Where Did the Time Go?
Valuable Tips to Save Time
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Where Did the Time Go?
1. Those who waste the most time are usually the first to complain of having too little.
2. Being busy is not the same as being productive.
3. Do you repeat mistakes or learn from them?
4. Do you invest your time or spend it?
5. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.
6. Urgent is not the same as important.
7. Do little daily distractions sidetrack you from getting big things done?
8. Do you spend more time stressing about what has to be done or doing it?
9. Do you start everything from scratch?
10. Do you get easily overwhelmed and become unproductive?
11. Do you gravitate to things that you enjoy or to your priorities?
12. How many times do you redo something because you rushed it the first time?
13. Do you let other people hijack your time?
14. Do you believe in preventative maintenance or wait until things break down?
15. Do you address small problems before they get BIG?
16. Do you anticipate situations or react to them?
17. Do you spend more time lighting fires or putting them out?
18. Do you buy time by getting less sleep and then lose time because you’re overtired?
19. Do you buy things because you think you like them, only to return them later?
20. After making decisions, do you look forward or backward?
21. How much valuable time do you waste trying to save a few dollars?
22. Are you productive while you’re waiting for someone?
23. Do you settle for excellence or strive for perfection?
24. Are you conscious of how you spend your time?
25. Do you help everyone except yourself?
26. Do you call three times or leave a voicemail?
27. Do you buy cheap merchandise and replace it regularly?
28. How many times do you read something before acting on it?
29. The two greatest time-savers are saying, “I don’t know” and “I was wrong.”
30. Are you decisive or do you rethink and rethink and rethink decisions?
31. Do you fill up your gas tank or make several stops each week?
32. Do you tackle your day by completing the next item on the to-do list or what’s most important?
33. Do you cancel meetings if there’s nothing to discuss or do you meet because it’s on your calendar?
34. Do you ask all your questions at once or go back again and again?
35. Do you stress over things that you can’t change?
36. How much time do you spend on low-priority items?
37. Do you spend more time building relationships or mending them?
38. How much time do you spend looking for things?
39. Do you consolidate similar activities to save time?
40. Do you learn anything after running into a wall? (Or, do you run into it again?)
41. If you don’t take time to smell the roses, both you and your nose will be missing out.
42. Do you insist on approving everything, yet are unavailable to review anything?
43. Does your schedule conflict with your priorities?
44. Do you set aside quality time with your family?
45. Do you measure achievement by the time that you put into something or by the value that you provide?
46. It’s important to say no to some people in order to say yes to others.
47. Do you take the time to reflect on your day?
48. Do you have any downtime?
49. Do you focus on doing things right or on doing the right things?
50. Do you have more on your to-do list than you can possibly do?
51. Do you set a specific time for returning calls and e-mails?
52. Do you strategize the most efficient way to get things done?
53. Do you reduce clutter and throw out junk?
54. If you can’t find the time, it’s not important.
55. Do you select one thing to accomplish each day?
Additional Reading:
13 Elements of a Great Strategy
How to Destroy Creativity and Innovation
Trust Me: 55 Ways to Build Trust and Credibility
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Wow! Excellent questions–
Wow…I guess I do gravitate towards things I enjoy over priorities sometimes! This won’t be the first time a poster taught me a lesson (thanks Smokey the Bear)…and thanks again Frank!
I also always, always enjoy this one:
The two greatest time-savers are saying, “I don’t know” and
“I was wrong.”
So true!
Those are excellent, esp the two big time savers!
Busy work vs productive work: great tips!
Have to get to work!
When the few extra hours are found, I will keep them as my secret treasure so that no one will fill them for me.
All kidding aside, time is precious and we all need to be reminded of the bigger picture.
Great list Frank and I love the format – it is now hanging on my wall. A great tool to use when you or someone you know is complaining about not enough time!
Very nice, thanks for sharing it with us!
Excellent work, Frank.
Very thought provoking. Now, let’s see if I can change a few things and enjoy all that time I’m wasting!
Susan, Marc, Tanya, Ed, Shivaun, Bev
Thanks so much for your thoughts. Much appreciated.
Keeping it all together these days is tough job. I hope some of these ideas buy you an extra minute or two.
Love your common sense approach and great questions everyone should be asking themselves. And the fact that you cleverly put this post in a “poster” format was brilliant!
Frank,
I really like this. The design is great. The questions thought-provoking.
Any way it can be made for legal paper? No worries if not. Still fantastic.
Impressive. Great questions!!
Susan, Boris, Pat, Nancy, Shawn, Andres
Thanks so much for your comments.
Time flies. And so does news via social media. The recent comments, listed above, came from the U.S. (Connecticut, Florida and California) as well as Croatia and Chile .
Hi Frank – This is fabulous! I am printing it out and putting it on my bathroom mirror and fridge!
Thank you for your excellence!
Best to you!
Sarah Cook, Co-Author of “The Parents’ Guide to Raising CEO Kids” http://RaisingCEOKids.com
Frank,
WOW! Your list really makes you think. I’m happy to say that I have worked on a lot of these items with success.
There are a few I could definitely improve.
I’m keep this pdf close by. 🙂
Thank you for sharing,
Theresa
I like to share # 23 around our home a lot. Thanks for bringing it up Frank!
One of my favorite songs has the words, “Things are only as important as I want them to be …”
I’m with Ed Han – the two biggest timesavers are so important…saying “I was wrong” and “I don’t know”. Great list and a little overwhelming too. Thanks Frank.
Frank,
How did you know EXACTLY which questions I needed to be asked?
Thank you for the nudge.
Doug
Fantastic questions. My favorites are too numerous to mention.
Frank:
Wow–that’s a great list…and inspiring.
But now I’m 5 minutes behind in whatever trivial thing I was working on…
Thanks for sending this my way Shivaun. Hope to see you soon,
Mike
Excellent food for thought. Time is the most precious commodity. Great advice can be found within the answers to these questions.
I love #54 hits home for me right now. I say things are important to me but I just don’t make the time for them! Great lesson for today..
Sarah, Theresa, Jordan, Terry, Doug, Rossana, Michael, Leyane
Thanks for taking the time to comment on my post. It’s clear by the number of responses that this post hits a nerve. Leyane got it right when she said that time is our most precious commodity. That’s why my favorite line is, “Do you invest your time or spend it?”
Shivaun,
These are great! Thanks so much for sharing.
Best,
Carolyn
Best to Frank!
Agreed with all. These are great. Just discussed in a peer networking forum the importance of limiting our focus each day to our top 3. While I thought I accomplished much more than that daily, it’s surprising what a difference it makes when we are accomplishing the right things vs. ANYthing. Thanks, Frank!
Thanks so much for your comment Mary.
Your thoughts are right on the mark. If everyone focused their efforts AND did “the right things vs. anything” their efficiency and effectiveness would skyrocket.
Have a wonderful day!
Best,
Frank
Very nice. This is going up in my office.
I wrote something related last year. http://rightbrainedpm.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/should-you-really-be-doing-that-time-management/#entry
Thanks for your kind words Chris. BTW, I read your post. Well done! Too many people don’t distinguish between “urgent” and “important.”
Thanks Frank…
It’s very simple provoking with your list….
Time is Money…..2 most greatest time-savers are saying,
“I don’t know” and
“I was wrong.”
Thanks
Thanks Rajesh I’m glad you like it. Some things are so simple that we overlook them 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to write.
Best,
Frank