The Honesty Questionnaire: Are you Losing Time in Front of your Computer?

This is a guest post by Daniel Pintilie, if you want to guest post on this blog, please contact us.

Together with the amazing growth of technology many people acquired jobs that require mental work, usually in front of a monitor, a PC/Mac or any other super computer. These employers have to solve complicated tasks, but if the work is enjoyed then everything is simpler and even nicer. No matter if someone likes or doesn’t like his static job, there are disadvantages and one of the most important is the health aspect. Staying on a chair for eight hours sounds banal but doing it on a daily basis, things are changing and it is normal to pay attention to your health and how to combat any diseases. The lack of movement is awful and the complications are numerous: obesity, eyes and back problems and these are only the most common ones. Another issue, less important but in any case not to be neglected: the yield of the person who stays for hours without an active break. Are the temptations too high and we are losing our time or the small pauses are acceptable sins? Anyway, we are human beings and not powerful machines.

Regarding the problem of efficiency, all depends on the one’s own mentality, some people consider it’s enough to work one hour and watch videos on YouTube for two hours while others want more. Definitely, I can’t say to someone “hey, you are losing time” or “keep up the good work”, it’s too complicated and nobody should judge anybody. In spite of that, here I made up a quick checklist to identify the sources of wasting time and if you are honest with yourself then it’s simple to realize where you may need to improve your manner of work obviously if you want and need it.
The “temptations”:

1. Social Media

This new provocation is one of the “deadliest” causes of wasting entire working hours and it’s impossible to fully combat it. The power of Facebook and Twitter is too convincing to not spend daily few minutes on it just to see the novelties, the new images uploaded, the status of your friends or simply to communicate with them. Clearly, using social media is welcomed, but not in such a manner to make you addicted and to neglect your job. How many times do you access these: I launched Facebook almost one hundred times in 22 days, pretty much, isn’t it?

2. Talking Online with Friends

There is no Internet user who doesn’t use the services of online communication providers as Skype, Yahoo Messenger or Google Talk; these are really useful when they are used accordingly to the necessities and not just for fun. It’s frustrating to see that just when you have more tasks to finish than usual, friends are buzzing you for a coffee or night out or worst, for gibberish. The solution might be to let them know that you are working and have no time to lose, hence use the status.

3. Checking Too Often the Email Account

Personally, I can’t resist to this attraction and maximum one hour passes until I recheck the email; I am sure that I lose lots of time, but I can’t abstain to it. Please don’t take my example and check it seldom; use my manner when you expect a very important reply. There might be a good excuse for me, it is a sign of professionalism to offer a quick reply to clients, but you must also work and not wait for an email. I try to implement a stimulating system: I will verify my mail only when I finish a task. Wish me good luck and let me know if you have a better idea!

4. Too Many Phone Calls During the Work Time

If you resist to the sin of online communication, surely the phone will ring and you need to answer it. The friends and relatives ignore the possibility that you are working or consider the conversation as a good break for you…no matter if you don’t want it. It isn’t a solution to disconnect your phone, but just answering to all the calls makes you lose an enormous volume of potential work.

5. Clicking on Everything you See

Another temptation to which I can’t resist is the attraction of clicking wherever I see a link; it is happening more when I am bored and my power will is lower. Undoubtedly, anyone should give up to this stupid activity and focus on the project.

6. Listening to your Favorite Songs

Working many hours isn’t a big pleasure, but the work may be more pleasuring when listening to our favorite songs. There is nothing wrong and I personally consider it normally until it becomes the first problem and the task to finish is secondary. It is enough to launch an online radio and go back to work; some people, including me, open lots of online radios, switch the frequencies very often and sometimes watch a new video on YouTube hence the efficiency is zero. Pay attention to this advice; don’t spend too much to search for your best songs.

7. Dreaming

When working it is better to fully concentrate on the project and neglect all other aspects, else the amalgam created is dangerous and must be avoided. It is happening more when the subject is tired and needs a pause to dream about everything but not related to the project itself, which needs to be finished in one hour. It is depending more on the inner power, but many of us are losing precious time only by imagining various facts and dreaming of a vacation. Try to detach yourself from this habit and give your best in all the tasks you must do.

At the end, I wish you to successfully overcome all these temptations and please let me know if you have a better recipe to avoid wasting time, hence the comment form is for you and I will wait any new opinion.

Good luck!

Image Credits: by teoruiz

About the Author

Daniel Pintilie works for conversion rate optimization Company Invesp and enjoys writing on Landing Page optimization and affiliate marketing.