Ditch Those Time-Zappers for Good.
I read this quote this week and it really resonated with me…
“No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We’re tightfisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.”
Seneca – Stoic philosopher
I was struck that over 2,000 years later we still have not learnt the value of our finite resource: our time.
I see and hear this all the time. Of course, I am as guilty as anyone, giving my time to things that don’t serve to move me closer to my true intention… but we are all human!
Here are a few of my tips to avoid some of the greatest ‘time-zappers’ in your day.
This Week’s Focus: Identify those Time-Zappers
Here are some of the key ways you can identify what and who is zapping your precious time.
Be Mindful of Focus:
Multi-tasking is a fallacy! Stop your attention being dragged in different directions and just FOCUS: Follow, One, Course, Until, Successful.
You can use a variety of tools (I cover some in my blogs) to help you list, identify, prioritise, schedule and execute any given tasks. Its all about making the space and allowing yourself the time to F.O.C.U.S.
HOW Solution: Identify when and why you feel focused: what activities created that mindset, what environment where you in, what contributed to that focus?
Creatures of Habit.
We all have bad habits, some more obvious than others. Be aware of bad habits that lead you to procrastinate and lose time. Do you have a habit of saying yes to everyone? Do you always make yourself available at work for a ‘quick question’?
HOW Solution: Then identify what are your biggest distractions. Who and what are they? Why do they happen? What habits have you developed that waste your time?
Avoid Overwhelm.
What I mean by this is, stop putting pressure on yourself by trying to do too much at once. We all think better when we are not stressed out! When you hit overwhelm, you want to avoid the stress and can ‘check out’. This causes you to procrastinate, wasting time avoiding the overwhelming task.
HOW Solution: Identify practices that help you feel more relaxed and calm. Learn to recognise when you have taken on too much and work to reduce the pressure.
Your Task this Week:
- Identify when and what leads to you feeling focused.
- Consider what and who are your biggest distractions, your most common time-zappers.
- Identify practices that help you feel more relaxed and calm when completing tasks
Give it a try this week!
This Week’s Insights.
What is Protected Time? Protected time is the productivity tool that carves out dedicated time in your day – dedicated time that is reserved for you alone. It is distraction-free. It is the opportunity to dedicate yourself to you and your work before anyone else.
What are Bad Habits? Habits are the result of a neat little process in your brain that produces efficiencies. In a response to a particular cue, you behave in a certain way. When that behaviour or response feels good, you respond that way again the next time you encounter that cue.
