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Say No To Time Stealers

If you are not careful, your time at work can easily fall victim to the time stealers, people who want to waste their time by wasting yours. This article shows you why you have to defeat the time stealers and how to go about it.

Author: Eric Garner
Date: Nov 1, 2008 - 9:48:54 AM

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If you find yourself going to work with the best intentions of making the most of every minute, but end up at the close of the day wondering where it all went, the chances are that you’ve been hijacked by the Time Stealers.

Time Stealers are people who, without anything to do with their own time, steal yours from you as well. They fill up their hours by wasting yours. Often these are close colleagues, customers, even your own boss, so it can be difficult to know how to deal with them. But, unless you want to join this gang of thieves, you must learn to say No to Time Stealers.

1. Manage Your Interruptions. One of the reasons why we allow others to take over our time at work is our need to know what is going on. Henry Mintzberg, professor of management at McGill University in Montreal, discovered that the majority of a manager’s time is spent receiving and responding to hearsay, rumour, and news. Managers feel a great need to know what’s going on and they do this by letting themselves be interrupted by others. If this is you, you need to be aware of how much of your time is usefully spent in this way, and how much is wasted. In short, you need to know how to manage your interruptions.

2. Avoid These Three Groups. One of the keys to managing your interruptions is to distinguish between people who bring you useful information and those who don’t. This latter group comprises three types in particular that you should avoid like the plague:
· moaners, whingers and complainers
· the coffee-set who congregate during work
· the watering-hole set who congregate after work.
Socialising with your team is fine if you can control it. Excessive socializing is like begin sucked into a time-consuming swamp.

3. Stay Clear Of the Gossipers. In 1650, Jeremy Taylor, chaplain to King Charles I, wrote a book called “Holy Living” in which he warned against the dangers of wasting time on gossip. He said, “Avoid the company of busybodies and all such as are apt to talk much to little purpose. For no man can be provident of his time that is not prudent in the choice of his company. And if one of the speakers be vain, tedious and trifling, he that hears and he that answers in the discourse are equal losers of their time.”

4. Learn To Be Brief. In business, your time is your money. Wasting time with unnecessarily long meetings with others is a way to let money trickle down the drain. Channing H Cox once visited President Calvin Coolidge whom he had succeeded as Governor of Massachusetts. Cox, who was often detained at his desk until well into the evening, was astonished to learn that Coolidge was able to see so many people and still leave the office at 5.00pm.
“What’s the difference?” Cox asked.
“You talk back,” replied the President.

5. Get The Briskness Habit. When you learn how to be brisk with others, without being rude, you’ll find a great ally in your quest to control your time. Clement Attlee, prime minister of post-war Britain, was known for his briskness at cabinet meetings. His knack was to stifle unnecessary talk. One of Attlee’s exchanges ran as follows:
“A good paper, minister. Do you need to add anything?” (ie there’s no need to say anything if it’s just a repeat of what’s in the paper).
“Has anyone any objections?” (ie don’t say anything if it’s already been covered).
“Right, then. Next item.”

6. Be Graciously Ruthless With Unwanted Callers. So, what if you do get people who want to trap you in your office and steal your time? How do you get rid of them without being rude? The answer is to be polite but determined. Here are some techniques to use:

· ask directly what they want and how long they might be
· suggest a time when you know you'll be free
· have a regular "green period" slot when you are free each day to see people
· don't succomb to the temptation of a break from what you're doing
· agree to meet them at their workplace
· point out that what you are doing is important and ask if their interruption is more important
· use appropriate body language to indicate they are not welcome to stay, for example, stand up, perch on the edge of the desk, move towards the door, avoid eye contact.

Use these techniques and you’ll be letting people know that while you’re willing to be gracious with people, you’re going to be ruthless with your time.

The way you manage your time is one of the most public ways you manage your life. Treat your time as something that is cheap or worthless and you’ll fall prey to the Time Stealers. Treat your time as precious and valuable, and you’ll defeat the time stealers and stay time-rich.

© Eric Garner, ManageTrainLearn.com 2009

View all articles by Eric Garner

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