Time tracker reports are a good resource to remember what work you did yesterday or last month. The tool is also well suited for those working to improve their working day and who want to find out which tasks or activities take up the most time. Time tracker reports are available to both the employee himself and his manager. But they are not available to third parties. Therefore, we are based on honest feedback from employees from different companies worldwide instead of statistics. Read more about work time wasters in the article.
Meetings without a plan
There is nothing more frustrating than a meeting without a plan. And this applies to both managers and employees who are present at the meetings.
We can expect the meeting to be disorganized and inefficient if we don't have a plan.
An accurate plan allows us to understand the purpose of the meeting and decide whether to attend. Thanks to this, we can prepare for the discussion and then act on the results.
For example, if the team needs to decide on the design of a new product, employees should have an idea of what should be discussed at the meeting:
- appearance,
- specifications,
- price, etc., and prepare questions for discussion.
Social media scrolling
Many managers and employees would like to reduce their time on social media at work. However, it is sometimes difficult to determine how to achieve this.
But what if we don't try to reduce social media use? What if we cut everything else and leave social media untouched? For example, if you cut down on time spent on email, browsing the web, etc., you'll just scroll through your feed more often.
The important thing here is to determine what tasks you want to solve and then cut down on everything else. Let's say you want to write a lengthy report, but that would require much research. Instead of spending several hours daily browsing the Internet, which will lead to nothing in writing an essay, try to schedule a particular time each day for research.
Watching 5 YouTube videos instead of the planned one
Company employees often mention their time watching YouTube videos while at work. And the point is not in the very fact of video views, but in the number of resources spent. Sometimes even enticing short videos are much more engaging than long learning stories or online courses. Thus, a five-minute distraction smoothly gradually turns into a half-hour video viewing.
There are several ways to avoid wasting work time watching YouTube videos. The most obvious solution is to install an ad blocker. This way, you will never see annoying ads before a YouTube video. Another way is to set a timer for yourself and select the tasks you want to complete. For example, you decide to watch a video about a TED talk. But you also set the timer to 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, you will stop watching the video and switch to other tasks.
Over-concern about productivity hacks and time management
While some people can be very picky about how they spend their work time, others are apprehensive about how to save time.
Some people are obsessed with finding new tricks, hacks, or ways to manage their time. But there is a difference between a bit of curiosity and excessive anxiety and worry about time-saving methods.
Working time is directed to the execution of scheduled tasks. So worrying too much about time management can lead to you not doing what you need to do. For example, if you are a manager, you have to analyze reports on the work of your subordinates. But you are constantly looking for new tips on how to save time. You use timers, work scheduled hours, etc., but don't analyze reports. And this is an absolute waste of time!
Checking incoming emails
It is one of the biggest time wasters in the workplace. Checking the inbox and replying to messages is useless to the organization. If you are a manager, you must establish rules for communicating with your employees and choose the communication channel that is most effective for your team. You must know the communication rules between your manager and subordinates and adhere to them if you are an employee. And most importantly – determine for yourself when you check incoming messages and when not. Choose specific hours for mail. Over time, you will see the result of how much easier or more comfortable it becomes to work.
Instead of conclusions
What do you spend the most time on? Take advantage of Yaware's special offer to see an accurate picture of your working day. Follow the link and sign up for a free trial period of Yaware TimeTracker. The program does not save your data, logins, and passwords. But it captures the sites/programs you use and records the duration of each use. After that, you can analyze the time tracker reports and conclude. The most persistent and purposeful receive the first positive changes in the organization of the working day in the first 14 days of testing the program.
