Some time-wasters and distractors are unfortunately unavoidable, but we need to avoid or minimise these as far as possible. If we don’t focus more intentionally on taking charge of optimally managing the scarcest resource we have, Time, we will discover at some point that we did not achieve the goals that we set ourselves – at work and away from work.

The hourglass is running out

I believe that one of the fundamental mistakes that many of us make is living as if we are going to live forever. The reality, though, is that the hourglass is running out, and each one of us has only so much time to achieve the things that we need and want to achieve. I see this as a positive challenge, rather than a depressing reality. Let’s not waste time. Let’s achieve all of our personal goals as best and as quickly as we can in all the areas of our lives.

“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.” –  Neil Armstrong

I have spent most of my life in a production environment, where we always had some measure of efficiency. The higher the efficiency number I reported for my division at our weekly exco meeting, the less explaining I had to do and the more smiles I saw around the table. Translating that in terms of our self-leadership process, I would suggest that we work hard each day to improve our personal efficiency. We can only do this by reducing the amount of time that we waste on things that are not aligned with our personal goals, in our career and away from it.

“Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.” – Victor Hugo

Don’t sweat the small stuff

We cannot be successful at achieving the big things, which are included in the personal goals that we set ourselves, if we allow ourselves to be distracted by the small things in our lives.

My Mom used to say: “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” This finally makes sense to me, because I now realise that the small stuff are only distractors that take our focus off the important stuff. As a friend of mine would say when referring to someone who is not focused: “You cannot be like a mosquito in a nudist camp.” If we are to be successful, we need laser focus to achieve our goals. You cannot allow yourself to be distracted.

When I come across small, menial activities, I ask myself: “What would the consequence be if I left them for later, or just didn’t do them at all?” The answer is usually: “None.” So, why worry about them? Perhaps I could delegate those tasks, leave them for later, or not do them at all, while I focus on my main goals that will really take my life and my part of the business forward.

Deal with issues quickly and decisively

One of the top time-wasters and distractors has to be dealing with the same issue over and over again. If we don’t deal with issues quickly and decisively, we will have to deal with them over and over again as they grow in size. The longer we wait, the more the rotten apple grows rotten so to speak. The truth is that we either deal with issues, or they deal with us. So, here is the challenge: Only deal with things once, and do it properly. This includes the completion of any tasks the first time around. Otherwise, issues will just keep lingering.

“Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder.” – Mason Cooley

It is acceptable to say “No!”

I have been told that I am an unselfish person, but I realised at some point that, as part of taking charge of my life, I needed to view my time as my asset – just like my car or my house. I realised that it is more important than any other asset that I own. My time is my time, and nobody else has the right to use my time without my consent. If someone wants to use my car or my house, then I need to permit this first. The same principle should apply, too, if someone wants to claim some of my precious time.

If someone asks us to do something, it is absolutely fine to say: “No”. Of course, we can do this politely, while quoting a reason. Is it selfish to sometimes do this? No. Is it selfish if I do this all of the time? Yes, probably. We also need to understand this concept when we are on the receiving end of someone who cannot give us some of their precious time at a certain juncture. We are ultimately only responsible for ourselves, and how we spend our own time focusing on the things that are really our responsibility.

The ultimate time waster and distractor

I have discovered that the ultimate time-waster and distractor is a lack of discipline. Where we lack discipline, we experience constant conflict between the good leader and the stubborn follower within us. This conflict causes us then to “wheelspin”, because until we have sorted out this conflict, our lives cannot move forward towards achieving our goals, and this conflict just slows us down. It is critically important that we become more self-disciplined to waste less time and not allow things to distract us from what we would like to achieve in life.

“Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life .” – Michael Leboeuf

Written by Dr Hekkie van der Westhuizen