If you never seem to have enough time, check whether these time wasters could be hurting your productivity.

Benjamin Franklin’s adage from more than 200 years ago, “Lost time is never found again,” still rings true today. Discover these five workday time wasters and how to avoid them.

Unnecessary meetings

While some meetings are useful, many can be eliminated. Before scheduling a meeting, consider whether a phone call, text or email would be a better way to handle the topic.

When invited to a meeting, review the agenda before accepting to see if you actually need to be at the meeting. If an agenda isn’t included with the invite, ask for one. If an agenda isn’t provided with the invite, simply as for one.

Too many interruptions

Impromptu conversations help teams because they’re a way to share information, provide mentoring and socialize. However, they can also disrupt focus and creative thought. To cut down on interruptions, schedule blocks of time on your calendar for focus work and let fellow team members and clients know that you won’t answer calls or other messages during this time. In some workplaces, entire teams adopt focus hours to help everyone work interruption-free.

During focus time, consider turning off audible and visual notifications on your phone and computer to eliminate digital interruptions.

Winging it

Working without a plan means continually figuring out what to do next. The goal of a plan is not to schedule every minute of the day. It’s to identify what’s most important, what’s urgent, where you need to be and what resources are needed to execute the plan.

 

For the bigger scope, parse annual goals into monthly and weekly tasks to help you maintain focus on high-priority work. A useful daily habit is to create a to-do list at the end of each workday for the following day.

Endless scrolling of social media feeds

A presence on social media is a fact of life for most businesses. It’s an important place to connect with customers, prospects and job candidates, as well as to see what competitors are doing. If you find your scrolling shifts from gaining useful insights to wasting time, it might indicate a need to be more intentional about the time you spend on social media. Before logging on, identify what you’d like to gain from what you’re looking at and set a timer. Additionally, you can designate a certain time of day for social media and add it to your calendar.

Trying to do too much at once

A significant amount of time and energy can be wasted on task switching. Research shows that constantly switching gears hinders productivity. A better approach is to monotask: do one thing at a time.

Does business banking take too much time?

If business banking takes up too much of your time, we can help! Consumers’ Online Banking services give you access to your accounts 24/7. And when you need answers from a real person, Consumers’ Commercial Loan Officers are here to help you with everything from SBA and vehicle loans to merchant services to payroll.

Do you have business banking questions? Contact our knowledgeable Commercial Loan Officers online or call 800-991-2221. We’re also available to help in person at your local office.

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