5 Common Mistakes in Time Management

Mistakes in Time Management

How many mistakes do you make so that you don’t manage your time in the proper way? It is not the fact of planning that decides about your time management efficacy but the method of its management. Of course, there are many methods which can help us in time management. But it’s not enough to focus only on this aspect. It is important to remember about the mistakes in time management.

Mistakes in time management are the main cause of low productivity and not achieving our goals. How often do you get frustrated that, again, you didn’t manage to meet your expectations? Take a look at the list below to find out whether your time management is efficient.

Mistake no.1 VAGUE GOALS

Setting a goal without any clear directions is equal not setting a goal at all. It’s a goal which is usually the first idea that comes to our mind but it doesn’t mean it should be reached by all means. Sometimes it’s better to let it be. Every goal should be considered cautiously in order to be able to pursue it. A weak goal means a weak method of its attainment. For example:

• From next month I will start waking up early and being more productive.
• Increasing sales conversions from 5% to 10% by improving the quality of arranged appointments.
• Gaining the skills of dealing with employees departures.

👉 Check our list of the best goal tracking apps.

Mistake no.2 GOAL DESIGNATED WITHOUT PREPARATION

Nobody forbids you from setting ambitious goals. However, their practicality depends on our level of preparedness. Usually, there appear smaller or bigger difficulties in their fulfillment. For example:

• I’m trying to do too many tasks at once, I have to limit their number to only those most important.
• I have to organize my workspace so that I will clean my desk.

Mistake no.3 I CONFUSE THE ROAD TO THE GOAL WITH THE GOAL

The success in goal achievement is the ability to be elastic while you’re on the road to it. Your biggest enemy is acting ad hoc. Alos, creating goals “from today”, “forever”. The road to achieving your goal should be a well-managed process which you will be able to improve. For example:

• I want to stop multitasking. Thus, I’m single-tasking from tomorrow.

Mistake no4 I DON’T RESPECT MY TIME

A very common mistake is underestimating time which you spend on performed tasks. One of the surest factors in your plan should be the fact that the day has only 24 hours.

It is worth to use tools such as TimeCamp so that you can easily monitor time spend on performed tasks but also to efficiently prognoze its amount in the future. This is what Glenn Alleman emphasizes in the interview on How to Stay on Top of Your Work.

There are tasks the time of which you can define precisely, so, for example, routine tasks, tested procedures focused only on doing one thing, dependable only on me.  And in order to perform there, you have all the tools, data and proper conditions. Tasks time of which you cannot project and they’re about inventing something from the scratch. Tasks which you perform for the first time and during their performance you have to decide whether they are going in the right direction as well as those which depend on other people or their work quality.

Mistake no.5 I DON’T PLAN THE WORKDAY

If you plan over longer periods, for example, on a weekly basis, you have to consider quite a big flexibility and possible adjustments resulting from many things which won’t let you implement your plan. The simplest example is… weather’s unpredictability.

The attitude toward daily planning is widely used by the best managers in the world. Their weekly, monthly, or annual plans include elasticity in the field of daily plans so that they can optimally adjust the quality and character of their work to the outside factors, especially those on which they don’t have much influence.

To Sum Up

Avoiding these 5 common mistakes in time management will bring you closer to achieving your goals. It is also important to look into your daily schedule, see what other mistakes you may be prone to do. Analyze your work day as well as your objectives and ambitions and make sure they can meet the reality.