Eliminating time wasters and taking control of your day

Early in my career, I often ended the day feeling like I hadn't accomplished much. I worked hard, of course, but I still had those days where it felt like I was just spinning my wheels. Sound familiar? Let's dive into a few changes I made to boost productivity and why they worked for me. Maybe they’ll help you too!

Identify time sinks

Before I could fix the issue, I had to identify the problem. Where was my time going? How were some of my colleagues able to get so much more done in the same amount of time? It became clear that I wasn't using my time efficiently. Here are the three biggest culprits I found.

Stop thrashing and focus

If you’ve ever seen your computer slow to a crawl because it’s trying to juggle too many things at once, you've seen thrashing in action. In short, it's when you spend more time switching between tasks (or contexts) than actually working on them.

For me, multitasking is a myth. I’m totally incapable of keeping track of two tasks simultaneously. If I glance at a Slack message while writing a line of code, I completely lose track of what I was doing. Constantly switching between tasks inevitably makes everything take longer and leaves me exhausted. Thrashing, without a doubt, was my biggest time sink.

Avoid paralysis by analysis

Think about the last time you made a major purchase—whether it was a house, a car, a vacation. You probably spent a lot of time weighing options and comparing pros and cons. That’s smart! You want to make the right decision.

But if you found yourself stuck, unable to make a choice, you might’ve been paralyzed by over-analysis. When indecision strikes, it’s easy to get bogged down, feel stressed, and lose focus. This didn't happen to me every day, but when it did, my productivity hit a wall.

Recognize and reduce wasted moments

This one’s more subtle. Sure, there are obvious time-wasters—like rewatching that video of a dog that's friends with a lion instead of responding to that email you got this morning—but you already know when you're doing that. I'm talking about the little inefficiencies that quietly eat up minutes: searching for a pen, manually deploying a project, or hunting for the right browser tab.

Implement solutions for a smoother workflow

Once I identified the biggest time sinks, the solutions became clearer. Yes, they take effort upfront, but trust me, the payoff is worth it. Some solutions have a high ROI and only need to be implemented once, while others require small adjustments each day. No matter what, the time saved will far outweigh the cost.

Start each day with a plan

I work in software, so daily planning meetings are part of the norm. But no matter what field you’re in, this concept can help you get more done—especially when it comes to avoiding thrashing.

The fix: plan your day.

It's so simple it barely feels like a solution, but that’s the beauty of it. Most days, it takes less than a minute—so there’s really no excuse not to do it. Plus, it frees up your brain since you’re no longer juggling your task list mentally.

Each morning, at the start of your day:

1. Write down all the tasks you know are pending and that you might work on today, even if you don’t think you’ll get to all of them.
2. Prioritize them. Urgent tasks go first, followed by important ones.

That's it. Easy, right?

It's worth noting what this daily plan is not:

• It’s not a schedule. Time doesn’t matter here—priority does.
• It’s not detailed. Broad strokes are just fine.

Where you jot down your list is up to you—whether it’s a notebook, sticky notes, a dry erase board, a to-do app, work management or productivity software (there are dozens), or even a text editor. The key is that it’s easy to glance at every time you wonder, "what's next?"

Block distractions to maintain focus

As I mentioned earlier, a quick glance at a chat while mid-task totally derails my focus. If you're like me, your chat and email notifications might be more harm than help. Take advantage of your chat software's do not disturb mode, and let your team know when you’ll be offline, so they know how to reach you if anything truly urgent comes up.

When in doubt, ask

If you’re stuck on a decision—say, how a feature should work—ask your team for input. For those of us who write software, there’s usually a few options. A project manager can clarify priorities, and your teammates can help with design decisions. Worst case? Shift to a different task while you wait for feedback.

Fine-tune your process to save time

These next solutions are a bit more advanced, and the gains are smaller. But once you’ve tackled the big time-sinks, these can shave off extra seconds here and there.

Lean Manufacturing, a methodology that’s been around for decades, offers useful lessons for knowledge workers like us. The idea is to reduce waste in all its forms. In software (and probably many other fields), three types of waste stand out to me:

Reduce unnecessary movement

Any movement that can be minimized is wasted time. Crossing the room to get a pen, turning to reach a drawer, or tabbing through windows can all add up. Here are some tips for reducing unnecessary movement:

• Keep frequently used tools (pens, paper, water bottle, etc.) within arm's reach, and always in the same place.
• Have your most-used applications open automatically when you log in to your computer.
• Learn keyboard shortcuts to minimize reaching for the mouse.
  • Advanced: If you’re on Linux, consider a tiling window manager like i3 to jump between windows with just a keystroke or two.
• Set up automatic notifications for events so you have less need to check your calendar.

Stop waiting and start preparing

Sometimes, waiting on someone else to deliver something so you can finish your work is unavoidable. Here are some tips to minimize waiting and start preparing:

• Optimize or redesign processes. For example, if your team reviews code at the end of the day, try starting the day with code reviews so comments can be addressed as soon as possible.
• Always have another task ready to work on in case you’re stuck waiting.
• Tidy up and declutter your workspace (both physical and digital) to make it easier to jump into the next task.

Simplify complex processes for smoother operations

The more complex a process, the more likely it is to fail. For example, a manual deployment process for a web service might involve logging into a production server, downloading the latest version of the software, verifying configurations, and so on. This isn’t just risky (we’re all human, mistakes happen), but it’s also a waste of time. Here are some tips for simplifying complex processes:

• Eliminate unnecessary steps. If your team gets email notifications for pull requests, there’s no need to message them separately via chat.
• Automate everything you can. Things like application deployment are prime candidates for a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline.
• Simplify the rest.

Reclaim your time and enjoy the benefits

Getting more done during the workday means less stress and more time for the things that matter. Take advantage of it! Spend time with loved ones, engage in some hobbies, or simply enjoy the balance between work and life.