Challenge: Failure to Account for Time Eaters
What are time eaters? Grossman explains that time eaters are the seemingly trivial, peripheral activities that accompany most actions we take, eating into our time without our awareness. They include traffic snarls, searching for parking spots, walking from parking lots into buildings, elevator delays, finding the right office, and the need to run back to the car for a forgotten item. Time eaters also show up at our work place, interfering with on-task effectiveness. They include phone calls, audible e-mail alerts, and stoppers-by.
Solutions:
- Build in plenty of time to account for time eaters. Double or triple the amount of time you normally allow for traveling to a destination.
- To optimize timely task completion, choose a chunk of time when you’ll turn off the phone ringer and the e-mail alert system, and hang a sign on your closed door requesting no interruptions.
Challenge: A Desire to Avoid Being Early, Which Results in Being Late
Grossman notes that some people simply don’t like to arrive places early. They may dread the discomfort or tedium of waiting for a meeting or appointment to start.
Solutions:
- Pack a Guilty-Pleasures tote bag and keep it in your car to use just in case you arrive somewhere early. Guilty-Pleasure items are those you enjoy, but often deny yourself due to a perceived lack of time. They might include magazines, novels, catalogs, or crossword and sudoku puzzles. A variation on this theme is a Found-Time tote bag, which might include projects without a set deadline, such as thank-you cards (along with pens and envelopes). You may even find yourself aiming to arrive early so you can reward yourself with your “indulgent” activity.
- Use the waiting time as necessary downtime in your day. Try a simple meditation technique of focusing on your breath, or simply remind yourself that a few minutes of daily downtime is required for recharging your brain, making it a productive use of your time.
- Use the waiting time as found time for getting done those things you are unlikely to schedule such as cleaning out your wallet or purse, balancing your checkbook, or tweaking your to-do list.
The next time you find yourself running late, review Grossman’s list. Find your “challenge” and try each of the suggested solutions. You may find yourself arriving places on time (maybe even early!), feeling much more relaxed and happy. It will be nice to say goodbye to the frazzled feelings that come with being late.
Additional Reading:
Reduce Clutter
Organizing the ADHD Household
Get Bills Paid on Time
Improving Relationships
Make Work More Productive
Source:
Kay Grossman, M.A., LLC., Personal correspondence/interview. 16 Feb. 08.
