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WORKSMART
5 of the Biggest Timewasters of Your Day
Even if you’re one of the more dedicated and
organized people out there, you still waste time.
Whether you work from home or in the office,
we’re all guilty of getting distracted and losing
focus. It may not be deliberate and you probably
don’t even realize you’re doing it until it’s too late. 2. Organizing and Preparing
Here are five ways you waste time every day.
See if you can relate.
1. Social Media/Emails/Texts
It’s become a vital part of our lives. But the world
won’t stop turning if you don’t look at your social
media for 15 minutes.
Another big distraction is hearing that too
familiar ‘ding’ that comes with a new email or
text message. It prevents you from finishing the
task at hand because you keep looking at your
phone every five minutes.
Picture this scenario: you’re in the middle of
work when your phone beeps. You reach for your
phone to see your incoming message. So, you go
from message to email to Facebook to Instagram.
Then, when you’re done, you notice that 20
minutes have gone by.
Research shows that each time you get
distracted, even for a couple of minutes, your
brain needs more than 20 minutes to refocus.
Imagine how much wasted time that amounts to
at the end of the day!
JANUARY - FERUARY 2021
The Fix: Avoid randomly checking social media,
emails, or texts. Instead, set up a certain time
during your day for doing just that. In the
meantime, turn off any notifications or mute
your phone.
You’re probably wondering: how is this a time-
waster? But too often we fall down the rabbit
hole of ‘organizing’ our day. Sometimes, we take
too far that we actually run out of time to do any
of the things on our list.
The Fix: Find an online planner and to-do-list.
Then, pick one day out of the week where you
plan out the whole seven days in advance.
Schedule in work-related projects, meetings,
and deadlines. You can also include a workout
schedule and get-togethers with friends.
3. Multitasking
Multitasking: another thing that we do to trick
ourselves into believing we’re being productive.
Yet, the sad truth is, multitasking wastes a ton
of time.
It’s counter-productive when your attention is
divided among several tasks at once. In other
words, it’s just another form of distraction.
The Fix: It’s simple. Just put all your attention
and focus on one task at a time. When you’re
done, move on to the next task, and so on.
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