NoeticJournaling

Vampires are real. I know from personal experience. If you don’t believe me, let me tell you about the time I met a vampire and the time management lesson I learned as a result.

In the end, you’ll probably realize that you know your fair share of vampires as well.

Related Article: The Time Management Secret

The Time I Met A Vampire

“Wait, what?! Is that a Vampire?”

I turned my head to see what my wife was looking at.

“Um, I can’t tell,” I responded. “I think it’s just a man in a cape” (as the words rolled off my tongue, I was instantly reminded of that Seinfeld episode about the man in a cape).

But then my wife grabbed my arm. “It is a vampire,” she said in a low voice.

I looked up again.

Sure enough, up ahead of us on the sidewalk was a man walking toward us fully decked out in a vampire costume.

And I’m not talking about a cheap teenybopper costume, either. His costume was so expensive it didn’t even look like a costume. His hair was dyed, his makeup was impeccable, and he walked as if he were completely comfortable—as if this was the “real” him.

As he got closer, I felt myself getting nervous. I thought about telling my wife to cross over to the other side of the street.

But I didn’t.

When he walked by us there was a split-second where my wife and I both looked at each other and had the exact same thought:

Vampires aren’t real… right?

Now, of course, I know it wasn’t a real vampire. After all, it was the middle of the day. And we all know vampires can’t come out in the sunlight.

But still, as he got close to us, my wife and I both had to fight the urge to run.

It was a strange experience

Related Article: What is Personal Productivity and Why Should You Care about It?

Time Vampires 

I don’t know where this guy was going or why he was dressed up as a vampire.

But this strange encounter got me thinking about vampires.

It turns out, there are a lot of things you can learn about productivity from vampires.

And I’m going to share one of those lessons with you here:

Vampires are real, and they suck… literally

We all know the vampires in movies and stories suck blood.

But real vampires don’t suck blood; they suck time.

These “time vampires” (yes, that term actually exists) are everywhere. You probably have a few in your office.

They’re the people constantly sucking time from you.

“Quick question…”

“Hey, you got a minute?”

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Are you busy?”

“Sorry to interrupt.”

“Wanna grab a virtual coffee?”

These are all the standard lines they use to lure you into their trap.

As soon as you look up from your desk, lean back in your chair, and make eye contact, they know they’ve found their mark. You look at them and think you’re being helpful or collegial; they look at you and see their next meal.

10 minutes go by and you’re still talking.

You haven’t done anything.

They’ve just sucked 10 minutes from you.

Another 10 minutes go by.

And now you get up the courage to wind down the conversation. You sit up in your chair. Maybe you reach for something on your desk to give the impression that you need to get back to work. Maybe you pull out your phone and look at your calendar.

They eventually get the hint and move on down the hall in search of their next victim.

But it’s already too late for you. They’ve had their meal. And you can bet they’ll be back again tomorrow.

The Time Management Lesson

The lesson here is that you should avoid time vampires as if they are, well, vampires.

If you wouldn’t follow Dracula into his lair (and you probably shouldn’t), don’t follow time vampires into their traps.

Now, it’s possible that, as you’re reading this you realize that you’re guilty of being a time vampire (Yikes!). If that’s the case, I encourage you to change your ways immediately. The next time you go to a colleague’s door, remind yourself that you’re not a time vampire. Chances are that’ll be enough for you to make the right decision and head back to your desk.

Trust me, you and your colleagues will all be better off for it.

Taking this valuable time management lesson to heart will do wonders for your productivity.