Time Management Exercises

Let's see what distracts us from business, what habits and addictions eat up a lot of our working time, what hinders our activity and desire to work. In a word, let's figure out how we interfere with ourselves. The first and most harmful habit is procrastinating.

Don't put off difficult tasks

The habit of delaying the solution of this or that problem eats up our time in two ways: the decision is postponed and thus the beginning of the actual work on this problem is delayed. Time is running out and nothing is being done.

Let's imagine such a situation. You are in charge of a group of people, and one of the specialists performs very badly. There are three solutions to this problem: the first is to accept this state of affairs; the second one is to try to convince a person to change his attitude to work; the third is to fire the employee.

First, we will try to find out why the specialist works poorly. It is quite possible that it is all for the same reason: the task is difficult, and he constantly puts it off until later. However, it is not easy for us to force ourselves to undertake this test. So time goes on and nothing changes. Finally, you gathered your courage and decided that the only way out in this situation is to fire the negligent employee. The procedure itself is very painful: it is always difficult to announce to a person that his services are no longer needed. And you again catch yourself thinking that you want to postpone the final parting. And what if everything will work out suddenly and will get better on its own?

Tell us honestly, how many times and for what reasons did this saving thought come to your mind? Often, you will answer, and we will add that, perhaps, the saddest thing in our life is that nothing is solved on its own, and difficult problems are not made easier by postponing them for later. On the contrary, what was simply difficult becomes overgrown with such difficulties over time that it already seems unbearable, and we not only do not want, but are already afraid to take on this matter.

Just think over the example just given. A person works poorly, but we endure it. What does it cost the company, the team, the whole business? All this can be assessed and verified. Let's say the specialist in question is a salesperson. A bad seller means that the sale of goods is deteriorating, the number of buyers is decreasing, and this already leads to long-term losses.

Hence the conclusion: do not put off solving difficult problems, no matter how difficult they may be. Of course, before taking on any complex matter, everything should be weighed carefully, evaluated, and thought through. But if you decide, don't back down. Get started. Fight mercilessly against the desire to put it off, to let everything take its course, to trust "maybe" and the circumstances. By parting with this bad habit, you will save not only your time, but also your nerves.

Do not postpone the unloved work

There is a fundamental difference between things that seem difficult to you and those that you simply do not like. But this attitude affects work in the same way: it is postponed, although for different reasons. We will not repeat the example of a bad worker. The motivation for your unwillingness to finally deal with him will be different in this case.

There are plenty of reasons why we do not like to do this or that. For example, you do not like to travel to regional branches, because such trips, in addition to the inconvenience associated with them, also take a lot of time. Or maybe your dislike has deeper reasons, but the reference to time is just a pretext. It’s just that you don’t like the management there, and you try your best to avoid unnecessary contact with them.

In solving such problems, help is nowhere to be expected. There should be only self-discipline and self-control. It must be done because it must be done. Today, now, and not a minute later. If such a psychological technique helps you, then underline this unloved item in your plan with a red pencil, write it down on a separate piece of paper. In a word, do everything to force yourself to start working.

Underestimating such moments can lead to big troubles, not to mention the loss of time. And again, this may seem banal to you, but in fact everything is much more complicated and responsible.

Favorite things

You should avoid two things in every possible way: postponing the unloved tasks indefinitely and doing only what you like from morning to evening. Naturally, a person will always willingly do what he likes. Moreover, he is good at it, the work brings him satisfaction, the results are excellent, the birds sing and everything is fine. Of course, job satisfaction is a good thing, but the danger lies elsewhere: you can overdo it and go too far in the other direction. Your desire to bring your favorite business to the heights of perfection is understandable, and as a result you spend twice as much time polishing all the little things.

However, this enthusiasm can be explained by other reasons:

• your favorite activity - is just a good excuse to delay the solution of other issues, perhaps too difficult or unpleasant for you. That's why you assure yourself and others that you're too busy right now, that you don't have time right now, and so on;

• you are afraid to entrust the task to someone else, and therefore continue to fight over it yourself, although without visible results;

• you like working conditions or its process itself. For example, work does not require much responsibility or involves trips to some interesting city or to places where you have never been;

• you just like to work with something, for example, with computers, and you are ready to sit at the monitor for hours, drawing graphs and diagrams that no one needs;

• you do not know how to do anything else, and therefore take on only those things that are familiar and well-known to you, and the rest is either “pushed” onto others or put off for later.

Any of these reasons can give rise to many other problems. Moreover, each of us will not deny that he has used this or that pretext repeatedly to justify his actions. Therefore, we should once again take a critical look at the list of our tasks and try to impartially evaluate them in terms of complexity, importance, and priority. And again, your work plan becomes the most important argument: everything is painted in it; there is no place for love or hostility.

Summarizing the above, we can say that no one interferes with us like we do ourselves. So, before you fight with external time eaters, defeat this dragon in yourself. Then it will become easier to fight with an external enemy.

How to deal with those who interfere with your work?

Every business is done by people. And it is a pity that sometimes the boss has little time for people, for communication with them. But, on the other hand, we all want to have more time for productive work. Of course, you can’t lock yourself in your office or forbid people from visiting you, but try to somehow control the flow of visitors. Find a way to turn it into a thin stream. Here is a picture typical of any office. The office door opens, a head pops through the crack, and its owner asks apologetically: “Do you have a minute?”

The first thing you must remember always and everywhere: such intrusions, as a rule, are never limited to one minute, but turn into at least “ten minutes”. And what if there are also ten such invasions per day? And after each of them it will still take you about five minutes to concentrate on the interrupted work. So judge for yourself what your excessive softness and weakness of character cost. Calculations show that such stages of recovery sometimes take up to 25% of useful working time.

Of course, not all visitors come with empty problems. Some of them are even very handy. And sometimes a person expresses a very interesting fresh idea. However, this is even worse: after all, it’s a sin not to discuss a good idea, and, of course, right now. Once again we put the work we have just been doing aside. So how do we deal with all this?

There are four main ways to save your time at work:

1. Refuse everyone in a row, just say "no" and send the visitor away. This is easier to do with your subordinates, harder with colleagues, and almost impossible when your boss is on the doorstep. However, even here you can try to fight for the principle of respect for other people's time. In a word, saying “no” is both easy and very difficult at the same time. It is especially difficult to say "no" the first time, when there is no precedent yet and people have not developed a new stereotype of contacts with you.

2. Ask to wait. To say that you cannot accept a person right now, but are ready to appoint another time if he has something essential to discuss. It is amazing how miraculous this last argument is. So many of your visitors will rush to retreat with the words: "Yes, nothing serious." And the most amazing thing is that some of them will never bother you again.

3. Keep the conversation to a minimum by warning from the very beginning: "I have no more than ten minutes to talk to you." The most important thing in this case is to strictly adhere to the designated time, and after ten minutes, make it clear that the conversation is over. Your employees and subordinates will understand that they are really dealing with a person who knows how to value time. You should believe that their respect for you will only increase from this.

4. Prevent attempts to break into your working space, that is, build your working day in such a way that you have a period of time guaranteed from intrusions when none of the visitors has the right to enter your office/come to your desk. If you have a secretary, then it is his/her direct duty to stand guard over your office, cutting off the flow of those who want to get in. But even a simple “DO NOT DISTURB” sign can be very effective in scaring off uninvited visitors with its official tone. However, don't overdo it. Being a boss who is too inaccessible is also bad. If you become too elusive for your subordinates and colleagues, then you risk becoming useless to them. A lot of things in the company will start to happen, bypassing you, and then do not be surprised when you find that there has been a decline in business.

There is another technique that makes it possible to work calmly, without fear that you will be disturbed. You can go to another place, move to another office or something like that. For example, you need to prepare a report urgently - so stay at home for a couple of hours and work on it in peace and quiet. If you have the opportunity to retire to the library, use it. In a word, whoever seeks a way always finds it. Well, there are hundreds of places where no one will interfere with our work.