What are the typical obstacles that come in the way of getting work done efficiently? In the book The Time Trap, Alec MacKenzie identified 20 time wasters including:
Management by crisis
Telephone interruptions
Inadequate planning
Attempting too much
Drop-in visitors
Ineffective delegation
Personal disorganization
Lack of self-discipline
Inability to say no
Procrastination
Meetings
Paperwork
Leaving tasks unfinished
Inadequate staff
Socializing
Confused responsibility or authority
Poor communication
Inadequate controls and progress reports
Incomplete information
Travel
First, let's classify these problems. We can collect them at least under two groups, internal and professional.
Internal obstacles are personal habits and traits that come in the way of completing tasks. These obstacles relate both to personal and professional situations. These are issues that we have control over but some of these are very difficult to overcome:
Lack of self-discipline: When there is no self-discipline...