“Time is more valuable than money. We can get more money, but you cannot get more time” – Jim Rohn
“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.” – Charles Richards
If someone asks you – what do you think is the most valuable resource that a human has? Many things may come to mind. But if we think carefully then we can conclude that time is the most valuable resource that we have. And our time should not be wasted. We should be able to manage our time effectively.
However, many people are struggling when it comes to time management. This is a very unfortunate fact considering that time management is one of the most important skills that you will need in your professional life. Time management is also a skill that hiring managers and employers are looking for.
Indeed, if you know how to manage your time you can achieve all the objectives without running out of steam. Having good time management skills, you can be more productive. You stay more focused on your tasks. You know how to prioritize what is important and can be put on the back burner. With good time management skills, you are more confident because you know that you will be able to complete your work on time.
If you are struggling with managing your time, knowing the exact issues that you may face when managing time, can help you address these issues more effectively. So, let us have a look at the list of potential challenges that you may face when trying to manage your time.
Lack of Motivation
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C. S. Lewis
Very often, when people talk about time management issues, they often talk about time management. Indeed, sometimes finding the motivation to do work is difficult especially if you feel overwhelmed. Sometimes you are not overwhelmed at all, and you even have plenty of time to work, but you just do not want to do anything.
Lack of motivation is a quite common challenge when it comes to time management. Fortunately, there are ways to trick your mind into starting to work. All you need to do is to think carefully about the task you are dealing with and identify something about the task that you do not mind doing or could even actually enjoy. Focus on this part of the project and soon you will find yourself immersed in work.
Procrastination
“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow that should have been done the day before yesterday.” – Napoleon Hill.
When people procrastinate, they have a task to do, but instead of starting to work on the task, they keep putting it off until they have no time to complete it. This only makes feel them more upset and demotivated. In fact, nothing can be as discouraging as procrastination. There are many reasons why people engage in procrastination: for some people, it is just a matter of habit, and some people suffer from perfectionism. Finally, some people just have a very vague idea of what they want to achieve. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with procrastination effectively.
First, what you need to do is set a timer for a short period of time and start working, promising yourself that you can stop working at the end of this time if you do not want to continue. This is an effective way to trick your mind. What eventually happens is the following: you will find that your momentum continues even though you initially promised yourself to work only for a brief time. Breaking enormous amounts of work into smaller, digestible parts can also help.
Multitasking
“Multitasking is overrated. – I’d rather do one thing well than many things badly. Quality supersedes quantity all the time.” – Stewart Stafford.
Some people are convinced that when they do several things at a time then they can manage to do them all effectively and quickly. Unfortunately, this is a common misconception. Very often, when people try multitasking, they realize that the tasks they are doing are taking longer. The reason for that is when we multitask, we need to switch between tasks very rapidly and this inevitably overwhelms us and affects our decision-making process. Multitasking also negatively affects the quality of our work because we can never fully concentrate on one thing.
The most obvious solution to the problem of multitasking when it comes to time management is the obvious one – resist the temptation of doing several tasks at once. Instead, concentrate on one thing and do it well. IF you are not able to convince yourself that multitasking will not help you, make sure you take breaks to avoid having problems with mental health.
Not Enough Downtime
“Some people have compassion for even strangers, but not for their own bodies.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
In this day and age, people are busy. The world is indeed becoming an extremely competitive place and many people are trying extremely hard to do as much work as possible to get promotions. Sometimes they choose to do that at the expense of their health. They consciously choose to avoid break times and even days off. However, despite the fact such a strategy can indeed led to quick results, in the long term such people turn to run out of steam and see their productivity levels decreasing. This happens because, to keep working for a long time, we need rest.
So go easy on yourself – do not work yourself to exhaustion. Remember it will backfire and have a negative effect on your health. Make sure that you get enough sleep and rest at night. If your way of life is always sedentary take breaks every hour. 5 minutes should be enough – just get up, walk around the room, and do some stretching. Breaks like these will help you stay focused and most importantly will give you the rest you need to carry on with your work.
Distractions
“Procrastination is an eclipse to your true potential.” – Neeraj Agnihotri
Our life is replete with distractions of all kinds. For example, spending too much on social media or being distracted by constant notifications on our phones can get in the way of our work and have a seriously negative effect on our work. Social media and phones are so ubiquitous, and they are an essential part of our life. And that is exactly the reason many people do not notice just how much time they take away from us. People also do not realize that these things distract us a lot.
So, to not let these things, affect your productivity, and impact your time management, turn off notifications on your phone. Limit the time you spend on social media. If you are trying to work at home and you are easily distracted by noise, invest in a good headset or earphones.
If you still cannot resist the temptation of checking your phone every five minutes, consider turning it off altogether and putting it away as far as possible. Soon you will realize that you are not compulsive about your phone as you used to be.
It is understood that to be successful in our professional lives we need to be able to manage our time effectively. However, the reality is not as easy as it may seem to be. In this article, we have discussed the main reasons why people are struggling with time management. Being aware of these reasons may help you avoid having the same issues and improve your time management skills. If you know someone who is struggling with time management, do not hesitate to share this article with them. They will find a lot of useful information here!
Russ Gadzhiev obtained his PhD in history and politics from University of Melbourne. He also holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Moscow State University of International Relations, a top-ranking diplomatic school. Russ is a strong education professional with a history of working in the higher education sector of Australia and effectively communicates with learners from diverse cultural backgrounds. He is enthusiastic about teaching and mentoring, writing, curriculum development, research, information management and public speaking. He is fluent in Russian, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
