Are you a production monster or do you, like me, find that certain things you do throughout the day end up being time killers online? Maybe Facebook is the culprit? Or possibly all that time spent looking at eBay auctions is cutting into your productivity? You might even be one of those who constantly checks email which can be one of the all time worst time killers online.
No matter how efficient you are, the fact is that we all waste time, at some point or another. This infographic from OfficeTime examines the top 10 ways we kill time every day. Follow the flow chart and see how you can change the way you work.
[Click here for full size version]
Are there ways that you waste time that are not included in this infographic? By all means, share them in the comments below.
Procrastination only made #4? 😉
I hear you on email though. The deluge in my inbox every day can be a serious time waster if I’m not disciplined in how I handle it.
Anita Campbell
That was my reaction, Robert — only number 4???? 🙂
Mark @ ThinkTraffic
Awesome post David.
I’m sure that most people can related to this. Personally I don’t own a TV, so that helps a lot, but since my business pretty much requires me to be an email junkie, staying on top of email is my biggest challenge!
Of course, facebook is probably the easiest way to waste time.
I have just recently implemented Toggl in the office and so far we have all found that it does help us to be more productive, so that’s a bonus!
Anita Campbell
Mark, that Toggl looks pretty interesting 🙂 And the price is right, too.
– Anita
Anita Campbell
Hi David,
Email takes up a tremendous amount of my time, but I don’t necessarily look on it as “wasted.” Much of our business comes to us through emails and gets done via emails — so they are not just miscellaneous communications.
And no matter how fast we implement systems, software and processes, it seems the volume of business done through email just keeps growing, too.
– Anita
I found that having my email program check for new emails every 30 minutes as opposed to every 15 minutes as I used to do, made me much more productive. Now I’m only interrupted from anything I’m working on twice an hour whereas it used to be four times an hour. 😉
I work from home so it’s my pugs that are determined to kill my time! But seriously, email is also one of my biggest issues. I’ve started setting 45 minute timers to work where no email, no phone, and definitely no internet allowed! Thanks for the great post.
Ti Roberts
All of these hit the nail right on the head for me, except #5; I usually don’t have any meetings to attend. Great infographic! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Ti
Pete Fry
And how did I find this infographic? Plowing through e-mail.