How To Eliminate Time-Wasting Tasks

Yep, it is the time of year where we all scramble to buy new planners, pens, and sticky notes but what good is all of it if we don’t stick to our plans? I know I personally wasted hours upon valuable hours this passed year and hope that I learned from it.
 
Your time = money, right? Don’t throw it away. Here are some tips t help keep us focused.:
In order to completely eliminate bad time management habits and stop wasting precious time today, consider developing a routine that will help you avoid wasting time. Things that we feel like reacting to such as: phone calls, emails, news stories, text, etc. are known as urgent tasks. According to Brett McKay, “Important tasks contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals.” Understanding all the basics of time management is a very valuable lesson because they can be incorporated in all aspects of your life. Below are some remedies to set you on the path to productivity.
1) Avoid Multitasking
For a lot of us, multitasking is a way to keep up with the flow and feel like we are not getting left behind. But only 2 percent of the population can multitask successfully. It actually reduces our ability to focus, lowers the quality of our work, and can actually cost us time.
It is very important to stop multitasking as soon as you realize you are doing it. Instead, try to minimize and manage interruptions, and work on improving concentration by scheduling your day into blocks of time.
2) Put an End to Silent Procrastination
If you procrastinate a lot, then you must understand the pains and stress that comes with putting things off. Procrastination is always easy to spot, especially when you are scrolling Facebook, playing solitaire, or gazing out the office window.
Though it might seem like an innocent waste of time, this can lead to stress due to missing a very important deadline or inability to complete simple tasks. To overcome this, create task reminders by making use of your day planner. If your work requires the use of computer, then make sure you avoid time-wasting websites so you are not tempted.
3) Learn to Say No
If you have already planned your schedules, you are working as effectively as you possibly can on important tasks and you have found ways of dealing with things that distract you a lot, but you still don’t have enough time?
Probably you are trying to do too much. You need to learn to say no. You can’t always take care of everyone else. But you can still care and say “No” and look for another way to help without sacrificing your own success.
You want to slow down and remain focused on the biggest pay-off activities that’ll give you the best results in a time frame you prefer, personally and professionally.
4) Continue With What Works for You
If your morning ritual is to “warm up” first and ease into each day by grabbing a cup of coffee, answering email and checking in on Facebook, then that may be what you need to do to start your day.
Activities that eat up your time can only be referred to as problems if they continue to get in the way of getting things done.
However, you have to be honest with yourself about how much time that is being spent on such activities and whether it is really a time waster or a tool.
5) Do the Most Difficult things at Your Peak Time
It is always better to handle or tackle the most difficult tasks whenever you are at your peak performance as this will help you schedule your day properly.
You don’t want to make important decisions when you are not efficient or energetic. If you perform best whenever you are awake first thing in the morning, then tackle those jobs first. Avoid using your peak performance time for easy assignments or for socializing and playing.
In conclusion, being organized and productive in the areas that are very important to you will be rewarding. As discussed above, avoid procrastination, do not multitask, work on your more difficult tasks whenever you are most alert and learn to say no – because most of our time wasters come from a courage problem and not a time problem. Hope this helps. Wish you the best in your efforts to eliminate time-wasting tasks.
Your turn: what do you do to stay more focused?