Are You Wasting Time?

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One thing that will ensure the failure of your business is wasted time. Don't confuse "wasted" time with the time it takes to renew your physical or mental power. That's important, too.

Exercise is good for both -- and you need it to keep yourself primed and ready for what's ahead. You know what you're doing to waste time -- it could be watching reruns on television for hours at a time, playing games with your friends online or on your smart phone -- or, as Jon says, wasting time on Facebook.

If you think your wasted minutes and hours are getting out of hand and causing a downturn in your business efforts (and it's time to be tough on yourself and honest about this), then it's time to rethink how you manage your time.

Good time management skills can set you on the right track for success. Without them, you can falter and all of your dreams for the future can wither and die. Here are some good time management tips to add to your daily routine, if you're ready to turn up the heat on your progress.

Put some pressure on yourself to get it in gear! Decide how much time you're going to spend on thoughts, conversations, and actions. You may want to monitor yourself for awhile by recording how much time you spend on the three categories of your day during working hours.

At the end of the week, you should know where (in which category) you're wasting the most amount of time. Don't fudge the numbers just so you can get away with more. You have to be tough on yourself to make progress.

Block distractions. Tricks like blocking email and Facebook alerts, turning off your phone and hanging a "do not disturbî"sign on your home office door can work wonders. Many resume writers use programs such as Facebook for business reasons, but when you're on the site, don't let yourself be distracted by anything other than business.

Set a time to begin work -- and stick to it. After you turn on your computer for work, give yourself a certain amount of time (5 minutes or so) to surf the 'net and review your email.

Then, switch to work and don't look back until you're finished. Going back and forth between email, Facebook and work muddles your mind and makes it more difficult to focus.

End your work at a set time. We all have times when our backs are against the wall and we have to spend more time meeting deadlines. But on an ordinary day, set a time to stop work and renew your physical and mental health.

If you have to work longer than the stop time, take frequent breaks, get up and walk around and do something to get your mind off work. You can't be chained to your business 24/7 -- even if you think you want to be -- it's just not beneficial for your success.

Distinguish busy work from working toward goals. Busy work can be a waste of time. You may be procrastinating because you're not ready to meet the goal or you're scared of failure if you do complete it. The best way to beat procrastination is to take action.

Don't coddle yourself by wasting precious time. Set some hard-and-fast rules of time management and stick to it. Think of yourself as an employee. Would you tolerate your paid worker surfing the Internet or playing a game app on his or her phone?

Of course not -- so don't allow yourself to do it, either!