How to Deal With Time Vampires in Business & Life

The one-sided phone call that lasts way longer than you'd like. Or that watercooler moment that left you feeling drained... We've all got at least one energy vampire in our lives. They might be a colleague, or they might be an old friend, either way, they suck the living daylights out of you.

Proverbial "fun sponges" exist everywhere and are usually hard to swerve. That said, it's one thing having someone soak up your energy, it's another matter when they start siphoning precious blocks of time from your day. Sometimes, your time vampire might not be a person, it might be intrusive thoughts or a tedious task.

In this blog, we’ll learn to identify time vampires at work and in life, provide tips to mitigate these encounters, plus how to manage vampire tasks.

What is a time vampire?

As you might have noticed, we’re all about effective time management here at Memtime, so we have lots of articles about mitigating traditional time thieves and staying focused. Time vampires are different, however.

Ultimately, you choose to be distracted by the clutter on your desk. You decide to “kill” the ten minutes before your next meeting by doom-scrolling social media. Conversely, I see time vampirization as far more insidious; they are a time suck not of your own making.

As mentioned in the intro, a time vampire can be someone or something that consistently drains the time from your day. So, without further ado, let’s address both of these particular timesucks.

Recognizing someone who’s a time vampire

Irrespective of whether it’s at work or in life, there are vampires menacing your bandwidth. Some you can avoid (acquaintances) and some you simply can’t (co-workers). Below are some common personality traits found in time vampires.

• Chatterbox gossipmongers: Who doesn’t love a good gossip with a co-worker, but you need to know when to draw the line. If they start following you into a hallway to continue chinwagging you might want to invent an impromptu urgent call that needs taking.
• Perpetual gripers: These people are never happy and are always seeking an outlet to vent. As such, they use you as a rage absorber, which drains both your time and spirit. If this happens repeatedly, might I recommend the following response: “You don’t seem happy and I wish I could help. Have you talked to [insert more applicable person here] about it?”
• Intrusive interrupters: Often, with more than one of these repeat ‘I just need two minutes’ offenders, they can tag team your time, leaving you with none. At work, it's a certain colleague. At home, it's my two kids. In short, interrupters are one of the biggest time bandits and they do not respect your time. You need to set some boundaries (where possible; my kids don’t adhere to boundaries.

Recognizing something that’s a time vampire

I mentioned that you don’t choose your time vampires and that remains true. For instance, nobody chooses to have any of the below traits, some of us just do. Recognizing and acknowledging them is the first step to clawing back your time. Here are just three common time drains at work:

• Intrusive thoughts: If you, like me, suffer from the scourge of rumination, then you know just how time-consuming and distracting replaying interactions or perceived issues in your head can be. So, might I recommend Googling The Worry Tree. It’s a very simple resource to help your brain get back on track in terms of focus. After all, you want to keep any resulting productivity anxiety at arm’s length.
• Perfectionism: Realize that not everything needs to be perfect. Granted, they say “the devil is in the detail”, but he’s also sucking your time in the process. Don’t get bogged down in trivialities.
• Procrastination: Much like perfectionism, nobody chooses to be a chronic procrastinator, like yours truly. Ultimately, however, procrastination is one of the biggest time vampires of them all. To manage this pervasive time suck, you should break tasks into smaller portions, set clear/achievable goals, and eliminate distractions (like your phone).

How time tracking tools can mitigate time vampires

So, now that we’ve addressed some of the common personas and the things that can be deemed time vampires, let’s see how time tracking tools, such as Memtime, can help in some scenarios involving the usual suspects.

Protracted conflabs

We all enjoy a watercooler convo and it should be considered a basic but necessary employee bonding exercise. That said, if it’s a case that your colleagues are habitually dragging you into chats, all that chinwagging adds up. Time tracking software like Memtime classifies your time away from the computer as “Offline time”. This way you can account for how long each chat takes from your working day.

To clarify, your offline times are visible only to you – just like your time in programs and anything Memtime records. You make the rules, e.g., set the minimum duration of your offline times, as you’re the only person who has access to this data.

Scope creep

While this term is usually used in a Project Management context, I believe a level of creep seeps into each and every task – particularly when they’re unexpected task requests and not part of the original brief. Memtime tracks every minute in every single program, file, document, app, browser tab, etc. that you use.

Meetings mongers

Listen, we’re familiar with those who LOVE meetings and often exceed the allocated time (perhaps to validate their day). Remember, calendar integrations in your time tracking tool can provide a side-by-side comparison of ‘expected vs. actual time’ in meetings.

The “Just two minutes” merchants

Picture it. That one colleague approaches your desk so you can show him something (again). Instead of losing precious minutes or awkwardly timing the chat, Memtime silently tracks the time spent, so you can show your boss/client exactly where your time went.

The boss

Perhaps you’ve a boss who’s always suggesting overtime. OK, perhaps you’re getting paid well for it, but what about the potential impacts? Memtime will account for all your overtime so you can assess at what point it’s unhealthy for you.

Five steps to handle vampire tasks

We've had vampire people, and vampire things, now we must address the final point of the time sucking triumvirate – vampire tasks. They can be defined as low-value, time-consuming activities that drain productivity. Here’s how to handle them in five steps:

1. Get a time tracking tool

Of course, I’m going to say that. However, in my defense, how else are you going to know where most of your time is going without having to do a butt load of work yourself? Also, in the absence of a time tracking tool, you won’t be able to progress to the next step efficiently.

2. Decipher patterns

Based on your time tracking findings you can then take a note of which tasks frequently take longer than expected and/or leave you feeling drained. Look for tasks that involve the same steps or data entry, which you can then automate.

3. Delegate/outsource

Life’s too short to be doing unproductive tasks that not only drain your time but also your soul. See if some of your team members could handle these tasks more efficiently or, failing that, you could consider outsourcing them. Or avoiding taking them on in the future.

4. Prioritize

By focusing on high-impact important tasks first, you ensure – that even if vampire tasks take longer than expected – your crucial work is already done.

5. Review

None of the above four steps matter if you don't regularly sit down to review and refine your process for handling vampire tasks. How else will you know how well your methods are working? Make any required adjustments and, if possible, eliminate tasks that no longer add value.

Wrapping up

The biggest time vampire of them all is inertia. Failing to act on the situations that suck your time can dwell on your mind and, if left unchecked, could undermine your confidence. While it sounds obvious, it’s worth noting that doing nothing about things that drain you won’t help your overall progress – both personally and professionally.

By regularly reviewing the people/things who sap your time/energy, alongside the strategies that steal your day at work, you can then adjust your approach to these situations and mitigate their impact.

You can do this best by embracing a time tracking tool like (shameless self-promo pending) Memtime! It’s free to download, has a load of integrations, and quietly beavers away in the background while you get on with your day.

Also, start with what you can control – like your own time boundaries – because you never know when you’ll unwittingly invite another time sucking vampire into your life.