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ARE YOU GUILTY OF THESE 7 BIG TIME KILLERS? by Ed Abel

Written by: Edward Abel

Article Overview: There are plenty of ways to fritter away the day, that’s for sure. And after years of experience building my own businesses and then helping others build theirs, I found the following seven suspects guilty of killing time.

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ARE YOU GUILTY OF THESE 7 BIG TIME KILLERS? by Ed Abel

How many of these crimes do you commit?


I lose time because…


___ 1. I lack direction. Guilty of having no goals or plan of action.


___ 2. I procrastinate. Guilty of indecision, fear of dealing with complex tasks, perfectionism, fear of failure, and/or loss of interest in a project.


___ 3. I’m disorganized. Guilty of having important business opportunities slip through your fingers because you lack systems for recording, filing, and tracking your progress.


___ 4. I’m easily distracted by e-mail and phone messages. Guilty of responding to e-mail messages and answering the phone immediately, which prevents you from staying focused on the task at hand.


___ 5. I surf the Internet. Guilty of getting lost in cyberspace. OK, you need information, so you use the Internet, which can save time. But when you get sucked in by headlines and advertisements and spend more time “surfing” than you intended—you’re guilty as charged.


___ 6. I engage in too much small talk. Guilty of getting caught up in gossip, as well as letting colleagues, clients, and prospects ramble on about issues not related to business.


___ 7. I handle personal responsibilities when I should be focusing on my business responsibilities. Guilty of scheduling too many personal tasks during business hours. Now, I’m not suggesting that you never go to your daughter’s softball game, schedule a doctor’s appointment, or take a personal phone call during your normal business hours. What I am suggesting is that you might be spending more time than you realize trying to squeeze in the personal stuff.


Ed’s Time-Killing Cure. To zero in on your time killers, for one week I want you to track and keep a record of the amount of time you spend on each of the seven offenders. Once you identify your offenders, you can eliminate them. Once you eliminate them, you’ll be amazed at the time you “re-capture.”


Copyright © 2007

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Home > Small-Business-Consulting > Edward Abel > ARE YOU GUILTY OF THESE 7 BIG TIME KILLERS by Ed Abel
Article Tags: business coach, business coaching, business consultant, business owner, business owners, business training, entrepreneur, ideas for small business, opening a start how to business plan

About the Author: Edward Abel
RSS for Edward's articles - Visit Edward's website

Ed Abel has invested more than three decades learning how to build a successful, thriving business. At age 24 with a $5,000 loan and the energy and passion of a young entrepreneur, Ed was ready to take on the world. And he did, only to emerge seven years later at the top of a $36 million organization with 585 employees. Inspired by the challenges that led him to success, Ed went on to build other multi-million dollar businesses, yet he missed the passion he experienced "in the trenches" of his formative years.

Determined to find a way to educate and advise others in the construction and sustainability of a vital business, he founded ABEL Business Institute. Over the course of this process, he developed The SkillPreneur Business System, a systematic approach to the construction, maintenance, and growth of a business's--an approach that has become the philosophy and methodology of ABEL Business Institute.

Ed is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurial studies at New York University (NYU) as well as the Director of the business division at the world class Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). At iPEC, Ed directs the business division that is responsible for supporting the graduate coaches in their business development process.




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