Denial of problems with time management
I would ask myself from time to time, “If only I had more time, I could devote it to A, B, and C.” Of course, we can't have more than 24 hours in a day, so why waste energy thinking about it?Stop saying you don't have enough time to complete what you have planned. Instead, recognize that you need to get better at managing your time and start experimenting with techniques that will help you achieve your goals.
Neglecting to plan your day
Take a few minutes in the evening to lay out your clothes and prepare food for tomorrow. Reviewing your calendar will sharpen you mentally, save time in the morning, and eliminate decision fatigue. Whether you use a calendar app or hand-write out a detailed plan of what needs to be done, planning will give you structure to your day so you don't have to struggle with what's next.When the “urgent” trumps the “important”
Determining the difference between urgent and important is a challenge for many.I advise you to place all your tasks in four squares:
1. Do it first. These are the most important commitments that need to be made today and tomorrow.
2. Schedule. Those important tasks that are not urgent, you can place them in your schedule on the calendar.
3. Delegate. If some basic tasks are not very important, you can delegate them to someone else.
4. Don't do it. Which tasks are not important now? Remove them from your notes and add them to the “things I would like to do if I have the chance.”
Wrong delegation
Entrepreneurs pride themselves on being a jack of all trades, but you don't necessarily need to be involved in every aspect of your business. Be aware of what's going on around you, leave your ego at the door, and delegate tasks to the appropriate people.If you don't have staff, outsource specific work to freelancers.
Early rise
Take a look at other time management articles. There you will find one of the most common tips - to wake up early. As a person who is a practitioner, I fully understand that this is fair. Let's say you get up an hour earlier. You can use this time to review your calendar, exercise, eat a healthy breakfast, read, or clear out your email in peace.But here's the problem. Setting an alarm for 4am isn't all you need to manage your time. The key is to work at your peak performance and take time to focus on your priorities. Think of it this way. If you are a night owl, you will feel miserable when you start working at such an impossible time for you.
Plan your days so that important things happen during times when you have the most energy and are most focused. If your peak is at sunset, then this is when you should take time and focus on the most important tasks. This is a much better strategy than fighting your own body's internal clock.
Inflexibility
No matter how well you plan, you will be interrupted. This is why it is so critical that there is room for some flexibility in your planner. One day, everything was going according to plan until, just after lunch, a high-ranking client notified me of some technical problems with our software.My team and I had to stop to work on whatever we were working on - good thing I usually leave one hour open after lunch - and it always fills up. Most often because I'm checking emails, meeting with the team, or considering an important client that wasn't in the plans. But the next day, with that extra time on my calendar, I was able to resolve a problem client without moving any other items on my to-do list.
Striving for ideal
We all want to do quality work, but constantly striving for perfection is unrealistic. Often the pressure we put on ourselves to “be perfect” leads to pressure on other people to do what they do. And it's not worth it.Take the example of Steve Jobs. While his perfectionism led him to create some of the most iconic products of our time, he also extended the development time for those products, and this created tension with his employees.
Re- or defects
We tend to make mistakes in our calculations about how long a task will take. We think it's only an hour, but it turns out it's about two. Sometimes it happens the other way around, and it still throws off our whole plan.It's not always easy to determine how long it will take to complete a particular task, and it usually takes longer than it first appears. The best thing to do is keep a time log for at least a week to see how you spend your day. You can do this manually in a notepad or using applications.
Non-Stop Carding
Many carders take pride in the insane number of hours they put into their carding. Musk, for example, is known for his 80-hour weekly schedule. And the truth is that everyone needs a break to recharge.Your break can be no more than a 10-minute walk, but try to completely switch off during your non-working hours. Seriously, force yourself to take a break and unplug.
