22 Time Wasters

Analyst and advisor Rick Telberg of Bay Street Group advises against 22 Time Wasters:

1. Not having a plan; lacking direction
2. Failing to set priorities; trapped by indecision
3. Unable to say no
4. Attempting to take on more tasks than you can possibly handle
5. Failure to delegate; trying to do everything yourself
6. Scheduling activities so that you have too much or too little time for something
7. Putting off something that should be done today
8. Focusing on how busy you are; avoiding priority work
9. Suffering from personal disorganization; unable to find things because of clutter
10. Jumping from one activity, project, item to the next instead of getting one thing done
11. Leaving tasks unfinished and having to rethink what you were doing in order to finish up
12. Getting bogged down by the details instead of keeping your goals in mind
13. Starting a project without enough information
14. Lacking skills to accomplish what you intend
15. Being kept waiting
16. Being interrupted by the telephone (or email, or IM, or.....)
17. Socializing during time set aside for your priorities
18. Being interrupted by visitors who drop by -- and letting them take control
19. Not getting to the point of the conversation; not saying what you mean
20. Holding a meeting without an agenda
21. Not using your commuting or travel time wisely
22. Watching tv (or surfing the 'Net) when you had planned on doing something else

BOTTOMLINE: Eliminating one or more of these can add not only TIME, but purpose and discipline to your daily routines, increasing the freedom you have to do other MORE important things with your time. Replace one or more of these bad habits with good habits.

For more from Rick Telberg, click here.