing time, it'd be like having an eight - day week. Just think of all you could do with 28 extra hours: read a good book; spend time with your family; take a class; start working out - and even get a good night's sleep!

If you're a committed TV watcher, it's probably not realistic to kick the habit cold turkey. The withdrawal pains would be much too severe. And, truth is, television isn't all bad. Just like coffee, a little bit can do you some good - but, to me, 28 hours of TV a week is the equivalent of a four - cup - a - day espresso habit.

Instead, here are some ways to wean yourself away from evenings and weekends glued to the couch.

Leave the TV off if you're not watching it. Some folks like to have the tube on for company. But it's too tempting to wander over and plop yourself down and watch the latest talk show if they are hosting a controversial guest or the tribe is about to cast another member off the island.

Pre - plan your TV schedule. Decide what is really important for you to watch. Say, on Tuesday evening, if it's the 9 pm crime investigation series, so be it. But don't turn on the TV until it starts. And turn if off immediately upon seeing the closing credits.

Schedule "no - watch" zones throughout your week. Maybe set aside a specific weeknight or weekend day when all household TVs remain off.

Reduce the number of TVs in your home. Keep it out of the kitchen and bedroom, especially. Just like diet experts advise weight - watchers to eat only in certain places in their house, this helps keep the habit under control. Pre - record what you want to watch, and view it on your own schedule. The added bonus? You get to skip over all the commercials - which reduces your viewing time by about one - third!

2. Killing Time in Transit: I used to envy those folks living in major metropolitan areas who could take advantage of efficient mass transportation. The idea of hopping on a train and spending the commute reading, catching up on reports, and scheduling business commitments while leaving the driving to others: I wouldn't care if the commute were an hour!

An unrealistic fantasy, of course, my job required lots of driving - to places not well - served by public transportation. That meant long, unproductive hours behind the wheel. Unproductive, that is, until I discovered that my automobile provided me with one of the most valuable opportunities I could have imagined. My vehicle became my very own auto - university.

At the time I turned to the cassette player - now it's a CD player - and turned my vehicle into a classroom for skills development and self - improvement. Instead of listening to commercial radio, switching stations as I drove out of signal, I put my ears to work listening to motivational speakers and how - to books on everything from personal finance to personal relationships.

I'd recommend some of my favorite over the years: Jim Rohn's The Art of Exceptional Living, Earl Nightingale's Lead the Field, "Brian Tracy's The Psychology of Achievement, and Goals, by my good friend Zig Ziglar. I would also recommend some of my own CD programs that you can find at .

While there's nothing wrong with listening to music or radio talk shows - one of my very best friends owns a number of radio stations - when you spend a lot of time in your car, you're better served by putting some of that time to good use.

3. Surfing the Web: There's nothing wrong with "hanging ten" on the Internet - as long as the "ten" is not ten hours. I'm not exaggerating when I report that, while studies indicate the average per - day time online is one or two hours, a measurable percentage spend seven or more hours a day glued to their monitors! Studies also show that Internet time is increasing - and usurping other activities, including watching TV and reading.

The Internet is incredibly valuable as a time - saving tool. Just think how much faster it is to pull data and track down information than in the past! But the Web is a storehouse of useless information, as well. You can spend hours sifting through waves of data in search of what you really want to know, and before you know it, more than half the day has passed, your original intentions suffering a wipe - out as you get pulled off - course by information undertow.

When using the Internet for research or information - gathering, it pays to stay focused on your mission: What are you in search of? The annual report from a company you're pursuing as a client? The best bed - and - breakfasts available in St. Thomas in May? Don't get sidetracked by related information that steers you off - course.

Of course, another big use of the Internet is for recreational pursuits: music, shopping, computer games, blogs, virtual worlds, porn. My advice: In some cases, you're best to cut off this activity completely. Many of these online behaviors can lead to serious problems, addictions, financial risk, and even personal safety issues. In other more benign situations, it's still a good idea to keep the online activity to a bare minimum of time - and find your kicks in the "real world," instead.

4. Getting Caught in Junk Mail Undertow: As if it weren't enough to be inundated with credit card offers, catalogs, and direct marketing materials in our mailboxes, now our email in - boxes are slammed with unsolicited tidings, commonly known as "spam." At least email offerings don't waste the thousands and thousands of tons of paper that gets tossed in the recycling bin. But we all waste too much time sifting through both paper and electronic mail to make sure we don't miss critical correspondence.

Recently, at our house I collected a month's worth of junk mail, which included 30 catalogs addressed to my wife, Joan. Interesting thing: She had only ever ordered from two of the catalogs. Apparently, these catalog companies sold her name to the other merchants.

Selling or exchanging mailing lists is a common practice among catalog companies. I bet if you check in the stack of offers you receive, you'll find a few different companies that misspell your name in exactly the same way. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Getting off all these lists is more of a challenge than it ought to be. Calling the company and asking to be taken off their list doesn't always work. And once you do get off a list, the same company may purchase a new list - with your name on it - and the mail starts up again. Although many companies commit to purging your name from future purchased lists, this just doesn't always happen.

You can take some steps to reduce the deluge of paper and electronic mail that comes your way. But, it does take a little bit of a time investment to stop this time - waster:

  • Register with to be removed from direct - mail lists for up to three years.
  • Go to to get off mailing lists for pre - screened credit and insurance offers.
  • To reduce your catalog load, sign up with . You can "manage" your mail, by selecting which catalogs you'd like to continue to receive - and which you don't.
  • Online, install a good spam manager program. Most capture the spam mail and offer you the opportunity to view it if you wish.

Be prepared: It can take as long as 10 weeks to see a reduction in your junk snail mail. Also, be sure to enter the names of all the people in your household - as well as variations of your name and address. Joan was actually receiving two catalogs from one fashion company: one to Joan Zeller, and one to Joan Seller.

5. Attending Unnecessary Meetings: I know an editor who telecommutes from her home office to her company's headquarters several states away. Once a quarter, she visits the offices, meets with her department and other executives and staff, then returns home to catch up with deadlines. On each visit, colleagues ask if she wouldn't rather be in the office full time. Her reply? "If I did, I'd never get anything done - too many meetings."

Although my editor friend is half - joking, there is truth to the fact that meetings can take up more time in the workday than they should. Let's face it - office meetings often play out like a bad family reunion: drawn - out greetings as people arrive; personal catch - up and small talk as you wait for the same old stragglers to come late; familiar dynamics as attendees form alliances and take sides - and, of course, the self - perceived "head of the family" who loves to hold court and ramble on.

Meetings are a critical part of doing business in almost any field. But they can also be a huge time - waster, for a number of reasons: The leader may be poorly prepared; attendees may lead the discussion off - track; there may be no agenda to follow; or the wrong people are invited to attend. Almost everyone finds themselves in a meeting, thinking, "I shouldn't even be here."

To minimize time waste, think carefully before scheduling or accepting an invitation to your next meeting. Is the meeting necessary? Could the issue be dealt with in another, more efficient way? A quick stand - up meeting? Through email discussion? Do I need to attend?

When you identify a needless meeting, take steps to eliminate it or extricate yourself from it. You won't always be able to (if your boss deems the weekly staff update critical, for example), but by being aware of these voracious time hogs during a period of time famine in your work life, you're more likely to salvage at least a few more crumbs of your day.

With all the things you have to accomplish in a given day, wouldn't it be nice if it were just a bit longer? But when you cut out some serious time-wasters - or at least reduce the amount of time you devote to them - it'll seem like you're gaining one, two, three or even more hours to your day to invest in activities and pursuits that are important to you. Here is Part two of the top ten most voracious devourers of your precious time.

6. Spending Time With Negative People: One way to bring down your energy level, reduce your enthusiasm, darken your outlook, slow your productivity, and drain your glass from half - full to almost - empty is to invest your time in negative people. The more you reduce the influence they have on your life, the happier and more productive you can be.

Easier said than done, I know. Chances are you have at least one foul - weather friend in your close circle. And there's a good likelihood you're related to someone who likes to remind you that either you're not living up to your potential or that everyone is out to trip you up.

Your negative associates don't necessarily focus their malcontent mojo toward you. They may, in fact, look at you as a shining success, while they cast themselves as a poor victim of the world's injustices. But their pessimism is bound to rub off on you.

I don't suggest that you abandon friends and relatives who are suffering through hard times, whether due to illness, financial problems, or personal troubles. I'm talking about avoiding those people who are prone to see the negative side of life, no matter how much good fortune they have.

Do your best to minimize the time you spend in the company of curmudgeons and contrarians. Not only do you take back valuable time to direct toward positive endeavors, their absence breaks the dark spell over your optimistic outlook.

7. Multi - tasking: The scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports that multi - tasking - switching back and forth between two or more tasks - is an extremely ineffective way to get things done. Researchers say that when you multi - task you are making your brain take time to switch to a different skill set and a different memory experience.

One study showed that when people who speak two languages were asked to switch between languages when counting objects, they had to slow down for each switch - even the language they were most familiar with. Another study indicates that when we start - stop on several tasks in a given time period, we increase the time needed for completion by as much as 500 percent.

Sometimes multi - tasking can't be helped: you're cooking dinner, helping one child with her homework, and telling another where he can find his soccer shoes. And sometimes it doesn't matter: you're reading a book while listening to jazz, and stopping occasionally to respond to your spouse who's reading next to you.

But for those projects and tasks that require your best effort, you're better off to focus on one at a time. To help with this:

Turn off your cell phone or the ringer on your land line - even if you intend not to answer the call, the sound halts your attention and slows your progress.

If working on the computer, set your email program so you are not notified when you've received a message.

If you're working on a report, article, or some project that demands a lot of concentration, set aside at least one hour of uninterrupted time.

8. Failing to Plan: When you spend too little time preparing, you're forced to spend too much time in execution. The time you invest in collecting, compiling, and organizing your thoughts before you begin a project pays off in time - savings and in the quality of the outcome. The effort you put in the preparation of a task reduces the time it takes to complete the task.

Planning ahead works not only because the process helps you eliminate roadblocks or problems before you start, it also helps you "imagine" how you'll go about performing the task. When you address the situation in advance, you feed your subconscious with the tools and information it needs to work on the problems - often without your awareness. Kind of like sticking bread dough in a warm space and letting it rise overnight - just consider your planning efforts the "yeast" that brings your projects to rise to their full potential.

Good planning isn't helpful just for important projects; preparation is valuable in efforts big and small. Even 10 minutes at the end of a workday to review your schedule and set out the materials you'll need is sure to increase your productivity and effectiveness the next day.

9. Worrying and Waiting: Worry usually comes from dwelling on factors that we can't control. It's scary to think about those overpowering forces that could have a devastating impact: a downturn in the economy, a hurricane, global warming. But if you spend time worrying, you're not spending time on ways you can prepare or avoid such forces. Renowned self - help guru Dale Carnegie viewed it this way: "If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep."

In his landmark book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, he gives three great tips for overcoming worry problems.

If you don't know the real truth it's impossible to solve the issue. Get the facts and the newfound knowledge removes the worry.

What facts are important? What facts are not? Is there a proper order to the facts and how they need to be put together to solve the problem you're worrying about?

Don't vacillate once you have acquired and analyzed the facts - act! The biggest waste of time in life is from the moment you know what decision to make and when you actually make it.

Another exercise to help you overcome worry is to ask yourself these four questions.

  1. What am I really worrying about?
  2. What can I do about it?
  3. Decide. What will I do about it?
  4. When will I take action?

A first cousin to worry is waiting. Not the waiting for your spouse to meet you for dinner; or the waiting to hear back from a client about your proposal; or the waiting for the price on HDTV to go down. I'm talking about the waiting that often accompanies worry; the waiting that keeps you from taking a productive course of action.

Another motivational author, Glenn Turner, said: "Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere."

Hand - in - hand, worry and waiting are two time - wasters that can undermine your attainment of success and happiness in life.

10. Demanding Perfection: If you are expecting perfection out of yourself or others you are wasting your time. That standard will never be hit nor would you want it to be attained.

Letting your "imperfection" keep you from pursuing your recreational interests or your career goals could end up limiting the fulfillment you achieve in life. Whether it's yourself or others the amount of time, effort, energy and emotion to achieve perfection will dramatically reduce production. You will invest as many of your resources of time and energy to move from 95% performance score to the 100% mark as you did to go from 0 to 95%. You are much better off investing your energy into starting something new than focusing on perfection. And if you refuse to give it a go until you're perfect - how will you ever get to be perfect? One of history's most prolific inventors, Thomas Edison, made hundreds of failed prototypes before he perfected inventions such as the light bulb.

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Dirk Zeller

Dirk Zeller is a sought out speaker, celebrated author and CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 350,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. The Real Estate community has embraced and praised his six best-selling books; Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, The Champion Real Estate Team, Telephone Sales for Dummies®, Successful Time Management for Dummies®, and over 300 articles in print. To learn more regarding this article, please visit www.realestatechampions.com.

www.realestatechampions.com

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