Are you still getting nowhere despite trying to manage your time well? You might feel discouraged thinking that nothing is working for you, that all your efforts are just put in vain.
Instead of being discouraged, why not try to find the reason why you’re still finding it hard to organize your time and keep things under control. What could you be doing wrong?
Most common time management mistakes
Failing to prioritize
To effectively manage your time, creating a to-do list is not enough. You need to know the level of importance, urgency and longevity of a task, thing or event. And you can do this when you prioritize.
Not knowing what to work on first out of your list lessen its effectiveness, thus affecting your productivity. Through prioritizing, you will give your attention and focus on a task that is important and urgent and not waste time on lower priority tasks.
Read: Effective Scheduling: Prioritizing Tasks To Make The Best Use Of Your Time
Procrastination
Are you still putting off working on a task, doing errands, or working on that report or project? It might be for a few minutes, an hour, or a day, but it would have a domino effect on the rest of the tasks that you need to complete.
Time won’t wait for you. Every minute counts. Think of how productive you will be if you spend your time wisely and worthwhile.
Unable to manage distractions
This is probably one of the most challenging parts when you want to manage your time well and be productive. There are just too many distractions around us- phones, social media, and even co-workers. Once you give into just one of them, it will throw you off of your planned schedule.
You can’t remove the distractions around you unless, probably, you isolate yourself from everyone else. The best thing to do would be to lessen it. If social media bothers you, disconnect your wifi connection until you’re done, or turn on do not disturb mode to avoid phone calls, chats, etc. Doing so will help you focus on the task at hand.
Multitasking
A lot of people have done this, myself included. However, doing two or more things at once prevents you from focusing on them equally. Your goal in doing so is to do more in a certain period, but what happens is you are wasting more time than you could have if you work on your tasks one at a time, in a sequential manner.
That is why prioritizing is essential. You need to know what is the most important task you need to work on first and focus on it. Avoid doing two or more things at once. Not only it will save you time and energy, but it also allows you to produce high-quality work.