Do you have Time Management Issues? Learn the Underlying Problems.
Time management is one of the most difficult yet rewarding skills to master. Emails, meetings, walk-ups and our smartphones, eat at our day, but it doesn’t have to. This article isn’t about how to manage your to-do list. You will read about core issues and raise awareness about them.
If you are looking for quick fixes to help, you won’t find them here. Also, there are no quick fixes for time management issues, so you might as well keep reading.
Disclaimer: This article will not look towards others for fault, be comfortable being honest with yourself. Most time issues are internal to us.
I want to be dependable, so I can’t say no.
We want a reputation for being responsible and a team member that always delivers. Our desire to continue our growth and need for recognition makes us over-commit. We look for validation from others and we try not to disappoint.
So, what happens? We say yes to almost anything that we feel will help us progress. We start to skip lunch, stay a bit after work, or work when the kids are asleep. If this is you, I promise you aren’t alone. Successful people start and finish a task, and do not take on everything. Remember, if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.
Build the confidence to have an open discussion with your team. Determine your team’s goals for the week, month and year. Make a list of tasks that achieve the right outcomes and work with your team to remove all other items. It’s okay to say you can’t keep up.
Start to redefine happiness. Why do we look for happiness in our work? Why do we feel people will appreciate us more if we do more? This won’t lead to happiness at all. Read the Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor for great insight on how you can redefine happiness. He also did a TedTalk on this subject as well.
Note to senior leaders, be mindful when you have conversations with staff. If you talk about a great idea, your teams will quickly jump to impress and solve a problem. No one wants to say no to a senior leader and you might inadvertently add work. If you want to talk about an idea, solution or something innovative, just end it by saying, “I am not asking you to drop everything, but let’s prioritize correctly.”
Do I need to be in every meeting?
We convince ourselves that if we miss a meeting that we might get left behind. Some of us feel that we can add value to every situation. The reality is, when we run ourselves thin, we add minimal value.
Lack of trust can cause this problem. Start to build trust with yourself and your team first. If a team member is attending a meeting, and it’s informational, do you need to go? Can you take turns with your teammates?
Maybe your organization just has too many meetings. Pull your team together and review the last 1 to 3 months of meetings. Determine which ones actually added value and note the ones that didn’t. Now look forward and remove the low-value meetings. Meetings are the single most time-consuming activity we do. Don’t try to just run an efficient meeting, just stop having them. If you can afford it, train someone to become a scrum master.
Here are a few more time management issues.
· Poor Planning. Can’t estimate how long a task takes.
· Being Unmotivated. Read the Motivational Myth.
· Procrastination.
· You love socializing.
· Multitasking. Also tied to wanting to do too much.
· You don’t take enough breaks to clear your mind. I got you covered!
What can I do?
There will be some of you who work for organizations that have time management issues tangled with corporate culture problems. Fixing the corporate culture for your organization will require planning and a commitment from leaders. Start by getting everyone to agree there is a problem. I will write another article over the coming months on corporate culture and time management.
But let’s change what you can control, which is you.
Raise your self-awareness.
Did you hear of analysis paralysis? It’s when we over-analyze a problem. How much time do you put into thinking through a decision? Do you look up every way it can go wrong? Can you feel time slipping?
The mindful part of me wants to talk about your thoughts. We see the world around us, and we always compare it to the story that is in our minds. We have this image of the world and then overthink why things didn’t work out. The energy for these feelings turns into time. We then start to react and take action into correcting our reality. It’s hard to accept but we are comparing reality to an imaginary story in our mind. Self-awareness literally saves you time in many ways.
Quick risk analysis.
Information or a decision comes your way, what do you do?
A lot of the work you do is repetitive, or just a variation of something you have done before. Make a list of these tasks. For example, if you approve invoices, you might call it, review and approve invoices.
Here is where you need to trust yourself and the people around you. Assign risk to each one of those decisions or tasks. Start with low, medium and high. For example, if you see that the value of that invoice is low and a lot of eyes are already on it, do you need to spend a lot of time on it? Is everyone around always getting it wrong? Probably not. Assign it a low risk and spend minimal time on it. Move on.
If I see an email with my staff or leaders who have clearly put in the right effort, I don’t spend a lot of time on it. It takes time to build this quick decision framework, but when you get there, nothing will stop your growth.
Here is a good metaphor. Imagine decisions as rubble balls with the extremely important ones as glass balls. Now think of yourself juggling those balls in the air. The goal is not to drop the glass ones and let the rubble one bounce back up if they fall. Do a quick risk assessment and prioritize correctly.
How will I know I am winning?
Here are key indicators to show you are starting to manage your time well.
· You shouldn’t be behind on emails. I personally never have more than 8-10 emails in my inbox at a given time. Usually, it’s around 4.
· Back-to-back meetings are rare. This still happens to the best of us but it shouldn’t be a daily occurrence.
· You actually complete your tasks. Mind-blowing, I know.
· You have time to go for a walk, run, have a workout, read, or meditate, during the day.
· Conversations are not rushed with others. Remember, be efficient with your work and be effective with people.
· There is a sense of work-life balance.
Final Thought.
Remember, the path inwards leads upwards. Write down what you do every hour in a journal. After a few weeks, review what you are doing, and then have a good look in the mirror. Do I need to live this way?
Recommended Books
I have read these books which helped me with time management. More books I read can be found here.
Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor.
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Breaks how we think into 2 systems. Long read but worth it.
