Those calls can wait: Putting a stop on time wasters!
Ask any CEO what the biggest drag on their time is. You will most likely hear, “Those pestering calls and emails that keep hopping in.” Often, the more technically equipped we are to communicate, the less we actually get done. Here are some rules I diligently follow to put a stop on time-wasters. Feel free to use them for what it is worth.
You don’t need to answer every call as it comes in. Not every call has to be answered right away. Set up your caller ID to screen and answer only those calls that you know are urgent enough to merit immediate attention. Trust me, if it is urgent enough, they will keep calling till they get through to you anyway!
Set up your voicemail and use it! Check your voicemails and/or missed call list at set times during the day and return calls that need to be returned. I recently started using a service called PhoneTag to have my voicemails converted as text and emailed to me. So far it has been working out great!
When I am really busy with some project, I also change my voicemail greeting to indicate that I will be returning calls only at set times during the day. I also ask the caller to confirm if they are available to receive my return call at set times or to indicate when I should call them back.
Decide which meetings to attend / conference calls to dial into! Implementing this practically saved my day. I am often shocked at how executives fill their calendar with a sea of meetings. Anyone in management will get invited to multiple meetings & conference calls. Just because you are invited does not mean the host is expecting you to be there. Be savvy enough to decide which meetings merit your presence and which can be given a miss. My personal experience with conference calls is that 70% of them are mere time wasters!
As an additional tip for those of you who follow the earnings call announcements from companies for investment analysis, I have found that listening to the written or recorded transcript of the call later in the day works just as great for me.
Check your emails only at set times! Pre-decide (and then stick to) what times in a day you will check your emails. I personally don’t check emails first thing in the morning. I work best during early mornings and late nights and I have decided that checking email does not fit into that time slot. I often set up my email auto responder to let the sender know that I check emails only at set times during the day.
Finally, Get to the Point! Getting to the point does not mean one has to be rude. One can be courteous and still get to the point in any conversation. I know that unless I get to the point, I will never get anything done.
I have shared here few tips that work for me. It is not necessary that all of them will work for you. Please feel free to share here what works best for you. I will love to hear from you all!
Raj,
This is just what I needed to wake me up. Your comments about emails becoming a big time waster these days is so true for me. Carrying a blackberry makes me keep checking it each time it buzzes. Hope I can implement these.
Hi Linda,
Thanks for sharing. Just a note. Emails dont waste our time. It is continuously checking for them and responding at the expense of other work that wastes our time. I just wanted to clarify.
yeah true. Great Article with practical tips. I also found that if I visualize my day in advance I have more control over time wasters. Will surely try out what you suggest. Thanks!
That is a great technique Jeff. If you visualize each day and each task five steps forward, you will remove so much mental clutter. Trick is to stay focused on it though without letting the mind wander.
Awesome suggestions. I know this will work. Thanks Raj!
Another great blog post. I am amazed at what happens when you spend somuch time with these activities without awareness. angle. I would never thought of to develop a “calls wait” list. Now that I have seen yours and now I am working in additional list for myself so can be more productive. Keep up the good post!
My 2 bit: Stop twittering and facebooking all the time. Thanks for this short and sweet list Raj.
I love to twitter. But yeah, it does take a lot of time following all those tweets!
I am in sales. If I dont answer the phone, I will be killed. So that wont work for me. But I get the idea. And love the suggestion to avoid meetings that I am not required to be. Gonna make it my mantra!
I can understand your point about the importance of your customers. Just remember that you are screening for the core customers. I know it sounds cliched to vouch for the 80/20 rule but I am sure you follow that.
I agree with what both of you say. I run a marketing ad agency and there are times I pick up all the calls and there are times when I get my secretary to hold all my calls. It all depends on what I am doing at that point. Make the phone your friend, not your boss!
I believe we all need to take stock of what works best for us and decide to do it with awareness. Then the question of whether to pick up phone or not is moot. I think that is what Raj is also trying to tell here.
Yes. You got it correctly, Cami. Thanks for sharing.
Not to say yes to every meeting was an eye-opener for me. Thanks for bringing it up.
I read somewhere before someone saying “I dont think I will regret not spending too much time in office when I die”. Good point to remember and my 10 cents contribution to the list. Thanks Raj!
Here is my addition to the list: Throw away stuff that you dont need in your life, starting with your TV.
Dear Raj,
I wish to slight dis-agree on attending phone calls. My friend and mentor Jose Dominic of Cgh earth group of hotels, Kochi told me that he takes every call just to make sure that he does not miss an important call… how does it sound to you??
best
Roy
Hi Mathew,
Thanks for sharing. As I mentioned in the post itself, these are things that work for me in my line of work. There may be other professions (such as sales, customer service, etc) for which not picking up a call wont work. Also, these days there are voicemail systems where you can listen to the voicemail as it is being left to decide if it is important. Anyway thanks for sharing.
I agree with you Raj. While one can always deem each call as important, as you rightly mentioned, one can screen and pick those that are truly urgent and return the other calls at a later time. The idea is to still answer calls but at a scheduled time at our convenience instead of getting randomised answering them.
Mathew,
What do you have to say about Raj’s response below?
Thank you for the sharing. It is good reminder for time management indeed.
Thank you …I am now scheduling callbacks and emails to those times when I feel less productive and using my prime energy time for higher priority activities.
My personal suggestion. While eating, dont take calls or check your blackberry. You need to give at least that much time for yourself.
Raj – you are brilliant as usual. How do you always manage to keep it so simple and easy to understand. Ganbatte ne!
I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts and look forward to them. Quitting need to keep checking on email is tougher for me than trying to quit on any other vices
Where I need to focus: I think I need to make sure I work out more. I keep ignoring my body in the pretext of all those shitty meetings and work. This article opened my eyes.
I agree. We tend to ignore our health in pursuit of other things.
I would say, take at least one day off from carrying your blackberry. I tried this and realized how mechanical my life has become with that constant buzz on your hip. I used to feel some part of me is missing if I dont feel the weight of the blackberry on me. As you rightly said, it is not technology that is the issue. It is our inability to make it our servant, instead we become its slave.
I think i understand what you say but it sometime useful for having blackberry so not to worry that if some important msg comes and i need go to check etc in few min. I kind of cool about it having use it as it is important msg. It is balance between using technology and make ourselves efficient and not be slave on it. Hope this will help!
Thanks Raj. Very good points. I am starting to look for my own time wasters starting from the cues in your article.
Me too. working on it.
Another great one. Thanks Raj!
Actually, I feel I always know this but sometime it becomes very unconcious process so I really appreciate for your article. It was great reminder for me to get back to teh track.
Simple but effective technique. Great Article!
I just loved this article.
Another good one. This site does have great articles. How often u post?
extremely useful