8 Time Management Mistakes That Reduce Your Productivity

We often decline to participate in events once invited to them because we think we don't have time to attend them, but in fact, we can squeeze our schedule to make some time. But first, we must remember that we are not short of time.

Most people think that their time is limited, but in reality, each of us has the option to cross tasks off from our to-do list to enjoy more leisure time. However, you may feel that this option is unavailable to you because you are often subjecting yourself to undue pressure.

In short, you are not short of time, but you think so because you're making the following eight time management mistakes:

1. You Fail To Create Or Commit To A Time Budget:

Your time is just like your money, a valuable resource to manage. If you don't set a budget and stick to it, you won't have time for what matters to you, or worse than that, you may resort to debt. For example, if you work 60 hours a week, you will not have much time off, which means that you will sacrifice your time with your loved ones and those close to you. You can even put your health and well-being at risk.

The motivational speaker and writer Amanda Abella defines a time budget in a Calendar article as: “Guidelines to help you spend your time the way you want to.” This includes, of course, things you don’t enjoy doing, but the idea is that a time budget will help you manage your time wisely and thoughtfully.

First, define your priorities in life. This usually includes your relationships, health, and career, and once you've defined them, you can spend the week working on activities that help you reach your goals and make time for your family.

To stick to this budget, you can use calendar apps that help you keep your appointments.

2. You Strive To Control Your Time:

“When we say that someone has ‘more time’ than someone else, we don’t mean that their day is made up of 25 hours, rather, we mean that they have less constraints and more choices regarding the way they spend their time. That is, they have independent control of their time,” explains the political science professor Robert E. Goodin in his book Discretionary Time: A New Measure of Freedom.

Susan Weinschenk, a psychologist and behavioral scientist believes that the reason for this is that “we view the ability to choose as the equivalent of control, and to our instincts, our survival depends on having control, so our subconscious drives us to seek that control. It is this desire that keeps us searching for choices.”

3. You Believe In The Myth Of Multitasking:

When we talk about multitasking, we don't mean the simple tasks you do on a daily basis. For example, you can fold the laundry, wash the dishes while listening to a podcast, or take a walk while talking on the phone. However, what we mean here are tasks that require your full focus. For instance, you won’t be able to effectively calculate your taxes and schedule the next day's meetings at the same time. This is because your brain is designed to handle just one task at a time.

It also turns out that multitasking slows you down because you make more mistakes when you try to accomplish more than one thing at the same time, and eventually you will need more time. The solution is simply to work on each task separately, or the so-called "Single-Tasking".

4. You Fuel Conflicts Instead Of Passion:

Research shows that people who work on tasks they love and matter to them aren't as rushed or overwhelmed as their peers who lack this passion because it prevents internal conflicts.

“Employees who lack passion aim to compete with others for time and attention,” says Kira M. Newman, Editor-in-Chief of Greater Good Magazine. Though, it was different for the passionate employees as their goals included supporting each other, and Newman adds: "Not only does time pressures affect how much we enjoy activities, but also the way we think about them."

There is no right or wrong way to solve this problem in our lives, but you will find that letting go of the “have it all” mentality is certainly helpful. Instead, set times in your schedule for your priorities and activities that you enjoy and feel happy about.

If you're still worried about lack of time, Professor Jennifer Aaker and her team at Stanford GSB have found simple activities that might help. The first is to “Breathe deeply so that each breath (inhale and exhale) lasts 11 seconds.” The second is to “Change your perception of anxiety and treat it as enthusiasm, such as saying, “I am excited” when you are stressed.”

5. You Don't Walk Up The Hill While Exercising:

If you've ever run a marathon, you've mostly used the Fartlek approach. The name comes from a Swedish term meaning ‘speed play’; A type of interval training in which you switch between jogging and sprinting to improve your speed and endurance, but it’s also recommended to add running on hills to your workout.

However, what does this have to do with time management? Just as you need to practice to increase your speed and strength, you must also challenge yourself. For example, learning to focus and block distraction requires discipline, practice, and a balance between effort and breaks. Don't attempt to climb the hills on the first day. Instead, train gradually so that you don't tire yourself out before the race starts.

6. Your Ability To Commit To Future Plans:

In the time management book “Juliet's School of Possibilities” by Laura Vanderkam, the lead character tells a young consultant named Riley that she only says “yes” when she wants to. Vanderkam writes: “Most people are not fully aware of the cost of opportunity. When you’re asked to do something in the distant future, you might look at your calendar and find that you have plenty of time to do it.”

However, according to the writer, here we make a mistake because in the future, you will be as busy as you are right now. “You'll be overwhelmed with tasks then as well, but now you've added this commitment that will take your time and energy (and it wasn't there before)."

The author suggests asking yourself before agreeing to any new commitment if, given your preoccupation today, you can do it tomorrow. If your answer is yes, then you can accept the additional commitment, but if your answer is no, then this is the best answer for the future as well. You will free up a lot of your time by taking your time before answering yes.

7. You’re Too Focused On Money:

We all need money to live and enjoy our hobbies, but at the same time, research by professors Sanford DeVoe at the University of Toronto and Jeffrey Pfeffer at Stanford University found that people with high income are the ones who feel short of time the most.

As they explain in The Economist: “When you value hours economically, people worry more about wasting, saving, or investing in them profitably. When the economy grows and incomes rise, the value of time increases, and the more valuable something is, the scarcer it seems."

In addition, DeVoe and Pfeffer found that the mere idea of wealth makes you feel short of time. So, you have to work to live comfortably, while you also shouldn't let money get in your head.

8. How Busy You Are Denotes Your Status:

In her Time Management book, “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time”, Brigid Schulte says: "Psychotherapists write about clients who can't get over the idea that the busier you seem, the more successful, smarter, and competent people look at you, and the more they admire and maybe even envy you."

The solution is to stop worrying about being productive all the time. This may be a strange concept to some people, but the truth is that you don't need to invest in every minute of your time to the fullest. Instead, spend your precious time with people, working on projects that matter to you personally, avoid getting caught up in busyness, and enjoy what you do. And always remember that life is too short to work all the time. Sometimes you need to stop for a moment and have some fun.