Time Management is not necessarily working “harder”, but rather, “smarter”. We need not put in twice the effort to significantly increase our daily success, we only need to be a “nose ahead” of where we already are. Everyone is productive in the present age coz we would not have survived the demands of the world if we were not. But the real challenge is how much more productive can we become?

A lot of our Time Management has to do more with what we are not doing rather than what we are doing. Sometimes our mistakes and omissions will keep us from running at full pace.

Here are the Top Five Time Management Mistakes we should all avoid to help us increase our daily success both on and off the job, in less time and with less stress.

1. Start your day without a plan of action: You will begin your day by respnding to the loudest voice, and spend it on a defensive mode, responding to other people’s and event’s demands. If there is an absence of leadership in your Time Management life, someone will fill that void, not that others are bad people, but others will take all of your time if you let them. You would have worked hard but may not have done enough of right things. Time Management is not doing wrong things quicker but doing the right things.

2. Get out of balance in your life: Our lives are made up of Seven Vital Areas: Health, Family, Financial, Intellectual, Social, Professional, and Spiritual. We will not necessarily spend time every day in each area or equal amounts of time in each area. But, if in the long run, we spend a sufficient quantity and quality of time in each area, our lives will be in balance. But if we neglect any one area, never mind two or three, we will eventually sabotage our success. Much like a table, if one leg is longer than the rest, it will make the entire table wobbly.

3. Work with a messy desk or work area: Studies have shown that the person who works with a messy desk spends, on average, one and a half hours per day looking for things or being distracted by things. That’s seven and a half hours per week. (“Out of sight-out of mind.” And the reverse of that is true too, “In sight, in mind”).

4. Don’t get enough sleep: Studies show that nearly 75% of us complain on a regular basis, all throughout our days, that we are flat-out tired. For most people, they get the quantity of sleep, but they lack the quality of sleep. Their days are filled with so much stress, they are out of control, working harder but maybe not smarter, that it’s difficult to get a full night’s sleep.

5. Don’t take a lunch break: Many do not take a lunch break, working through that time period in the hope that it will give them more time to produce results. Studies have shown it may work just the opposite. After doing what we do for several hours, we start to “dull out”. Sure, we can work through lunch and be productive, but that is not the issue. The issue is “how much more” productive we can be. A lunch break, even a short fifteen minute break, gives us a chance to get our batteries all charged up again to more effectively handle the afternoon’s challenges. We are then less likely to procrastinate a few of those difficult tasks that, in the long run, will make a positive difference in our personal productivity.

Have a nice day!!

Popularity: 1% [?]