For a multi-tasker like me, daily time management is like casting a big fishing net every morning, and hauling it in at night. Every morning I throw my energy and attention into the world, covering a broad area. Each thread is a different task, appointment, or activity. At the end of the day, I haul in my net and hope to find it full of accomplishments. Most of the time I do, but I can lose it all if I have too many loose ends. A good time management system can help ensure those wily threads are kept to a minimum. Knowing which activities can cut your lines can help even more! Here are some of my biggest wastes of time, the jagged rocks that tear up my daily net.
Social Networking Sites. How much time does it take to peek at Facebook? Only a moment, unless you keep looking, reading through all the comments and back posts... I don't spend any time using apps, and I still waste too much time this way.
Defrosting Dinner. If I just take the stupid chicken out of the freezer the night before, then I don't waste any time defrosting dinner. In fact, if I make a menu for the week, I don't waste time trying to think of what's for dinner, either.
Worrying about things that might happen. Why waste any time or energy worrying about what might be? Most of the time, everything works out. Even if it doesn't, you can deal with it when it happens, or at least after it becomes more clear what the problem is, rather than what it could be.
Email. Check email once a day, no more. You may have to do this more frequently depending on your job, but I don't. I often do check more frequently than that, but when I do, I waste time. Ideally, email should be checked at one consistent point during the day. If someone requires your immediate attention, they can call you.
Remaking the beds. I'm all for making the beds once a day, when you first get up. My oldest child has been doing this since he was 3. A made bed is a simple, instant accomplishment that sets the state of mind on "organized". It reduces visual clutter and provides a clean work surface. The cats are quite partial to the decorative pillows, too. Having said all that, it's a waste of time to make the bed over and over. There are days I must make the bed half a dozen times, after a pillow fight or nap time or making a fort under the covers. Of course, I don't get to play all these games, I just clean up after the kids have moved on to something new. This is one crazy waste of time.
Do you recognize any of these wastes of time? Lots of time management articles and books talk about using time efficiently in the office, but what about at home? Or in the home office? Email and voicemail are almost always mentioned, but what about my frozen chicken issue? To be honest, I never realized how much time I was wasting standing in the kitchen, turning over each piece every 2 minutes, on low, covering the edges, and disinfecting every surface in the house just to start making dinner! I hope you'll laugh at my weird wastes of time and ferret out a few of your own. I, for one, took dinner out of the freezer last night.
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