Multitasking Tips: Common time-wasters and how to avoid them

This article addresses two common barriers to a successful multi-tasking lifestyle: lack of organization and lack of planning. The article offers suggestions for how to eliminate these problems.

There’s no denying it….life is busier, faster, and harder than it was in our grandparents’ time. For most of us in that stage of life between high school and retirement, taking care of the family, the house, and the demands of a career exact a large toll. Time is of the essence more than ever before. And when scheduling pressures are mixed with the corollary problems of insufficient sleep, guilt over not being able to do it all, and poor eating habits, the result is an entire generation of Americans who feel poorly, both emotionally and physically.

The Benefits Of Good Time Management 300×300 Multitasking tips: Common time wasters and how to avoid them

Multitasking tips: Common time-wasters and how to avoid them

The answer to this conundrum is not simple. Barring a fundamental societal or cultural reformation in priorities, it is, for the most part, up to the individual to find ways to meet the heavy demands and extraordinary challenges of daily life. Born of necessity, many over-stressed Americans who find themselves in this situation have developed a helpful system for keeping all the balls in the air in the juggling act of life. It is usually summed up in one all-encompassing word: multi-tasking.

Because our lives are each unique, the acts which constitute multi-tasking vary from person to person. But the underlying concept is simple: being able to perform two or more actions simultaneously, thereby making premium use of one’s time.

Sounds good in theory, doesn’t it? But for many of us, entrenched bad habits make multi-tasking difficult, or even impossible, to incorporate into our lives. Here are a few of the most common time-wasters and some tips on how to avoid them:

Lack of organization

— Learn to live by the maxim, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” For example, placing your keys and purse or wallet in the same place in your home every time you walk in the door will prevent you from having to search all over for them when you are ready to leave again.

Too much stuff

— Inventory your home and office, and get rid of items you no longer need. Make two piles: one for trash, and one for charitable donation.

Failure to archive or store old or seldom used items

— Rather than allow ancient records to continue taking up space, consider scanning the documents and storing them on a computer disk. Instead of keeping functionless but sentimental items in bags on the floor of the closet or stuffed under the bed, put them in sealed plastic containers, label the lids, and store then in the garage or attic.

Regularly-used supplies and tools are absent or scattered

— Think of your desk as your life’s command center, and resolve to keep all the supplies you use regularly in very close proximity. Stock it with tape, rubber bands, pens and pencils, envelopes, stamps, a stapler with extra staples, a pad of paper, and any other items you need. Keeping all these commonly-used tools in one place will eliminate that familiar scene of rushing around in a desperate search for a pen and paper to take a simple telephone message.

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