Online Entrepreneur Time Wasters
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It is believed by many, including myself, that time management is super important in general and especially important when on a journey towards becoming successful (in anything that you do).
I just want to share with you a few things that are considered 'time wasters' in the world of online entrepreneurship and what you can do about them. As an online entrepreneur you want to increase your time management in order to make your journey a smoother one.
Time wasters simply decrease your time management and make your journey a rocky one and harder to get to your destination (your goal).
Things that interrupt you or you spend too much time doing, things that you would not have chosen to do if given the choice are called 'time wasters'.
Eliminate them!
Time wasters can disguise themselves as tasks or duties. They can have you believe that they are necessary things that you have to do.
The 'time wasters' I speak of include;
The TV
You MUST limit your TV watching, better yet, why not eliminate it?
Just like I told you to in my Entrepreneur Challenge post. If you do this, I guarantee that you will find yourself being able to achieve so much more in your life.
Watching too much TV has the power of turning you into a couch potatoe and that is not what you want to allow as that would hold you back from so much.
If you're spending more than an hour per day on email (unless it's your business) then you're spending way too much time on your email.
Turn off your email notifications.
Schedule a 15-30 minute time frame from your day, a few days a week, to check and respond to your emails and stay consistent.
Telephone
If you find yourself answering your phone, especially during your productive times, more than 5 times a day then you're sacrificing your valuable time, your decreasing your time management and productivity.
When you answer your phone, you're interrupting your current flow and in turn this can kill your effectiveness in doing what you gotta do. So turn off the ringer, forward calls to voicemail, or have someone else answer your calls.
Perfectionism
If you are a perfectionist - you are wasting time. Being a perfectionist can hold you back from accomplishing your ultimate goals. See mistakes as a learning experience and don't be afraid of failure.
Saying Yes
Of course it's good to be helpful but you have to have a limit. You can't please everyone.
Multi-tasking
Although it may make you feel like you are not wasting time when multi-tasking - you really are! Multi-tasking may cause you to believe that you are getting more things done by doing them at the same time. It's really not! It's actually doing the opposite. When you multi-task it takes you longer to complete what ever it is you are doing than it would if you were completing them individually.
Worrying
Why do you worry?
If you find yourself worrying about things you are definitely wasting time.
I think worrying is pointless, it will not get you anywhere, and will, in fact, cause you to stand still and not get ahead.
Stop worrying!
Procrastination
This one is a no-brainer. I am sure you are not surprised to see this one on the list of time wasters.
Although, normal, it's one of the biggest time wasters of all.
Procrastination will not only cause you to loose time, but it can cause you to miss out on some great opportunities.
The Key to Great Time Management is
Prioritization
You must know what it is that you want to accomplish and then simply go for it. Today's world has way too many distractions and when (or if) you allow those distractions to become somewhat of a priority in your life, you sacrifice time. As an online entrepreneur you even sacrifice value for your customers.
What's important in your life?
What do you want to accomplish?
Write it down.
Organize each item from the list, in order of importance, set time frames for accomplishing each one of the things you wrote down. Create a blueprint, a plan, for achieving each of the things in their respective time frame.
Start focusing on time management throughout the course of your days and stay consistent.
When you determine what your goals and priorities are, start focusing on getting those done.
When you prioritize interruptions in your life, you're putting your goals last and will, therefore, not accomplish any of your goals.
