I was almost taken down by the robbers. Worst still, it is so near to me and is invisible. So, it’s hard to fight. I did struggle for a few years and now it is easier since I’ve found a few tricks under my sleeves.
Here are some of the invisible time robbers
- Things that I do repeatedly
- Things that I don’t like to do
- Skills I need to acquire just to do it once or twice (non-mainstream skills)
- Things that comes in unexpectedly
- Things that took more time because of no-planning
- Micro sleeps
- Traveling
How I Escaped?
- Leverage on Other People’s Time
- Hire others, outsource the work I considered as time robbers
- Leverage on Technology
- Since my phone have recording function, I record any conversations and meetings – allow me to focus on the discussion rather from taking long notes.
- I can replay back the recording, trim it to only those useful sections and also helps me to reinforce my memory by revising the material just like preparing for exams (yeah, those good ol’ days).
- Instead of traveling, use web meeting. Video, audio, interaction, collaboration and sharing is even better with current technologies.
- Suggest to do a web-meeting if someone is meeting us.
- If I’m conducting a seminar or training, why not have a webinar? This is much greener compared to having a seminar. Plus it can be time-shifted, meaning that the webinar can be replayed again and again. (Here’s a website you can use for free.)
- Of course, I like attending real events, say in a year, I may attend 10 webinars and only 1 or 2 seminars, which is more practical.
- Sleep early and wake up early
- This is so true — sleeping late affects our brain speed like the CPU speed in computer.
- Sleep late performs like a Pentium 4, sleep early performs like a Dual Core.
- There’s more micro-sleeping happening when we are deprived of sleep.
- If tired, don’t force to stay up. Short naps (cat-naps) of 10 to 30 minutes can help. Only take naps in the afternoons, not mornings.
- Be Professional in handling time
- Punctual, respect other people’s time and your own
- Work with people who respect your time. If they are not time-sensitive, you’ll be easily robbed of your time.
There’s more to come, but I’ll keep it short for now…
If I have no money to invest, the only thing I can invest is my time.
That’s the most expensive investment.
First invest time to make money, then invest money to free up time.Once we have some time, then we can spend all the time thinking about how to earn more money with less time.
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