Time Killers are those little addictive things that waste our time without our permission. They can be different for everyone. They are things like T.V., Facebook, email, snacking, texting, you name it. They seem harmless enough, but they cause us to lose our focus and make work take longer than it needs to.

My Time Killer this week has been Facebook. To save paper, I’ve started doing my reading for grad school on my computer so I don’t have to print anything out. The problem with this is that my computer is full of distractions! I’ll be 10 pages into my reading and then BAM! Suddenly I’m scrolling through Facebook instead of reading. How did that happen? It’s like my fingers just took me there without even thinking about it. Well, now that I’m here, I better at least see what my friends are up to…and so it continues. Pretty soon, a reading assignment that should only take me half an hour has taken twice that. What a waste of time!

The trick is to remove your Time Killers before they are able to steal your focus. If your Time Killer is snacking, don’t do your work near the kitchen. If your Time Killer is texting, leave your cell phone in the other room. For me, I’ve started turning off my internet connection on my laptop when I’m doing my reading. This way, I can focus on my work and get it done in a shorter amount of time. Then I can allow myself to go on Facebook to my heart’s content!