The main time traps and methods of dealing with them

Calendar vector created by upklyak – www.freepik.com

The common man thinks
how to pass the time.
A smart person thinks
how to use time.

Probably everyone felt a peculiar amorphousness of time. You come tired from work, warm up dinner, turn on the TV and... you don’t notice how the evening passes, for which you wanted to do so much. Familiar? In such situations, with different frequency of their manifestation, we find ourselves constantly. We are constantly wasting time that we could have put to good use. These losses are nothing but chronophages – time eaters, devourers, traps of precious hours.

This is one of the terms used in time management to refer to objects that are distracting and interfering with the current activity. What chronophages are the most common and how to deal with them? Let's try to figure it out further.

 

Chronophages

For those familiar with the work of Stephen King, time eaters may remind you of langoliers. In fact, everything is not so scary, but you can see the similarity if you wish. Literally from the ancient Greek "chronophage" is translated as "I will eat time." The combination is not quite usual, but it has taken root in time management and denotes actions that distract a person from their main activity, prevent them from doing work on time and achieving their goals. The most common chronophages are:

 

1. Lack of priorities

One of the most common reasons for wasting time. The inability or unwillingness to prioritize, to do important things instead of unimportant ones, very often becomes a real stumbling block. This process can be both unconscious and fully conscious unwillingness to work on what is important and needed at the moment. As a result, such delays lead to the “littered table” syndrome – a state of affairs in which a person has a pile of unfinished or never started cases.

 

2. Personal disorganization

Can't find a flash drive among the "creative" (and it can't be otherwise) mess on the table? Have you been clicking on the icons of text documents for several minutes in search of the desired file, endless rows of which are collected on your PC desktop? These are some special cases of another scourge of many modern people – disorganization. Those affected by this chronophage spend a lot of time on seemingly simple things, often without noticing it.

 

3. Fuzzy goal setting

Vague, vague, misunderstood goals also waste precious time. When you do not understand what, why and how you need to work, there will not be much sense from such work. You may have the building materials and the necessary tools, but until you know for sure that the task is to build a house according to a specific project, you will hardly be able to move towards this goal.

The main time traps and methods of dealing with them

Calendar vector created by freepik – www.freepik.com

 

4. Lack of self-discipline

“Now I’ll watch the series and start writing the essay”, “I will complete this work on Monday” and other possible options that we tell ourselves and which are not always followed by action – chronophages. Being able to force yourself to do something right now is a valuable skill, but not many people master it perfectly. The majority is ready to postpone, postpone, start work at the last moment, having a low level of self-discipline.

 

5. Unrealistic amounts of work undertaken

The desire to do a lot and immediately visited, probably, everyone. Especially after the birth of some idea, when you want to take on its implementation immediately. In itself, this desire is commendable, but in its implementation there are most often gaps: either the amount of work that one person cannot physically perform, or its diversity, which makes you rush between different things and not do any of them well.

 

6. No delegation

A chronophage that can be born from the previous one. When the amount of work and responsibility becomes too much, the lack of delegation leads to the fact that a person gets bogged down in business, wanting to control everything on their own. As a result, both business and time suffer.

 

7. Perfectionism

While one is hatching an idea, trying to think everything through and take into account, the other is already implementing it. While one creates a prototype of an ideal product, its less perfect, but previously launched competitor conquers the market. The desire to do everything perfectly, with the conditional correctness of this approach, very often leads to wasted time. This is not only a chronophage, it can be a systemic thinking error.

The main time traps and methods of dealing with them

Work vector created by stories – www.freepik.com

 

Methods for dealing with time wasters

The above are just some of the time traps. But they are enough to see how many chronophages we can be subject to. And ask the question – how to learn to cope with them? Here are some tips on this topic that might come in handy:

 

1. Timing

The first and most important thing is to understand where the time goes. In other words, measure what specific actions take it away. Timekeeping can be done either with a watch and a piece of paper, or with the help of special programs or mobile applications (for example, such as ManiacTime, if you work at a computer all day). All that is needed is to measure the time spent on various actions over a period of time. But at the same time, it is important to record exactly all the actions: they started working with Excel spreadsheets – marked the beginning, were distracted by social networks – recorded the beginning (and end of work with tables), etc. This will not only be a clear demonstration of how precious minutes and hours are spent but also a way to train self-discipline. And besides this, timekeeping will also contribute to the development of the habit of planning.

 

2. Planning and prioritization

Through the habit of planning and prioritizing, you can achieve optimal allocation of resources and focus on important things. Don't keep a list in your head – write it down. Do not plan more than 2-3 important things per day. Make a list – follow it. Prioritize things that are important and urgent over those that are urgent but not important. In general, planning and prioritization will help: specify the goal, get a clear plan, start acting. It's the plan, not the lack of it, that gives you more agility – you know for sure or can check what works and what doesn't, and adjust it if necessary.

 

3. Organization

Here we are not talking about pedantry bordering on meticulousness, but about organization, which is extremely important for a modern person. Eliminating distractions, focusing on current activities, a well-organized workplace and structuring employment will help fight chronophages.

The main time traps and methods of dealing with them

Calendar vector created by pikisuperstar – www.freepik.com

 

4. Rational use of "temporary pits"

No matter how detailed everything is thought out and planned, no matter how organized you are, this does not guarantee absolute protection against time traps. You must be prepared for "temporary pits" – holes in your routine. They appear when your partner is late for a meeting, when a meeting takes longer than usual, when your work depends on others. They should be taken into account and use such moments to your advantage. Are you stuck in a traffic jam? Call your parents or settle the details of upcoming business with co-workers. Looking for a solution you can't start without? Don't let procrastination take over. You will definitely have less important things to do, which, nevertheless, can be done.

Source: 4brain.ru