What are your "time wasters" when working in an online business?

[puti1]

I've got an interesting discussion with someone recently who asked me to identify my "time wasters" in order to be more productive. Examples of "time wasters" when doing a chore could be anything that distracts you from your main task for that time slot that you've originally planned for.

Here are some of my "time wasters" that i thought i could share and also hear from you on yours.

When i am online and about to work on my websites, some of mine are:
- checking emails
- Visiting links of some recommendations that the "experts" sent me.
- Browsing the web for ideas which i had no intention of researching for that time slot
- Facebook (sometimes)
- Chatting online

Before i realized it, an hour passed by and no real work was accomplished.
I love to hear from you what are your "time wasters"

cheers

[leoS]

Originally Posted by puti1

I've got an interesting discussion with someone recently who asked me to identify my "time wasters" in order to be more productive. Examples of "time wasters" when doing a chore could be anything that distracts you from your main task for that time slot that you've originally planned for.

Here are some of my "time wasters" that i thought i could share and also hear from you on yours.

When i am online and about to work on my websites, some of mine are:
- checking emails
- Visiting links of some recommendations that the "experts" sent me.
- Browsing the web for ideas which i had no intention of researching for that time slot
- Facebook (sometimes)
- Chatting online

Before i realized it, an hour passed by and no real work was accomplished.
I love to hear from you what are your "time wasters"

cheers

The discussion you had is quite interesting, and I have heard of it being implemented in many industries, but mainly industries into manufacturing. Anyways would be good to link it to our industry.

I feel I would have the same "time waster" as you do because these are the most common things i guess. But if I were to consider them as "time wasters". In my opinion I would not consider the time put in for those things as wasting time, as:

checking emails - Its a very important aspect, which contributes to the schedule of the day. Important to be updated with emails from business clients.

Visiting links of some recommendations that the "experts" sent me - Again a important thing as it is being sent to me, it has some importance for some expert and can prove beneficial. Taking a glance would be appropriate.

Browsing the web for ideas which i had no intention of researching for that time slot - No doubt this is something which needs a specific time slot dedicated for it, but i feel the whole day we are researching some or the other thing..sometimes intentionally and most of the times unintentionally.

Facebook (sometimes) - Real time updates, I would say Facebook has become a place which is not just meant to be visited for pleasure, but it seriously updates you about the trends and new upcoming ideas that can be used in any industry based on the applicability.

Chatting online - Does not have business importance but could be used to brainstorm a lot many times, sometimes things or ideas just pop up.!!

These are my opinions on the regular activities that most of us do..

[highseo]

I think checking emails or visiting suggested links by some friends is not wasting of time. It can be but it highly depends on the purpose of doing these. For some people its wasting time and for others its saving time

[hutsell6]

Browsing the web for ideas which i had no intention of researching for that time slot....

this is one of the major challenge for me/...sometimes..lot of time goes in this..

[snakeair]

When i want to kill time, i try to find out any SEO issue's that i am making with my site and see if i can figure out a solution on my own. Let me tell you that this kills a huge amount of time. lol

Also i tend to visit other forums and look to spend money on stuff i most likley don't need. It can be expensive killing time.

[RoyalDogAccessories]

I have watched the every episode of the 4 seasons of storm chasers in the last 2 days.
Needless to say I got not much work done

[puti1]

Originally Posted by highseo

I think checking emails or visiting suggested links by some friends is not wasting of time. It can be but it highly depends on the purpose of doing these. For some people its wasting time and for others its saving time

Agree with you that it is dependent on your purpose. As for me...i usually get carried away by the sheer amt of emails i received and starts to wander off from my main task..

[foxanthony]

Being really new (1 month) to IM I have to be careful of the 'bright and shiny' stuff. I still need to look around for tools and information, but I have to be very careful to quickly evaluate what I see for its applicability to what I am doing. It is so easy to get distracted by "How I Made $20,000 In 7 Minutes" and other silly things.

[AlfredSiliano]

During downtime I didn't noticed that I am spending much time on participating social networks.

[theentry]

For me the biggest time waster was checking stats frequently (like every hour)

[sfossy]

Mine are:

-facebook
-chatting
-revolving around couple of website randomly

[ishuvonet]

For me it is slowing down the internet speed.It is the most irritating time waster for me during performing my online business.

[realFXpips]

This is a very interesting topic for if one could truly
identify their time killers, it would go a long way in
increasing one's efficiecy.

I don't chat often nor visit Facebook, so my main
time killer is visiting links with captivating captions.

Cheers!

[wtargus]

Originally Posted by puti1

- Browsing the web for ideas which i had no intention of researching for that time slot

This one is my biggest time waster. I start going from link to link, next thing I know, 2 hours have gone by and I haven't accomplished a thing.

Lately I started pasting the ideas on a notepad file to go back to later, so I don't interrupt the task at hand.

[ringmaster]

Originally Posted by puti1

I've got an interesting discussion with someone recently who asked me to identify my "time wasters" in order to be more productive. Examples of "time wasters" when doing a chore could be anything that distracts you from your main task for that time slot that you've originally planned for.

Here are some of my "time wasters" that i thought i could share and also hear from you on yours.

When i am online and about to work on my websites, some of mine are:
- checking emails
- Visiting links of some recommendations that the "experts" sent me.
- Browsing the web for ideas which i had no intention of researching for that time slot
- Facebook (sometimes)
- Chatting online

Before i realized it, an hour passed by and no real work was accomplished.
I love to hear from you what are your "time wasters"

cheers

I think generally, you have mentioned most of the time wasters that anyone working online is experiencing. You can however include online games. Sometimes when we feel like we are not ready to sit and work spend a little time playing. However, sometimes we forget time as the game becomes more interesting.

[Madman340]

My time waster is posting in forums. I frequent a couple and it just saps time away from me... Before I know it, it has been 2 hours just GONE from conversing textually lol...

[f1seo]

My main distraction is checking rankings. Well, we are an SEO company so it's our business I suppose.

[-10]

Well I'm not an internet marketer, I'm a web designer primarily.

My main time wasters are:
- Looking for a small piece of code and ending up trawling through documentation because I learned something new, even though it has nothing to do with what I'm trying to accomplish. (I guess this is a bit like you guys looking at information you didn't schedule in)
- IRC chat
- Helping other people with their code (I love doing this but I do it far more than I should)
- Reading the news, I have an addiction to The Telegraph's website

[instantit]

Do not waste too much time on facebook if you are not running your business over facebook or having facebook fan page.

[SkyLine88]

1) Getting distracted and starting to read about something I originally had no intention of researching when looking for specific information online.
2) Online chatting
3) Forums and blogs