6 Common Time Management Mistakes

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 6 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan. 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 almostcome 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan, 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 Action Priority Matrix Add to My Personal Learning Plan, 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan, 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan and manage interruptions Add to My Personal Learning Plan 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan, even when you're faced with distractions. Additionally, our article on managing email effectively Add to My Personal Learning Plan 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan to find out if procrastination is a problem in your life. If it is, then learn the strategies you need to beat procrastination Add to My Personal Learning Plan. 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 Add to My Personal Learning Plan. 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.

 Mistake #6.
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.

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