Page 56 - Benjamin Franklin\'s The Way to Wealth: A 52 brilliant ideas interpretation - PDFDrive.com

but easier to deal with because (unlike institutions) you have the power to
shape their behaviour. Some thieves are deliberate—they’re trying to hijack
your time so they have less to do themselves. More often, though, thieves
don’t even realise they’re doing it—like the insecure colleague who insists
on talking through all their dilemmas in the hope that you’ll make up their
mind for them, or the person who wants to talk about some meeting you’re
only peripherally involved in but which is very important to them.

In which case don’t just nod and watch your own time slip away—explain
in a friendly but firm way that you have a rush job right now but what
they’re saying sounds very important, so they should jot down the key
points in an email/memo for you and you’ll look at it. This does two
things. The first is that true time thieves will never actually write down
their musings because it seems like work, and the second is that deliberators
will often come to their own conclusions when they set their thoughts down
on paper (or screen).

HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU…
If someone wants to talk about a document, development or agenda
insist they send it to you first. If you allow them to discuss it before
you see it, they’ll try to paint the whole thing in their own words
(needlessly, since it already exists) or colour it with their agenda.