Combatting time wasters - part 1 of 2

There is a lot of time that slips away during a work day, time that you do not even realize has slipped past until it is too late to reclaim it. There are some things that you can do to spot these time wasters and hopefully stop them before they steal your work time.

Have you ever found yourself kicked back in your chair listening to a song on the radio when you should have been focused on your work? If so then you might have a hidden time waster right there. Songs generally run two to three minutes in length, so if you stop to listen to several songs during the day you could find yourself wasting anywhere from two minutes to an hour or more as you listen to songs. The fix? Change the channel on the radio and experiment until you find a station that you don't stop working to listen to the songs, but that will keep you awake and working. Music is supposed to make the work environment relaxed and productive, not singing or sleepy.

Do you type slowly? That is a time waster for me. I only type about 22 wpm, so my typing slows my productivity way down. You might consider classes or self tests that can help you learn to get faster on your typing speed.