Definition of a Time Thief: Someone who isn’t focused on their goals or vision and is looking for time to waste by engaging in tasks or conversations that take their mind of their own world.
Have you ever wanted there to be more time in the day?
The tasks just seem to pile up, and even though you feel like you’re making progress, things still don’t get done?
We’ve all felt this way at some point. But if you feel that way all the time, then you may have a time thief in your life. This little gremlin sits on your shoulder and saps all the valuable time from your day, by making you focus on the wrong things. This is one of the things I help my clients identify, and if we find one, we work together to banish the gremlin for good.
But how do you know if you have a time thief? What does it look like?
Your Day Is Packed With Unnecessary Meetings
How many times have you come out of a meeting and thought ‘that could have been a phone call?’ Or worse, an email. So many business owners think that if their diary is full of meetings, that must mean they’re successful. But that’s just not true.
Meetings can be full of fluff, and if you don’t keep a careful eye on them, something that should take 20 minutes will take an hour or longer. If you don’t need to do the full meeting in person, try to move it to being a phone call, video chat, (slthough I often tell clients that an email should be the summary of the conversation you’ve had, not the actual conversation). This will free up a lot of time for you to focus on productive work, and still get the results you want from the conversation.
Lots of ‘Work in Progress’
Compare your ‘work in progress’ projects to your finished projects. Which do you have more of? Too much work-in-progress tends to stem from too much ‘yes’. Especially when the ‘yes’ is to work that doesn’t contribute anything, or that won’t help you progress towards your goals. One of the things I remind my clients of, sometimes daily, is that ‘no’ is a complete sentence. The work-in-progress time thief creates stress, interruptions, dependencies and competing priorities, all of which take valuable time away from the tasks you should be doing.
Unclear Goals
Running a business is all about knowing where you want to go, and planning out how to get there. Unfortunately, a lot of business owners forget this bit. But if you’re not clear about your goals, then you can’t work efficiently and plan for what needs to be done. This might not seem like such a big thing, but long-term it lead to constant changes on priorities, and conflicts between them. All of which makes the last goal you had a waste of time as soon as you change. Understanding your goals and having a clear roadmap will save you a lot of time in the long-run.
Admin
In almost all businesses I work with, admin is a big time thief. Sure, it’s work that needs to be done, but it’s lots of niggly little tasks that, while important, don’t actually contribute much to your business success. If you find yourself getting sucked into the admin hole, then my recommendation is this – get someone else to do it. Hiring a VA has never been easier or more affordable, and they can take away all of those annoying admin tasks that don’t need to be done by you (and they can do a lot more too, if you want them to).
At ActionCOACH, I’m all about making the most of time. Both mine and yours. If you feel like you have a time thief (or two, or three), in your life, but don’t know how to handle them, then give me a call. I’m always on hand for some free advice and tips, or we can work together to build a stronger business for you. One where you use your time efficiently, and nothing steals it away. Sound good? Get in touch.
