How well do you manage your time?
If you're like many people, your answer
may not be completely positive!
Perhaps you feel overloaded, and you
often have to work late to hit your deadlines.
Or maybe your days seem to go from one
crisis to another, and this is stressful and demoralizing.
Many of us know that we could be
managing our time more effectively; but it can be difficult to identify the
mistakes that we're making, and to know how we could improve.
When we do manage our time well,
however, we're exceptionally productive at work, and our stress levels drop. We can devote time to the interesting, high-reward projects
that can make a real difference to a career. In short, we're happier!
In this article, we're looking at ten of
the most common time management mistakes, as
well as identifying strategies and tips that you can use to overcome them.
These ten mistakes are:
Mistake #1.
Failing to Keep a To-Do List
Do you ever have that nagging feeling
that you've forgotten to do an important piece of work? If so, you probably
don't use a To-Do List to keep on top of things. (Or, if you do, you might not
be using it effectively!)
The trick with using To-Do Lists effectively lies in prioritizing the tasks on your list. Many people use an
A – F coding system (A for high priority items, F for very low priorities).
Alternatively, you can simplify this by using A through D, or by using numbers.
If you have large projects on your list,
then, unless you're careful, the entries for these can be vague and
ineffective. For instance, you may have written down "Start on budget
proposal." But what does this entail? The lack of specifics here might
cause you to procrastinate, or miss key steps. So make sure that you break
large tasks or projects down into specific, actionable steps – then you won't
overlook something important.
You can also use Action Programs to manage your work when you have many large projects happening at once.
(Action Programs are "industrial strength" versions of To-Do Lists.)
Mistake #2.
Not Setting Personal Goals
Do you know where you'd like to be in
six months? What about this time next year, or even 10 years from now? If not,
it's time to set some personal goals!
Personal goal setting is essential to managing your time well, because goals give you a
destination and vision to work toward. When you know where you want to go, you
can manage your priorities, time, and resources to get there. Goals also help
you decide what's worth spending your time on, and what's just a distraction.
To learn how to set SMART, effective
goals, read up on Locke's Goal Setting Theory . Here, you'll learn how to set clearly defined goals that will keep you
motivated.
You might also enjoy our Book Insight
into Long Fuse, Big Bang by Eric
Haseltine. This book teaches you how to focus on your long-term goals without
overlooking your short term priorities.
Mistake #3.
Not Prioritizing
Your assistant has just walked in with a
crisis that she needs you to deal with right now, but you're in the middle of
brainstorming ideas for a new client. You're sure that you've almost come up with a brilliant idea for their marketing campaign, but now you
risk losing the thread of your thinking because of this "emergency."
Sometimes, it's hard to know how to prioritize , especially when you're facing a flood of seemingly-urgent tasks. However,
it's essential to learn how to prioritize tasks effectively if you want to
manage your time better.
One tool that will help you prioritize
effectively is the Urgent/Important Matrix . This helps you understand the difference between urgent activities, and
important activities. You'll also learn how to overcome the tendency to focus
on the urgent.
The Action Priority Matrix is another useful tool, which will help you determine if a task is
high-yield and high-priority, or low-value, "fill in" work. You'll
manage your time much better during the day if you know the difference.
You might also want to go through our
Bite-Sized Training session How to Prioritize,
to further enhance your skills.
Mistake #4.
Failing to Manage Distractions
Do you know that some of us can lose as
much as two hours a day to distractions? Think how much you could get done if
you had that time back!
Whether they come from emails, IM chats,
colleagues in a crisis, or phone calls from clients, distractions prevent us
from achieving flow , which is the satisfying and seemingly effortless work that we do when
we're 100 percent engaged in a task.
If you want to gain control of your day
and do your best work, it's vital to know how to minimize distractions and manage interruptions effectively. For instance, turn off your IM chat when you need to focus,
and let people know if they're distracting you too often. You should also learn
how to improve your concentration , even when you're faced with distractions.
Additionally, our article on managing email effectively teaches you how to gain control of your email, so that it doesn't eat up
your entire day.
Mistake #5.
Procrastination
Procrastination occurs when you put off
tasks that you should be focusing on right now. When you procrastinate, you
feel guilty that you haven't started; you come to dread doing the task; and,
eventually, everything catches up with you when you fail to complete the work
on time.
Start by taking our procrastination quiz to find out if procrastination is a problem in your life. If it is, then
learn the strategies you need to beat procrastination .
For instance, one useful strategy is to tell yourself that you're only going to start on a project for ten
minutes. Often, procrastinators feel that they have to complete a task from
start to finish, and this high expectation makes them feel overwhelmed and
anxious. Instead, focus on devoting a small amount of time to starting. That's
all!
You might also find it helpful to use Action Plans . These help you break large projects down into manageable steps, so that
it's easy to see everything that you need to get done, and so that you can
complete small chunks at a time. Doing this can stop you from feeling
overwhelmed at the start of a new project.
Tip:
Our Bite-Sized Training session, Overcoming Procrastination,
gives you more in-depth strategies and tips for dealing with procrastination.
Mistake #6.
Taking on too Much
Are you a person who has a hard time
saying "no" to people? If so, you probably have far too many projects
and commitments on your plate. This can lead to poor performance, stress, and
low morale.
Or, you might be a micromanager : someone who insists on controlling or doing all of the work themselves,
because they can't trust anyone else to do it correctly. (This
can be a problem for everyone – not just managers!)
Either way, taking on too much is a poor
use of your time, and it can get you a reputation for producing rushed, sloppy
work.
To stop this, learn the subtle art of saying "yes" to the
person, but "no" to the task . This skill
helps you assert yourself, while still maintaining good feelings within the
group. If the other person starts leaning on you to say "yes" to
their request, learn how to think on your feet , and stay cool under pressure.
Mistake #7.
Thriving on "Busy"
Some people get a rush from being busy.
The narrowly-met deadlines, the endless emails, the piles of files needing
attention on the desk, the frantic race to the meeting... What an adrenaline
buzz!
The problem is that an "addiction
to busyness" rarely means that you're effective, and it can lead to
stress.
Instead, try to slow down, and learn to
manage your time better.
Tip:
"Do More Great Work", by
Michael Bungay Stanier, is full of ideas and tips to reduce the
"busywork" that you're doing, so that you're more excited and engaged
in the work that matters. Click here for our Book
Insight on it.
Mistake #8.
Multitasking
To get on top of her workload, Linda
regularly writes emails while she chats on the phone to her clients. However,
while Linda thinks that this is a good use of her time, the truth is that it
can take 20-40 percent more time to finish a list of jobs when you multitask,
compared with completing the same list of tasks in sequence. The result is also
that she does both tasks poorly – her emails are full of errors, and her
clients are frustrated by her lack of concentration.
So, the best thing is to forget about multitasking , and, instead, focus on one task at a time. That way, you'll produce
higher quality work.
Our Expert Interview with Dave Crenshaw,
looking at The Myth of Multitasking,
will give you an enlightening look at multitasking, and will help you explore
how you can manage simultaneous projects more effectively.
Mistake #9.
Not Taking Breaks
It's nice to think that you can work for
8-10 hours straight, especially when you're working to a deadline. But it's
impossible for anyone to focus and produce really high-quality work without
giving their brains some time to rest and recharge.
So, don't dismiss breaks as
"wasting time." They provide valuable down-time, which will enable
you to think creatively and work effectively.
If it's hard for you to stop working,
then schedule breaks for yourself, or set an alarm as a reminder. Go for a
quick walk, grab a cup of coffee, or just sit and meditate at your desk. Try to take a five minute break every hour or two. And make
sure that you give yourself ample time for lunch – you won't produce top
quality work if you're hungry!
Mistake #10.
Ineffectively Scheduling Tasks
Are you a morning person? Or do you find
your energy picking up once the sun begins to set in the evening? All of us
have different rhythms, that is, different times of day when we feel most
productive and energetic.
You can make best use of your time by
scheduling high-value work during your peak time, and low-energy work (like
returning phone calls and checking email), during your "down" time.
Our article, Is This a Morning Task? will teach you how to do this.
Key Points
One of the most effective ways of
improving your productivity is to recognize and rectify time management
mistakes.
When you take the time to overcome these
mistakes, it will make a huge difference in your productivity – and you'll also
be happier, and experience less stress!
ALEJANDRO FERNÁNDEZ
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