5 Common Timewasters You Must Avoid
Gary has a business, employing 7 staff. When he contacted me he was at a point where the stress from his business was so bad, that he would constantly wake up 3 or 4 times a night worried about everything …his cash flow, staff, lack of clients and the affect all this was having on his personal well-being and family life.
He didn’t use a diary, had no way of planning and kept everything ‘in his The Productivity and Profit Homestudy System head’. Often his staff were idle because he hadn’t spent time training them. That ensured the work didn’t get done therefore causing Gary to lose clients.
On top of that Gary was a perfectionist, he felt it was easier to do things himself so they would be done ‘right’.
Being overweight didn’t help either. He was constantly tired and uptight causing him to be moody and also very negative. His family and his staff would avoid him.
He was spiraling downhill quickly but luckily he realised before it was too late, that it 
was time to get help otherwise he could lose his business, his family and even his life!
Step by step and week by week Gary changed the way he organised himself. He finally got control of his business and his life. He was aware that he needed to change, was ready to change, found out what to do and committed to making that happen.
Here’s the top 5 time stealers that had originally encompassed Gary’s life and what he had to avoid and what you must avoid too…
1. Avoid using a diary and planning your time
With 50,000 plus thoughts a day running through your brain you must write things down otherwise you’ll forget! Waste hours a week by not using a diary to plan your day, your week and your month.
2. Avoid exercise and eating healthy food
This will guaranteed that you’ll feel tired, take much longer to get things done and get sick more often. You are your most important investment, treat your body like you would if you bought a brand new car.
3. Having no systems and being surrounded by clutter
The paperwork is a mess on your desk, the filing is stashed away and you can’t easily find what you want. Working in chaos is a surefire way to waste hours a week. According to a survey by ‘The Wall Street Journal’, the ‘average’ white collar worker spends 6 weeks a year looking for things. If you’re like many small business owners you’re probably working way too much and not having much of a life. Reduce your working hours, your stress and save money by clearing out the clutter and setting up simple systems to get things done more quickly.
4. Email, Telephones and Social Networking
Having no set times allocated to answer emails, phones and do your social networking. It’s easy to let your time get consumed without you realising it. Create a timetable for yourself.
5. Doing it all yourself
You’re so good at bookkeeping, running errands, packing orders,cleaning, fixing computers, maintaining your website, writing your own newsletter, updating your database, creating your own brochures, producing products and solving everyone else’s problems that there’s no time to get anything else done.
Get help so you can focus on the money-making activities.
The Final Word
Avoid these 5 common timewasters and you’ll be amazed how much time you’ll have to work on improving your business so it runs much more effectively and profitably giving you more time for your life.
Why be time poor and struggle in your business, when you can easily get much more done, make more money and have time off? Go to www.productivityqueen.com/profit.html.
About the Author: 
Lorraine Pirihi, The Productivity Queen, is Australia’s leading Productivity Specialist and creator of “The Productivity and Profit System TM” the complete one-on-one training program for solopreneurs and small businesses that shows business owners exactly how to work less and earn more! To receive your F.R.E.E. CD & Report “3 Steps to Dramatically Reducing Your Workload and Stress While Maximising Your Profit$! ($77 value) go tohttp://www.productivityqueen.com
