Are you a chronic time waster? 3 easy steps to better time management.

November 13, 2009  |   Posted in Blog, productivity   |   View Comments  

When it comes to growing a business and marketing a business through networking (whether in person or online), time mastery is important. It is simply too easy to waste time driving, checking email, running late, forgetting things, etc etc etc. These are some of the gremlins that even I personally struggle with that eat my time up. I’m all too familiar with it. In fact, I may be genetically pre-disposed to bad time habits because I’m (big shocker here…) Hispanic… and Hispanic’s are notorious for being punctually challenged.

I attended a workshop in Charlottesville, Virginia, taught by David Finkel from the Maui Mastermind Wealth Community on time management… These were the top three takeaways that I had. They are so easy and have had a profound impact on my scheduling already. I am confident they will do the same for you if you are not already doing them.

• Be Early. Being early causes less stress! In addition, when you are early to appointments, it has been shown that the level of trust between you and the person you are meeting with goes up… If that isn’t the best reason of all, I don’t know what is… Now, early does not mean ON TIME. It means 10-15 minutes before the appointment time.
  

• Use your time “waiting” more productively. That means spend less time chatting on the phone or browsing the net and use that time to actually accomplish things or plot out what you need to accomplish. This can also be applied to when you are on HOLD or waiting to receive something, such as a fax (do people still use those), an email, a direct message or a text.

• Consciously choose your commitments. It’s okay to say NO instead of saying yes and then backing out of something due to over-committing. Your time is very valuable and you need to be aware of how you are sharing your time with others.

Do you have any time mastery tips or time stealing gremlins? Do share!