effects of wasting time

effects of wasting time 

 

How to identify time-wasting factors to better manage your time?

You have a heavy workload and perhaps diversified tasks and missions that require you to be drastically organized. However, sometimes you feel like you can never finish what you have started, with the feeling of having lost valuable time when the pressure was high on deadlines.

Let's see together the sources of loss and some ways to optimize the time allocated to us.

My way of perceiving time

Einstein said: "  A man who puts his hand on a hot plate for a second feels like it lasts an hour, but if he has spent an hour in charming company, he will feel like it only lasted 'one second  '.

Each of us has a personal way of perceiving time and this influences the way we manage it.

External time-wasting factors

Most often, we have the feeling of having been disturbed, interrupted by people or external events over which we had no control. But generally, a posteriori , we find that we have lost time without really identifying the causes.

Internal time wasters

But very often also, we are not aware of our own responsibility in our temporal aberrations or do not see how to do otherwise.

New technologies and their impact on time management

In recent years, modernity and the tremendous progress of technology have offered us machines, software, methods that can help us better manage our time. But is this always the case? How do we manage to allow ourselves, here too, to be overtaken by our environment via these "wonderful and perverse" little machines?

Is time a decoy?

Without going too far into quantum physics, some studies tend to prove that time is only a perception of our brain and not the linear reality that we have learned: past-present-future.

Besides, we each have a very personal way of perceiving time: I have the memory of a very boring film seen at the cinema with a friend who laughed and cried throughout the screening and who adored the film to the point of wanting to watch it again. If she did not see the session pass, as for me, I had the feeling that the film lasted four hours and I dozed off several times.

In the same way, our mental programming influences our perception. Some are "  associated with time  ", in the terms of neurolinguistic programming, or on the contrary are "  dissociated from time  ".

Some examples :

• Marie works in project mode: she almost always speaks in the future and thinks about the future. If you talk about vacations with her, she will talk about the research for places she is doing for next summer, what she wants, what she plans to do. Its metaprogram is oriented “associated with time – future”;

• Daniel is so anchored in the present that he often forgets that he has appointments the next morning and he works or goes out very late. When you remind him of his obligations, he shrugs his shoulders and says  , "We'll see tomorrow" and he arrives either late or very tired the next day at the strategic meeting where he has to intervene. Daniel is oriented“associated with the present time”;

• Paul will tell you about the results of last year, previous years, the founders of the company. He sometimes says: “It was better before”; he has a lot of trouble projecting himself. Paul is oriented “associated with the time – past”;

• as for Jonathan, he learned a lesson from his four years spent in China; this experience has taught him a lot – including his own mistakes – and he envisions a managerial career with a fairly well-defined plan. This in no way prevents him from being very present for his current mission and from knowing how to invest in the moment when, as he says, a "charrette" occurs. Jonathan is “dissociated from time”: he relies on the past to anchor himself in the present and project himself into the future .

None of these mental postures is positive or negative: all are useful and sometimes present risks. If they are unconscious, they can however evolve with age and life experiences or work on oneself.

But, of course, some promote wasting time more than others.

You will find in the section "  Tools to download  " a test to discover your own temporal orientation.

External time-wasting factors

We colloquially call them time thieves and we can list them as follows:

• unexpected or unnecessarily long telephone calls;

• colleagues or collaborators entering to present their problems or make conversation;

• open door policy, permanent availability;

• colleagues, N+1, visitors, customers, suppliers arriving unexpectedly or asking you to come and see them immediately (except in real emergencies);

• insufficiently trained or competent personnel in your environment;

• too frequent, too long, poorly prepared meetings;

• personal or family interruptions (a friend, your mother, your spouse or your child calls you at your place of work without there being any real emergency);

• machine failures in your environment.

We invite you to observe this list by asking yourself the following questions for each item:

• what is my share of responsibility in this case? ;

• am I at this place in my zone of helplessness (I can't do anything about it, I have to...) or in my zone of control? What if I used my area of ​​influence? ;

• what is the first small step, what is the first action that I can take to limit this phenomenon?

For example, consider the case of too frequent or poorly prepared meetings that you have to attend. Which ones require your absolute presence? Do you have to attend every time? Can you delegate or settle for the half-time report? Can you help the organizers to prepare them better?

You see that, ultimately, we can influence our external "thieves", even if it means showing a little authority with our surroundings: you can ask your loved ones to call only in case of emergency, your colleagues to postpone their discussion until a break or meal time because you are busy without getting angry with them.

Internal time wasters

The four biggest pitfalls of time management are:

• rush into action;

• underestimate the duration of tasks;

• not anticipating the medium and long term;

• postponing all the time (procrastination).

In these cases, we encounter the following time-wasting factors:

• unclear and/or constantly changing objectives and priorities or absence of objectives and priorities;

• ill-established, unclear responsibility and duplication between several positions;

• absence of a daily work plan;

• work not completed or still in progress;

• absence of deadlines , deadlines, deadlines;

• excessive perfectionism;

• difficulty delegating;

• excess in detail, exaggerated control;

• denial or non-intervention in conflicts;

• resistance to change;

• inability to say “no”;

• insufficient or excessive information, communication;

• slowness or haste in decision-making;

• fatigue, lack of energy.

In the same way, we invite you to identify the items that concern you and the solutions that you can provide, alone or with the help of your environment.

For example :

• if a mission is entrusted to you, remember to ask for the deadline;

• if you have difficulty saying no, you can take assertiveness training or coaching;

• if the information is excessive, you can sort and prioritize it.

New technologies and their impact on time management

Nowadays, we have technological tools to better manage our time and even save it: e-mails are faster than letters or trips between different departments; conf calls ( telephone conferences) replace many meetings and travel; calendars are managed in a shared way between computers and mobile phones, the latter making messages accessible at any time and in (almost) any place, whether they are text messages or e-mails, and even store attachments.

But these technical innovations also have pitfalls: you have noticed that being interrupted during a task wastes time and energy.If you need to focus on a task, turn off your audio and visual email alerts so you won't be tempted to respond to them right away. Let your environment know that you are unavailable during the period (specifying the duration) except in an absolute emergency. A mobile phone in silent or switched off mode has messaging: you will call back as soon as your important task is finished. And, unless you are an emergency doctor or a firefighter, true absolute emergencies are ultimately quite rare in a company.

The shared agenda is very useful, but remember to also note on it the periods when you have to work on your files in peace, otherwise colleagues or managers wishing to meet you could pass by at that time, knowing that you are on your premises. And above all, remember to set aside an hour for nothing every day, which will allow you to manage the unexpected (by coding it to avoid the impromptu visits mentioned above).

Why is this important?

• limits stress, prevents burnout  ;

• limits the frustration of not being able to do everything;

• preserves energy;

• promotes efficiency and the achievement of objectives;

• gives a more professional image;

• promotes concentration.

Why is it important to realize it for the department, the company, the colleagues, etc. ?

• avoids creating pressure outside of overload periods;

• makes it possible to calm the work climate;

• advances files and projects;

• shows the seriousness of the company, its professionalism to customers and partners;

• limit tensions and conflicts.

Why is it important for you and your employee?

• promotes effective exchanges;

• promotes the fluidity of the relationship and mutual trust;

• reinforces the employee's self-confidence (who knows when he can or cannot interrupt his N+1).

What would be the repercussions if they didn't know how?

• waste of time and energy;

• demotivation;

• non-completion of projects (loss of turnover, image);

• conflicts, crises;

• burnout.

Examples of recent problems:

Christine is HRD of a large group. It has launched a new training course on diversity and equality in the company, a theme which was entrusted to it as strategic within the framework of the group's CSR (corporate social and environmental responsibility) project and which, moreover, passionate.

She carefully selected the speaker with whom she prepared the program and she planned to attend the three-day pilot session (two plus one after piloting).

The first day is a treat for her, although she has completely forgotten to prepare the attendance sheets in the morning: she is overwhelmed with work at the moment.

The next day, around 10 a.m., she receives a call from the college where her 13-year-old son attends school: he is not feeling well and would like to go home; but he lost his keys. Christine leaves, specifying that she will try to return in the afternoon. She will be back at 5 p.m. for the group's feedback on the first two days. In the meantime, she is grabbed by the management who asks her as part of the reminder of an urgent file.

On the third day, when the trainer goes to his office, a little before the start of the training day, Christine apologizes for not being able to attend it because she has been requested for a strategic meeting at the CODIR; it has just been announced to him.In the evening, she comes back for the feedback , whispering that this meeting was boring and that her presence was only useful for twenty minutes over the whole half-day. She took advantage of the afternoon to complete some of her late files.

Some advice

Avoid:

• Not setting time management goals
• Allowing others, anyone, to invade us
• Not making a day or week plan
• Abandon what is planned and postpone it to deal with the most urgent
• Accept "urgent" assignments without deadlines
• Not estimating the time required for each task
• Do not delegate