10 Time Waster you Should Avoid in a Startup

In my opinion, starting a business can be an exciting but overwhelming process. To ensure your startup’s success, it’s important to focus on activities that are essential to your business’s growth and avoid distractions and time wasters that can sidetrack your progress. Here are some common time wasters I would like to share with you guys to avoid in a startup, so let’s dive right into it:

Table of Contents

Unproductive Meetings:

Meetings are an important part of business, but they can quickly become one of the worst time wasters at work if they are not managed effectively. Avoid scheduling lengthy or unnecessary meetings and stick to a strict agenda that covers only the most important topics. While doing my job, I had to attend a daily meeting, a weekly, a monthly, and a quarterly meeting, which was quite a time waster for me, at least. I would love to have a monthly short meeting to discuss the overall agenda and later just a discussion in a group or over an app like clickup, Meet, throughout the month.

10 Time Waster you Should Avoid in a Startup: Sickpage — *Image Source: Inc. Magzine*

Procrastination:

Procrastination can be one of the major time wasters in the workplace for entrepreneurs(guilty), especially when dealing with tasks that are not as exciting or enjoyable(but I do enjoy my tasks). To avoid this, set specific goals and deadlines, prioritize your tasks, and hold yourself accountable for completing them on time. I have done some experiments and found out that the Pomodoro technique can be helpful for you in this matter.

Social Media and Email:

While social media and email can be useful tools for connecting with customers and colleagues, they can also be a major distraction, and you cal loss concentration from your work. To minimize the amount of time you spend on these platforms, set specific times for checking and responding to emails and social media notifications. What I do is, I would not check any notifications from social media apps, or emails until 1 pm. And after that, when I will start working again, I will not check any notifications again till going to bed. It was quite hard for me as well in the beginning, but with that, you will get used to it.

Perfectionism:

In a startup, it’s important to get things done quickly and efficiently. While it’s important to strive for quality, trying to perfect everything can be a major time waster. To avoid this, set realistic expectations and focus on making progress, rather than perfection. What I have learned so far, is that just to set everything perfectly, you will let go of the opportunity that could have been a breakthrough for your startup, so just, go with the flow, perfection will join you over time.

Unnecessary Paperwork:

Paperwork is an unavoidable part of running a business, but it can quickly become a time waster if you’re not careful. To avoid this, streamline your paperwork processes, automate as much as possible, and delegate tasks where appropriate. You should create a framework for your business, how you will manage things, paperwork, what comes after that, and all. Believe me, it would be quite helpful for you.

Failing to Delegate:

Many entrepreneurs believe that they need to do everything themselves(it was me also), but this can be a major time waster. To avoid this, delegate tasks to your team members, and trust that they will do a good job. This will free up your time to focus on the most important tasks. You need to hire some sort of assistance, if you don’t have the budget for that, what you can do is hire 1 or 2 internees, and you can train them, and they in return, can help you complete your tasks.

Over-Planning:

While planning is important, over-planning can be a time waster in many cases. To avoid this, focus on creating a clear and concise plan that outlines your goals and priorities, and adjust it as needed as your business evolves. I would say that you should create a one-page business plan and stick to it. Over-planning every detail might seem like it will help memory later, but it often just wastes time. All that meticulous preparation to help memory of every contingency can become a procrastination tactic in itself. Instead of actually doing it, you’re stuck in a loop of planning, falsely believing it will help memory when it’s just delaying the inevitable.

Distractions from Friends & Family:

While it’s important to have a supportive network, friends and family can sometimes be a distraction from your work. To avoid this, set clear boundaries and communicate with your loved ones about the time and attention you need to focus on your business. You can set a block of time to spend with your friends and family, totally ignoring them is also not right, you should spend time with them, and you will feel better. Believe me.

Trying to Do Too Much:

In the early stages of a startup, it’s important to prioritize and focus on the most important tasks. Trying to do too much at once can quickly become a time waster, leading to burnout and decreased productivity. Again, plan your 3 months in advance, and stay on that track, you can improvise over time, but towards betterment.

Also, Read these Related Articles:

Failing to Prioritize:

Finally, failing to prioritize your tasks can be a major time waster. To avoid this, create a to-do list and prioritize your tasks based on importance and urgency. This will help you to stay focused and get more done in less time. I have a rule that I write 3 major tasks the night before and stick to them throughout the day. Please don’t write more then 3 major tasks, it will be difficult for you to clear that clutter.

In conclusion, I would like to say that, avoiding time wasters is essential for the success of your startup. By focusing on essential activities, delegating tasks, setting clear boundaries, and prioritizing your tasks, you can increase your productivity and achieve your goals.

I hope this article was helpful for you, if yes, do let me know in the comments.

See you in the next one, Till then, Take Care!