Dealing with Procrastination: Energy vampires

You know the kind of person I am talking about, the one who wants to engage in a conversation with you - just because he/she doesn't have anything to do, or is trying to avoid doing. They are just procrastinating and want to help you procrastinate too.

If you have this problem at work:

• Rearrange your office so your desk is not facing the open doorway (assuming you have a door way of course). You won't get distracted when people walk by and the time wasters can usually see that you are busy and will head off to find someone else to bother. Sit side on, so you can tell when someone does come in though - nothing worse than having people read whatever it is you are writing because they can see over your shoulder.
• Walk with purpose - if you are going somewhere and want to avoid eye contact - then walk quickly, carry something and people will usually avoid stopping you.

Noisy offices: Whilst we are on the subject of noisy offices - and you need to get work done, consider plugging into your mp3 player, or use the computer speakers - sometimes it doesn't take much to drown out the noise. If all else fails - clear it with the boss to arrive early or leave late - then work before people arrive or after they've gone.

Dealing with ourselves: Perhaps the biggest energy vampires are ourselves. We can be guilty of being the person who's chatting to avoid getting things done. Be conscious of what you are doing - and stop it. If you find yourself telling the same thing to a dozen people during the course of a day - you are being the procrastinating energy vampire. Check the amount of work you have managed to complete on these days - you'll not be surprised when you find the answer is "not much". Other things to consider:

    * Don't take on more work than you can handle.
    * Don't take on other people's work to get out of doing your own
    * Learn to say no to people who "want to catch up" for no other reason than they do

Emails: If you need to get something done, don't open your email and don't open the Internet. Pretend they don't exist and start the task / item that needs to be done. When you do open your email I can guarantee you will read a lot less than if you had had the darn thing open all day.

Make a conscious decision about how you use your time and try to limit the associations with the energy vampires and you WILL get more done and feel far less drained as a result.