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Headless Chickens, Laidback Bears

Timewasting

Gordon Wainwright is an independent management training consultant. He has written several books on management communication skills, including 'Read Faster, Recall More' (also published by How To Books) and runs courses for a wide range of organisations, including multinationals and government departments.

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You may be guilty of wasting your own time and if this is the case there should be plenty in this book to help you to avoid the problem in the future. But not all of the causes of wasted time are within your control. Below is a list of causes of wasted time, some of which you can do something about and some of which you cannot. You might like to identify the ones which are the biggest problems for you and see what there is in the rest of this book that will help you to deal effectively with them.

A Timewaster’s Checklist

Here is a list of the factors that many people working in organisations have identified as causing them to make inefficient use of their time. Tick the ones that you consider your own timewasters. Make notes on what you intend to do about them:

  • Unclear objectives

  • Inadequate information on which to act

  • Postponed decisions by others

  • Procrastination by you and by others

  • Lack of feedback on whether you have done the right thing

  • Routine work

  • Too much reading

  • Interruptions

  • The telephone

  • No time-planning

  • Meetings

  • Lack of competent personnel to work with

  • Lack of delegation

  • Lack of self-discipline

  • Visitors

  • Training new staff

  • Lack of priorities

  • Unavailability of people

  • Junk mail

  • Outside demands (i.e. any not related to your job)

  • Poor filing system

  • Fatigue

  • Questionnaires

  • Socialising by you and by others involving you

  • Lack of concentration

  • Coffee and tea breaks

  • Unintelligible communications

  • Lack of clerical staff

  • Red tape

  • Pet projects that you spend too much time on because you enjoy them

  • Attempting too much at once

  • Span of control (having too many subordinates to supervise)

  • Usurped authority (having your decisions overridden)

  • Can’t say ‘No’

  • Low morale

  • Mistakes

  • Over-optimism (thinking you can do more than is possible)

  • Employees with problems

  • Failure to listen (by you or by others)

  • Responding to the urgent rather than the important

  • Confused responsibilities

  • Failure to motivate staff

  • Lack of activity or project co-ordination

  • Waiting for decisions

  • Lack of monitoring and review procedures

  • Orientation towards problems rather than opportunities

In your notebook, list any other sources of timewasting that you feel apply to your job.

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