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Exercises/Divergent Ideation/TIME WASTERS
Personal Disclosure ยท Divergent Ideation

TIME WASTERS

TIME WASTERS is a personal disclosure exercise for divergent ideation: it helps participants open up more possible ideas before choosing a direction.

Under 5 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In personSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Participation Architecture This divergent ideation exercise strengthens Participation Architecture, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Too many reports to write
  2. Many of us go through life in a mindless fashion, wasting valuable time.
  3. It also helps you to figure out which time wasters you share with the others and which ones are unique to you.
  4. Purpose To identify major time wasters in the workplace and arrange them in order of their impact Time 30 45 minutes Players 6 to 30 Supplies Paper and pencil Flipchart and felt-tipped markers Flow of the Game Brief the players.
  5. Explain that several factors encourage (and sometimes force) people to waste time in the workplace.
  6. Ask the players to name a common time waster.
  7. Ask the players to spend a couple of minutes to reflect on the major time wasters in the workplace and to independently write down a list.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

Too many reports to write

Many of us go through life in a mindless fashion, wasting valuable time.

It also helps you to figure out which time wasters you share with the others and which ones are unique to you.

Purpose To identify major time wasters in the workplace and arrange them in order of their impact Time 30 45 minutes Players 6 to 30 Supplies Paper and pencil Flipchart and felt-tipped markers Flow of the Game Brief the players.

Explain that several factors encourage (and sometimes force) people to waste time in the workplace.

Ask the players to name a common time waster.

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: TIME WASTERS. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Too many reports to write; Many of us go through life in a mindless fashion, wasting valuable time.; It also helps you to figure out which time wasters you share with the others and which ones are unique to you.; Purpose To identify major time wasters in the workplace and arrange them in order of their impact Time 30 45 minutes Players 6 to 30 Supplies Paper and pencil Flipchart and felt-tipped markers Flow of the Game Brief the players.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from The Thiagi Group; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including The Thiagi Group.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with