Five Time Management Myths Affecting Your Productivity

Any widespread phenomenon acquires its own myths, forming a system of accepted and unquestionable concepts. At the same time, the vast majority of people do not think about whether these myths are actually true, and this paradox contains existed since the beginning of humanity. Some of these misconceptions are harmless and gentle, but misconceptions about what kind of management, especially time management, lead to real mistakes in life and work.

It reduces motivation and self-belief. Time management games and activities increase motivation, engagement, and problem-solving skills, improve resource management, and enhance creativity and teamwork.

Time Management Date:

The history of time management goes back a long time 2,000 years ago in Ancient Rome when the famous thinker Seneca proposed dividing time into either fruitful or fruitless times. Seneca also began to keep a permanent written record of time. The thinker said that when living for a specific time, this time must be evaluated according to how busy you are. In the subsequent history of time management, these ideas formed the basis for concepts, such as "personal competence."

Leon Battista Alberti, an Italian writer and scholar who lived in the 15th century, says that those who know how to usefully manage time will always be successful.

To do so, two rules was suggested to be used:

1. Create a daily morning to-do list.
2. Arrange your affairs in descending order of importance.

For centuries, all these principles have existed only theoretically. Only since the 1980s has this topic begun to move from theory to practice, and for adolescents, it would be helpful to read tips on time management, which are not only necessary for executives and employers. Each of us must be able to manage our own property to enjoy life in its entirety, and of course, not everyone needs time management. If a person has nothing to do with their life, and their  main task is to "waste time," time management is unnecessary for such a person.

Components of Time management:

• Strict time management.
• Optimize time resources.
• Plan another day, week, month or other time period.
• Organize the motivation.

Time management myths affecting your productivity in the workplace:

Time management is not only essential for work. People who have mastered the art of time management are more fun, healthy, and successful in their professional and personal life.  Effective time management allows you to think about your actions and decisions in terms of their suitability to develop and improve:

1. You can't be a successful person without time management:

The main danger of this myth is that it equates organization with success, as these two things are very different as if we are replacing the essence with the tool. At first glance, this myth seems very reasonable, so how can you be successful if you cannot manage your time and activities consciously and systematically? It feels like you can't be successful. However, any success is primarily a decision you make, then execution comes second, and if you don't make decisions or make the wrong ones, time management won't help you at all.

2. There are global time management systems that are suitable for all people:

Most books on time management have the vague idea that time management systems are not personal. After all, time management is universal. At best, authors divide people into rational people and intuitive people; that is, organizers, anarchists. The time management system is integrated into a person's lifestyle and changes it. If you do not do this, it is ineffective, and a person's lifestyle depends on their values, beliefs, knowledge, life situation, personality characteristics, etc.

Trying to change your lifestyle by imitating strategies developed by someone else is like transplanting someone else's organ. Your body will only accept it under conditions. The same thing happens when you imitate someone else's way of life. Basically, it confuses you, and there are only three things that will happen because of that:

• You will revoke your identity if you follow someone else's way of managing time to the letter.
• You can give it up or modify it unrecognizably, but this is a rare option.
• The method will coincidentally match your personality traits, and you will always be able to apply it, which is very rare.

3. Time management does not work:

The number of people who tried to manage their time and abandoned it is more than those who succeeded. To be able to manage your time really effectively and without changing yourself, you must create your own time management system, as this requires a prior analysis of the characteristics of your personality, activities, lifestyle, and situation if you set up a time management system for yourself. It does not mean that all your time will be spent at work and develop yourself and your skills. Y1ou must also allocate time in this system for things such as watching movies or playing video games in addition to other activities that help you relax and recharge your energy.

4. Time management ensures personal development:

Many time management techniques include a space dedicated to goal setting, which is good, but here lies a dangerous trap. After reaching a specific stage of development, people find themselves in a crisis associated with the need to rethink themselves and their lives; it must make a paradigm shift. Instead, within the framework of time management, primitive techniques for goal setting are presented , and in the vast majority of cases, these techniques are good in themselves.

However, they allow you to choose goals based on values that are already familiar to you. They do not work at all when you are going through an existential crisis, and if you fall into this trap, instead of improving yourself and making a quantum leap, you will work on goals that are no longer relevant to you. Also, you will waste time and aggravate the crisis you are going through.

5. Time management immediately start saving your time:

Perhaps this myth has caught many people working on managing their time in its trap. As the size of your tasks and responsibilities increases, you no longer have the time and ability to adapt, so you buy a famous book about time management to get more time. However, you notice with surprise and disappointment that your life becomes challenging and does not increase your free time. It is funny that all these phenomena get worse over time, and after your impatience, you forget about time management.

Legendary time management rids you of your time problems quickly and forever, while realistic time management is a painful process to change your lifestyle and fully develop new and unfamiliar skills. Once you start applying a little complex time management in your life, your efficiency will decrease significantly instead of strengthening it, and it will remain low until new habits and skills are developed. It then takes additional time and requires motivation and energy. Man is inherently lazy and believes in stories. However, everyone must know how to avoid burnout.

Practical task:

If you have never tried to manage time in your life, please answer the following questions on a sheet of paper:

• What goals do you want to achieve through time management, and what do you want to achieve?
• What's stopping you from achieving these goals in your lifestyle right now?
• What about you or your personality that prevents you from achieving these goals?

If you have tried any of the time management systems, but have not succeeded, please answer the following questions:

• What time management systems did you use?
• How would you describe the features of this system or systems?
• What goals do you want to achieve with them?
• What prevented you from achieving those goals?
• What didn't work for you in the time management system you were using?

If you have tried and implemented any of the time management systems and are still using them, please answer the following questions:

• What are the main features of your time management system?
• Is there anything in your time management system that you find uncomfortable or completely ineffective? If yes, describe it.
• What would you like to improve in managing your time?

Note: When answering questions, please do not limit your answer to general meaningless concepts, such as “laziness” or “procrastination” because they do not justify anything, but they close the path of positive change in front of you, and these questions will help you to understand what you want truly.