Welcome back everybody, this is your host Neogentrics
and welcome back to Food for Thought, Thoughts
If It Were You Season 2. We're now back at our
regular scheduled time and when I basically do
these recordings. And you guys get to see them
at 3am in the morning. That's when I record them,
that's when I release them, but you guys probably
don't see them until after 8am, which is perfect.
I always love having my episodes available. recorded
out there and ready for everyone to hear them
right when everyone needs them or when they you
know are more convenient for you and I'm pretty
sure as you've all have been noticing it's been
a while since I've been doing these and now I'm
just kind of starting to get back in the swing
of things so we're definitely going to be getting
these way more often as we should have been One,
because I miss doing it. And two, there's still
so much to cover. I mean, between the topics
of entitled people and stupidity in action, I
mean, there's so many things to cover. And there's
still not enough time. So what I'm going to do
is we're going to cover as many of these as we
can before 2021 is up. There are definitely enough
days for me to get in as many episodes as possible.
But for the majority of you guys, standard episodes
will start coming out again as I get back into
the rhythm of everything every morning again
at 3 a .m. real soon. And with that, we'll also
maybe receiving afternoon updates or episodes
at 3 p .m. as well we'll see how this goes i
would love to get back into it there are less
than 60 days left in the year so let's see how
many episodes we can get there meanwhile as you
can probably tell from the title of this podcast
episode today's topic is a rather unusual one
Today we're going to talk about how to minimize
distractions and time wasters. Things that basically
eat up your time and prevent you from doing the
stuff that you enjoy doing. Example, my podcast.
It's the perfect time to do this one as it's,
you know, kind of relevant. Let's put it this
way. There are many things in life that can,
you know, potentially waste a lot of time. And
by minimizing those distractions and... removing
any possible time wasters from our day, we can
actually accomplish way more and potentially
become way more successful. Point in case, unlike,
you know, my friend rslash, who seems to be doing
really good on his channel, and with his podcast,
I have to rework and get myself back up to the
place where I used to be two to three years ago.
So, with that being said, Although there is a
lot of stuff still going on, I have a list of
stuff here that you could use to basically, I
don't know, apply to your otherwise busy schedule
of life that could help you reduce those types
of distractions and time wasters, whether it's
in your workplace or your everyday life. So when
it comes down to it, when you need to get on,
And, you know, avoid as many distractions as
possible. All I want you to do is utilize some
of these simple ideas that I have. And you can
increase your productivity and make more effectiveness
of the time you do have. Okay? So let's get started,
shall we? Okay, so I'm not going to waste any
time on this. Let's just go ahead and get into
this and get started. First things first, your
phone. I hate to say it, but we're going to start
with the most obvious time waster and distraction
that anybody could ever come across. And unfortunately,
that is your phone. Okay. Turn your phone off.
Or, if you can't do that because you're one of
those people who has to have it on in case of
emergencies, silence it. Okay? Use the voicemail
wisely and set aside times to, you know, return
missed calls. Not every call is important. Unless
your job literally requires you to be on your
phone. Then that's an exception. With that being
said, schedule times in your day when you know
you will be able to receive calls. Let other
people know about your schedule too. That way
they don't call you when it's inconvenient. Also,
have a personal mobile phone. Do not give that
number to your boss, your colleagues, none of
them. Only to friends and family so they can
still reach you in case of an emergency. This
is why I, myself, carry two phones. I try to
keep my work and my personal life separate. Why?
Because I don't need work, bills, or whatever
the hell contacting me on my off days. You know?
Everyone needs a break. Also, when making or
receiving a call, please, please be polite. Listen
and clarify. Try to avoid excessive small talk
and keeping the calls as brief as possible. And
I should know, because out of experience, I've
found that if I ask the wrong question, we'll
be sitting here for an hour. And as we already
know, elderly people like to talk. There's nothing
wrong with that. But if you're on a schedule,
this is something you want to avoid. Unless you
work in Xfinity, then do what you got to do.
Now, when taking calls, stand up. Research shows
that people who stand while on the phone tend
to want to keep their conversations brief so
they can get to the point of what they're talking
about. If you're one of those people, you'll
notice because you'll start walking in circles
while you're talking. It means you're impatient
and you just want this call over with. You may
not realize it, but your body does. Next, if
you agree to take on tasks as part of the phone
conversation, Then act on them immediately, even
if this means adding them to your to -do list.
Why? Because now you're becoming productive and
you're not just sitting there on the phone doing
nothing. I know a lot of people who sit on their
phones talking, talking, talking, talking, talking,
when they could be doing something else at the
same time that they know they have to have done
in the same day and have more free time. Lastly,
store numbers that you dial frequently in your
phone and keep them on a readily available...
Uh list, you know this thing we used to have
it's called speed dial You should probably program
it in so that when you press one button to hit
dial It automatically dials that person so you
don't have to keep looking for their number over
and over and over again Okay That's all I have
to say about phones We'll take a short break
and then we'll talk about your email. Yeah your
email. That's another one All right, phones,
big, big time waster, very big distraction because
we end up sitting there playing on it for an
extended period of time. But what if you're not
one of those people? What if you're not one of
those people who's always on their phones? What
if your email is your thing where you're always
checking and sending emails? Well, here's the
thing, okay? Only check your email a couple times
a day. That way you don't miss anything if you
need to. Close your email client when it's not
being used. One, this will also save battery
power on your phone, believe it or not. Also,
new emails flash up on your computer screen can
also be a very, very big distraction and a huge
time waster. Why? Because you're going to see
it like, oh, what is that? And then go open it.
And now you're sitting here going through the
rest of your emails again. So you don't want
that. You want the notifications, but you don't
want them to show what's in them because it's
just going to make you want to go through. Also
set up folders and rules in your email client.
Most of them have this ability I know Gmail has
this ability to automatically filter your emails
and your follow them away according to whatever
categories you put them in I think outlook now
is Taking into that taking that into consideration
where you can filter them that way too. Okay
now With that being said, I want you to also
try to schedule a block of time each day for
sending and responding to emails. That way, you
never miss them. Okay? In my case, I do that
around lunchtime. I can eat and sort mail at
the same time, so I don't have to do this all
day long. And then I check my mail again at the
end of the day. Why I do that? Because I don't
want to sit there going through my email all
day long. Every now and then, I'll set aside
a whole day to just skim through all my emails
and delete everything that I don't need. That's
a whole other thing entirely. Okay? But at the
same time, like I said, you're scheduling a time
to go through them. With that being said, don't
just let your emails pile up. Okay? Because now
it becomes unmanageable because now you have
to literally plan out a day, kind of like I did,
go through everything and delete stuff that shouldn't
be there and reply to everybody who needs to
reply to that I didn't reply to earlier in the
week. And by this point, if it was urgent, then
I missed it. Okay? Delete all your spam emails
immediately. Also. Because otherwise it's just
eating up storage space in your email. With that
being said, when you're deleting those spam emails,
also delete all irrelevant emails immediately.
This includes general mails that don't specifically
involve you or don't care about whether or not
you reply. People, organizations that usually
use the reply all function to their email client,
don't do that. Although such emails may be relevant
to certain peoples in certain departments, if
it's not relevant to you, delete it. Because,
you know, it doesn't serve a purpose and it's
just eating up space. Also, forward emails to
somebody who can better or provide a better response.
If need be, don't sit there and try to come up
with something if you know you can't. Also, if
it's not relevant to you, just forward it to
someone else who actually cares. It's not chain
mail, it's responsive mail. Sorry, responsible
mail. Okay. Also, try to handle each relevant
email only once. Read, respond immediately within
your scheduled time. Once done, file the email
away. Don't go back and look at it because then
you're going to want to reply again or change
something or want to cancel the email. Don't
do that. Don't do any of that. Okay. Also, be
wary of emails marked urgent or high priority.
Because they may not be that. I've received a
lot of emails saying that they're urgent and
high priority. I'm a student. So unless those
files or those emails are related to the school
or my teachers. A lot of times they go straight
in the garbage because they have nothing to do
with me or my degree. To be fair. Okay. Receiving
emails about how I can use makeup effectively
and make my face shine has nothing to do with
my degree in business or my interest in cybersecurity
or podcasting. Okay. If my face looks like a
horrid mess, so be it, but it has nothing to
do with my future. Okay, everybody. So, we covered
phones, we covered emails, the two of the biggest
ones. There was some other stuff here that y
'all may not think are time wasters or distractions,
but before we go any further, I did cover emails,
so I guess I should cover its opposite. Regular
mail. Okay? If you still have a mailbox and you
still receive regular mail, note this, right?
Open your mail near a waste paper basket or something
of the sort, a trash can, what have you, whatever
you call it. Depending on what part of the world
you live in, it could be called the bin, it could
be called the trash can, it could be called the
hub, it could be called nap bag, it doesn't matter.
The reason for this is so that if it is trash,
you can toss it away immediately, okay? Deal
with your mail immediately, if possible. Read,
process it. Reply if you need to reply. That's
what the pen and paper is nearby if you need
to do that. Aim to handle all your mail all at
once. Even if it's just once a day. Just so it
doesn't pile up in your mailbox. There's nothing
worse than a mail person coming to deliver you
something that's actually important. And your
mailbox, regardless of how big it is, is filled
with stuff in there that's been there for over
three months. Because they will not be able to
put it in there and then it's gonna be returned
to sender So if you're sitting there waiting
on a check or something in the mail, you're probably
not gonna get it because your mailbox is full
Okay now Computers the big thing the big CEO
the PC the cruda girl of our everyday life first
things first turn off I'm laughing because this
is funny. Turn off any instant messaging application
you have. It's funny because I don't think anyone
still uses instant messaging ever since Yahoo
Messenger died about 15, 16 years ago. But I
could be wrong. Well, actually, no, I take that
back. People nowadays use apps like GroupMe and
Discord. So there's that. Close any programs.
or documents when you're finished with them don't
leave them up one it eats up your storage space
two there's no point also file your documents
on your computer in a logical way where you can
find them and not just scattered about like papers
on your desk okay this not only removes distractions
but it means your computer is basically has more
resources and processing power to do whatever
it is you want to do next whether it's just watching
videos of cats i still don't know why that's
a thing That's also a time waster. So schedule
your time to watch your video for cats Meanwhile,
I'm talking about computer. So we'll come back
to that Close any web pages after you finish
reading them even if the stuff is important if
it's important bookmark it That way you can come
back to it. Okay, especially when it comes to
news and social websites and networking sites
and media of the sort But keep in mind that those
sites are constantly updated, so if you don't
save that specific page for whatever it is, unless
that page is constantly updated and changing,
there's no reason for you to leave the screen
up. If you need the information immediately,
print it. Yes, that's still a thing. If you have
a printer, print it. If you can't print it, print
it. You should be able to print to PDF. That's
an option too. Okay? If you're tempted to distract
yourself with a computer game, then either ration
the amount of time you play it, Or just uninstall
it from your computer because the longer it sits
there, the more you're going to want to play
it. Okay? I would know I love playing games,
so I have to specify times when I can play mine.
Make sure your computer is protected from viruses
and malware, by the way. Back up all your work.
Use a pen drive, a USB drive, a backup drive,
doesn't matter. Something that you can carry
your important files on and not forget them.
Also, make sure that drive is locked with a password.
You can do that. It's in the settings. Because
if anyone can open your drive, that means anyone
can take your important data and you'll lose
it. Also, don't make your password something
stupid like 12345 or thisismypassword. Be a little
more secure than that. If you want to know how
to do that, there's ways to do it. Look it up
online. If I have to, I will cover it in a podcast
per y 'all request. Also... Work within your
means, whatever possible, okay? Try learning
new IT skills. When, you know, you're pressed
for time, it can be a disaster if things should
fail. You would be better off knowing how to
do it so you don't have to go look for somebody.
If you need to, though, ask somebody for help
or find a simple way to achieve your goal. Okay?
Schedule time in the future to learn specific
IT skills. Not everything has to be taken to
the IT department. Most basic stuff can be handled
by you. Just keep that in mind. With that stuff
out of the way, everybody, let's talk about how
arranged meetings can also be helpful to you.
You'd be like, how is that avoiding distractions
and minimizing time wasting? You'd be surprised.
When it comes to arranged meetings, only attend
the meetings that are relevant to you. If the
meeting isn't necessary, don't go. If the meeting
is necessary and it does have a specific purpose
that requires your attention, then attend it.
But always aim to arrive at a meeting on time.
Rather, don't show up late because one, it's
awkward. Two, when I say arrive on time, I'm
talking about 15 minutes till. If you're arriving
to your meeting exactly at the time you're supposed
to be there, guess what? You're late. I hate
to say it, but that's how they're going to look
at it. Now, it's different if something happens
and it causes a grief and, you know, like traffic,
what have you. That's different. It's understandable.
Everyone's going to understand that because traffic
sucks. Not a single person I know likes driving
here in Houston. Okay. Also, you need to know
the purpose of the meeting. Get a copy of the
agenda in advance. This will help you out greatly
so you can prep for it if you need to, if you're
one of those people. Also, arrange to leave the
meeting early if it only is partially relevant
to you. Please don't stick around there because,
one, you're eating up your time when you could
be doing something else. And unless there's some
famous person in the room or the CEO or the owner
of the company is present, there really is no
reason for you to be there. Unless your manager
called it, and then you're probably in trouble.
In that regard, agree in advance for how long
the meeting will run for, if you're one of the
people helping arrange it. Start and end times
of the meeting, so on and so forth. Please use
a timed agenda. Especially for longer meetings
where the chairperson is less effective and really
doesn't have anything to add to it. okay this
being said we'll cover visitors now i was gonna
do it separate in a separate sec but i'm gonna
cover it now visitors or impromptu meetings that's
what you want to call them because that's what
it feels like to me let people know when you're
available to meet with visitors okay otherwise
they'll just be popping in all day long every
now and then when even when you don't want to
be bothered imagine if you receive the visitor
just as you're on your way to take a dump in
the bathroom that would suck okay Schedule blocks
of time when you can meet visitors and refer
to these as your appointments. Try to limit each
one to about 10 or 15 minutes so you're not overdoing
it. This goes for business people and regular
people. Whether you're an entrepreneur or not,
this is things to keep in mind. And people don't
understand how important this is. Otherwise,
you've just wasted an hour of your time talking
to this person and entertaining their face for
longer than you probably should be. Okay? The
word appointment is very formal, but how do I
put this? No, I think I'll go that way. The word
appointment is more formal and people are less
likely to think they are popping in for a chat
if they have to schedule it. They're more likely
to come for a specific reason. Otherwise, they
realize, hey, I'm obviously wasting their time.
They don't want to be bothered with me. So if
I was in their shoes, why would I want anyone
to bother me? Things to keep in mind. That's
where the thoughts if it were you thing in my
podcast name comes from. Always consider the
other person because you don't know how they're
going to feel. Put yourself in their shoes so
you understand. Also, learn to say no. If visitors
arrive at an inconvenient time, then politely
explain that you cannot see them and schedule
a time to visit them that's more convenient for
the both of you. Also, don't forget to schedule
time to spend with your friends and family. You
don't want to spend all your time working and
meeting people and say, how you doing, sir? Is
everything okay? How's your job? How's your work?
Is everything all right? How's your family? Don't
ask that question, by the way. Because if you're
asking them how their family is, they probably
work way too much just like you. All right? All
righty then. So what's next? Family commitments.
All right. With that being said, use a calendar.
I'm laughing because this is funny. So, and there's
a reason why this is funny. Family commitments
could be considered huge time wasters, as my
life is basically a combination of all of that.
So, with that being said, use a calendar, or
in my case, a giant wall calendar. That way they
can't say they can't see it. uh for whichever
member of the family is responsible for recording
their commitments and activities and things you
have to do and the reason for this is in my case
when people say do you have the free time i could
just point to the calendar Include your clubs,
your societies, your social events, days off,
doctors and dentist appointments, planned events
such as holidays, car services, hairdressers,
if you have that type of thing, for appointments,
visiting your friends, extended families. Yeah,
schedule that because they will eat up so much
of your time. As much information as possible
in each day, effectively and manageable. If it's
written on a wall, on a giant calendar, you can't
betray it. You can't go against it. you're more
likely to follow it. It's calling having a set
trend, a, uh, rhythmic flow to your day. It works
out well. Also use a tray or a box for keeping
important paperwork near the calendar, including
appointments, reminders, phone messages, whatever's
relevant, all those types of documents. So as
soon as they expire, also throw them away. By
the way, again, the trash can, you know, the
bin, keep that next by this keeps everything
organized. everyone has their own system for
how they want to do this but this is the most
practical way to make it work now if you can
find a way to make it work with your own system
even better why because this reduces stress it
reduces time wasted trying to sort all this and
everything just falls into place one and then
two if it's already sorted then you don't have
to worry about it yes in the beginning it will
take time it will eat up a lot of your time to
sort all this out But once it's done, it stays
done. You don't have to do anything else again
except put everything right where it needs to
be. Keep that in mind. Okay, everybody. Looks
like we finally hit our stride. The last topic
to cover, stress. I've already did a podcast
on stress. I covered what is stress, what is
anger, how they're related, how you end up with
them, how to reduce them. It's already been covered.
So all I really have to say here when it comes
to stress, other than if you want to know more
about it, look for the podcast I already did
on it earlier on, is that, look, we're busy people,
okay? Everybody is. Everyone's got stuff on their
minds. They got stuff they got to do, things
they got to think about, stuff on a day -to -day
basis. You know, I've got a lot of recovering
to do from a lot of the stuff that's happened
to me. It is stressful. Don't get me wrong, okay?
I have my days where I just want to be left alone
and, you know, lay down in my bed and not think
about anything. But obviously, I can't do that.
When we're busy, we're more likely to have a
very short temper. This is the reason why I'm
saying this. We want nothing more to be just
relaxed. My girlfriend is like a prime example
of this because of the type of job she has. I
can't say what it is on this podcast, but use
your imagination. She works for the government
in a way. Rather, she works for the state. Anyway,
little things. When you're extremely stressed
out, tend to be way more irritable to you than
they usually are. And, you know, we're more likely
to feel stressed or angry as a result of that.
Okay? So, stress and anger will both, in a way,
potentially waste more time and you'll run the
risk of damaging your health and, well, the feelings
of other people around you if you care about
that type of thing. Then you realize, always
try to stay as calm as possible. Let others know
that you're busy and that you need time to complete
whatever task you have. Unless they're just incompetent
morons and they just don't understand. Or worse,
God help you if it's worse, they're entitled
people. You know, the ones that feel that they're
more important than everyone else, including
you, and they really don't care if you're having
a bad day or if you need help. You know. We've
all read the story about the guy who was injured
on the path. What was it called? The Good Samaritan.
That's it. The guy was basically hurt, and two
well -off people walked by him, saw him, ignored
him, and kept going, and how the one person that
most of the Israelites basically ignored was
a Samaritan who actually helped him. We've all
heard this story. We've all read this story.
Unless you're, you know, not a Bible believer,
then to each, you know, to each their own. Or
you probably have heard a variation of the same
story. And one I'm not sure. So, but you see
my point. Okay? If you're like the first two
people and you just don't care, then there's
no helping you. I'm sorry. Okay? Eventually you'll
learn. Maybe you won't. Be more like that last
person, the third one. Consider how the other
people feel. That way, when you're in that same
boat, people treat you right instead of treating
you like the others, ready to wring their net
and drive them into the ground. People are usually
understanding, and they may even offer to help
you. You never know. It just depends. Everybody's
different. Kind of went in a different direction
than I wanted that to, but that's the overall
arcing. point of this okay there's a lot of things
to keep in mind here when it comes to this and
your time wasters your distractions i've only
covered a few there are many others i can definitely
go more in depth on this but i think i should
hold back for now um for one it would definitely
not be proactive enough for me to cover all of
that stuff now um that would be a waste of my
time and yours, as it would just be going into
unnecessary detail over stuff that's not important.
Meanwhile, I'll be covering other topics as well
that are just as important, so we'll cover that.
If there's more details on this I need to cover,
we'll definitely cover it in a future podcast
if I haven't already. So definitely look forward
to that. One of the podcasts I'm really looking
forward to doing is avoiding procrastination,
so... Definitely something that applies to me,
and I want to be able to tell other people about
it so they can also avoid it, so we can all move
forward together and do well. With that being
said, I want to thank you guys for your time,
your support, and always being here and helping
me to grow my podcast and do better. If y 'all
can help share this podcast on other different
platforms and telling your friends and family
about it, it would be greatly appreciated. I'll
talk to you guys later. This has been Food for
Thought. Thoughts if it were you. And I'm your
host Neogentrix. I'll talk to you guys later.