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How To Keep Other People From Wasting YOUR Valuable Time
Let's face it. People waste time. They will also waste your time if you let them. It's amazing to realize how much time is wasted on unimportant, trivial, or useless activities. The people who fall prey to this problem frequently run around complaining about how overloaded they are and how they can't accomplish the things they need to do. How can these people who are wasting time rightly claim that they are busy? It's because they ARE busy, just not busy doing the important things. They get caught up in activities that are unimportant or activities imposed on them by others. A person who is serious about leading a successful personal life would have a low tolerance for things that cause him to waste his time foolishly. He would have an even lower tolerance for others who waste his time and theirs. We are all familiar with the following kind of people. Susie Social likes to drop by the office and chat numerous times a week. Peter Planner lives to schedule another meeting. Sam Cellfone expects you to answer each and every time he calls you. Vinnie Vendor wants to review his order for the fourth time because he just wants to get as much face time with you as possible. Lastly, there is Kellie Client, who demands instant access to you at all times, or she will take her business elsewhere. These time-wasters have many weapons to choose from as they interrupt your day: email, landlines, cell phones, memos, face time, gossip. Are there any magic ways to cause all of these things to disappear instead of allowing them to steal your precious time and productivity? Unfortunately, the answer is no. The solution is for you to put up your guard, draw some boundaries, and be firm with these kind of people. Have SET times to check email, once or twice a day. Turn off your phone ringer during high productivity work sessions and when you're off work. Learn not to answer the phone all the time just because it rings. People WILL take as much time as you will give, and they WILL interrupt as often as you let them. Their supposed urgency dictates your level of priority... if you let it. Here's a suggestion on how to deal with people. Practice a "three strikes" policy. This can be used successfully with vendors, employees, and even clients, when appropriate. Give them three chances to learn that they cannot expect to have instantaneous, unscheduled access to you at all times. If a person wants to talk, tell them that you are working hard to finish up a project and then ask if there is anything you could help them with. If a client phones you to nit-pick over something for the third time, politely assure them that you are in the midst of taking care of it and there is no need to call again. In a nutshell, you need to decide on an appropriate way to get this message across: I do not waste time, and I will not allow you to waste my time either. Don't be ugly about it, but by the third explanation, you can be direct about your expectations. If for some reason that doesn't do the trick, just put an end to the person's opportunity to needlessly interrupt you. Time is a precious commodity, yet, we often don't take care of it the way we should. We guard our money carefully, and it can be replaced, but we fail to guard our time in the same way. Don't forget? lost time is gone forever. G. Brent Riggs, author of "Life Without Debt", "Serious Faith" and "Desperation Station" has over 20 years experience as an business owner, teacher, personal growth coach and mentor. You can contact him from his main website: http://www.gbrentriggs.com
Top 10 Ways a Client Can Utilize a Virtual Assistant (VA)
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