Michael Hyatt’s article, 10 Reasons Why You Aren’t Done is a great reminder to challenge yourself about the way you are using your time and priorities.
Here’s the first five:
- Too many meetings. How many of meetings actually advance my agenda and the reason I was hired in the first place. Too often, meetings are simply a way for people to procrastinate and avoid taking responsibility for their decisions. It”™s much easier to let “the group” make the decision. Some meetings are legitimate, to be sure. But how many issues can I handle without resorting to a meeting? I need ask, “Do we really need a meeting to address that issue?”
- Mindlessly surfing the web. When I was growing up, television was the big time-waster. Now it is the Internet. You look at this Web page, click on that link, visit another page, and then click on another link. Before you know it, you have wasted hours and hours and have nothing to show for it. It”™s time to limit our time online. I think I might even try scheduling my Web time.
- Being distracted by online pings. I shoot to have my inbox at zero by the end of the day. But do I really need to respond to every message in real time? Do you? Unless you are in customer service, probably not. You can accomplish the same goal by “batching” your inbox processing into distinct blocks of time. This includes Twitter, Facebook, and other social media services.
- Allowing people to drop in without an agenda. I usually work with my door open. I want to be accessible to my people. But some people abuse this. They drop by without and agenda and eat up time I don”™t have. I always feel badly about bringing the meeting to a close. But if I don”™t say “no” to them, I will have to say “no” to more important projects””and perhaps even my family. I am willing to chat for a bit, but I have to be more courageous about standing up and walking my guests to the door.
- Being consumed by the urgent. Modern culture is addicted to urgency. People demand an instant response. It is part of our increasingly me-centered world. Everything revolves around my agenda and mypriorities. But how much of it is truly urgent. My daughter Megan often reminds me, “Dad, you”™re not saving lives; you”™re just making books.” Nothing like a big dose of perspective!
Read the Rest HERE.
I will be launching a 3 part series this week on Pastoral Productivity, with the aim of continuing with a few more articles next week.
