Don't get sucked by these Time Vampires

The introduction of technology should have made us more efficient and more effective. Right now we have in our hands tools that can look up an address, fix an appointment, book a flight and hundreds over convenient functions.

Unfortunately technology is like a lot of dynamite. It could help you blast your way to the next gold mine, but it could also kill a lot of people if not handled well. The same philosophy goes for every other work invention.

With the increased demands that many companies are expecting from their employees, it’s becoming even more important to work smarter and faster.

And one of the key things that you could do right now is NOT to let these time vampires suck you away.

Here are some of the worst productivity suckers you will want to eliminate.

1.      Death by social media

Social media has been compared to drugs or cigarettes, the kind that you constantly have to take to get your fix. And just like drugs or cigarettes, they don’t really serve any functional purpose. And the wider your social network is, the higher the tendency you are going to get comments to your status.

Unless your job title says Social Media Executive, facebooking and twittering should be left to after-work hours or lunch time. Each message can detour your day and suck minutes way from other more pressing work.

Imagine how you could feel if some slackers from your team is on facebook when the team project is already behind schedule. Exactly how your manager feels when he sees your twitter page every time he walks past your cubicle.

2.      Retyping Same Information Over And Over

Got templates? If you don’t, you should. If you have standard boilerplate information that is frequently used, create a template that you can quickly tap into and copy to customize it per recipient.

3.      Lost and Found

Even if you are not an administrator, there is no excuse not to be specific and proper when it comes to organizing your files.

And organize your files in a way that makes sense to you and anyone else who might be using them. That way, you won’t be spending 30 minutes trying to find that one contract. Or worse, spending half a day recreating the entire document from scratch because you couldn’t find it.

4.      Miscommunication

When your email requires more than 2 edits, pick up the phone. One of the biggest time suckers is when bad communication causes misunderstandings. Then instead of spending productive minutes, time is spent venting or griping, or in a series of long-winded e-mails when in fact, a short conversation can clear matters up readily.

So if you have a complicated or sensitive topic, the best rule of thumb is to call the person first, then follow up with a recap e-mail. You could save hours of time including personal angst!

5.      Getting lost in cyber space

The Internet is so huge that almost every time you head out for one purpose, you end up distracted by another. Before you know it, an hour is gone and nothing was achieved.

If you suffer from attention issue, create a “grocery list” to keep you focused. This will train you to get in, get what you need, then get out.

Some companies even installed a tracker on their network to monitor the amount of employees’ productive hours based on the internet traffic they are on. So beware!

6.      Meeting Agendas

Many people I know hate meetings but they are a necessary workplace evil. If you break it down, it isn’t the meetings per se. It is the time wasted with digressing agendas, unprepared participants and a general lack of time control.

So while you want to grant participants enough time to be engaged, it is up to you to keep the topics on task and be bold enough to jump into keep things on track. Not everyone is a great meeting leader.

If someone else is running the meeting and the discussion ends up all over the place, offer to help them facilitate if that is possible.

7.      Interruptions

It is crucial to facilitate good working relationships with office chat to build a strong rapport. But if you find your work constantly disrupted every 15 minutes who just wants to “visit”, you really need to reassert yourself and the importance of your time.

Set up a schedule so you know when you should gently postpone any office chants and when you could indulge in them.

8.      Cleaning up other people’s mess

If you find yourself dealing with this chronic problem, it’s time to take action. Time spent on other people’s issues is limiting what you can spend on yours, the ones that you are ultimately accountable for.

So you need to determine the best course of action on how to deal with this.

If the person is a subordinate, then this is the perfect mentoring/coaching opportunity on performance improvement.

If it is a colleague, have a frank, tactful sit-down with the approach that you want them to succeed and don’t want them to get into trouble. The key is not to make it confrontational.

Instead focus on it as a problem solver, so they will have “more time for other important stuffs” in the future as you won’t always be there to help.

9.      Piling it up

In my previous workplace, I had a colleague who would never say no to her manager. Her workload kept climbing but her proficiency in the complicated IT systems limit her output.

She ends up putting overtime every single day. She eventually became a go-to person whenever our manager wish to keep her hands clean.

My colleague was thus overlooked for a number of promotion opportunities so she can continue to do the dirty work. If this sounds like you, it is time to have a conversation with your HR to figure out a solution.

Time vampires lurk around every corner, but if you can use these tactics as the proverbial garlic as a way to ward them off, you’ll realize a certain spike in your productivity!