Taming the Time-Zappers

Ahh, summer. In June summer stretches out, appearing limitless. Now as August and the back-to-school ads bombard us, we realize that summer soon will be gone.

Have you accomplished some of the plans you made in the spring? If not, you may have fallen victim to a time zapper. What activities zap your time? Possibilities include:
o Catching up on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
o Shopping (in a store or on-line)
o Channel-surfing
o Playing video games
o Talking on the phone or texting

While none of these activities is necessarily harmful, they often eat away at the day. We look up and realize that an hour has passed. It’s time to take control of these time zappers. Try the following tips:

• Determine how much time you have. Many people don’t realize how much time activities take. Start paying attention to the clock. You may think that checking your email takes ten minutes when it actually takes 25-30 minutes.

• Set a time limit. How much time do you have? Remember that amount. You may not get to every website when searching for a good price on a new camera, but four or five will give a good enough range.

• Purposely interrupt yourself. Set a timer to go off to limit time-zapping activities. Make a phone call to the chatty friend before an appointment to keep the conversation short: “Listen, I only have ten minutes before my next meeting, but I wanted to touch base with you.” The important thing is to make yourself aware of the passage of time.

• Remember that life happens. Despite your best efforts, sometimes things don’t get done. That’s okay. Resolve to do better next time.

Good news! There is still a month of summer left. What would you like to do? Tackle at least one time-zapper this month to make room for something better. You’ll be glad you did.

© Renee Ursem, 2009