Time Management – 2014’s Biggest Time Wasters

As 2014 comes to an end, you might find your focus and time management skills slipping just a little bit as the holiday hoopla takes over. But how are your time management skills during the rest of the year? According to Salary.com, a whopping 89% of employees admitted to wasting time at work this year. Of those 89%, 62% of us waste one hour or less a day at work; 16% waste approximately 2 hours a day; and 10% admit to wasting 3 or more hours on a daily basis.

It is impossible to make time, save time, or find time. Each of us are gifted with the exact same number of minutes to use each day: 1440, to be exact. The only way to reach our goals is to use the time we are allotted wisely. As much as you wish you could have 25 hours in a day, it’s not happening. But being aware of how you spend the time you do have is a good place to start if increasing productivity is one of your resolutions for 2015. Take a look at this list of the top time wasters in the workplace. Are you guilty of a couple?

Surfing the Internet: According to an article by Allyson Shontell in the Business Insider War Room, 48% of employees surveyed admit to surfing the Internet for personal use. It’s fun, educational, recreational and never ending – endless information is just a click away.

Email Addiction: While email is a phenomenal tool for increasing communication efficiency, it’s also high on the list of the biggest time wasters, incessantly interrupting our focus and impacting productivity. We live in a hyper-connected world with the expectation of a response 24/7. Many leaders today feel overwhelmed with the number of emails that must be read on a daily basis, and continually fearful that they’ll miss something important. Wading through the 90% of non-important emails to respond to the 10% that are critical is reported as a huge waste of time.

Meetings: It seems the higher up we go on the corporate ladder, the more meetings we attend. A quick review of research indicates that as many as 42% of those surveyed cite attending meetings as a waste of time. It is estimated that 50% of all time spent in meetings is wasted. If only they would tell us ahead of time which half of the meeting would be worthwhile, we could better plan how we spend our time.

Multitasking: AKA: The buzz word of the 1990’s. Everyone likes to think that they are good at juggling multiple balls at the same time, but the truth is, we are typically most effective and productive when we focus on one thing at a time. If you’ve ever worked hard throughout the day, rushed from project to project, interruption to interruption, and then looked at your “to-do” list at 5:00 only to discover that you have not accomplished a single action on your list; congratulations, you’re most likely a multitasker.

We are each gifted with the same number of seconds, minutes and hours each day, but have you noticed how some people manage to use their time so much more effectively? With time, there are no re-runs, only fast forwards. As we begin the new year, take time to reflect on where you currently spend your time and where, ideally, you’d like to spend your time. Identify the time wasters that are robbing you of your full potential, and put an action plan into place to improve your time management skills in 2015.