1335: 9 Reasons Why Bad Time Management is Holding You Back by Kalen Bruce of Money Mini Blog on Productivity

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily, Episode 1335.

[00:00:03] 9 Reasons Why Bad Time Management Is Holding You Back

[00:00:07] By Kaitlin Bruce of Moneyminiblog.com

[00:00:10] And I'm Dan, your personal narrator, and I'm gonna keep this intro nice and short for you today.

[00:00:15] So let's get right to our post and optimize your life.

[00:00:22] 9 Reasons Why Bad Time Management Is Holding You Back

[00:00:26] By Kaitlin Bruce of Moneyminiblog.com

[00:00:29] Do you ever feel like you could be more productive or that you would get more done

[00:00:34] if only you had more time? Think about it for a second. How much of your average week do you

[00:00:39] spend just stressing about not having enough time to complete a task? Whether you're an

[00:00:43] entrepreneur or employee, you probably struggle with good time management. However, it's nothing

[00:00:49] to be ashamed of as bad time management habits can be fixed. And although it's impossible to

[00:00:54] create more time in a day, you can work on your skills and make sure you get the most out of the

[00:00:59] time you already have. The first step in fixing your bad time management habits is to identify

[00:01:04] exactly where you're going wrong. The following are a few time management habits that will hold

[00:01:08] you back at work and in your life and must be eliminated.

[00:01:13] 1. Being Stuck In Your Inbox

[00:01:16] Email is an essential element in today's business world, and with smartphones, our emails are only

[00:01:21] a swipe away. But being so accessible also means we constantly feel the need to be available to

[00:01:27] work. In the book Overconnected, The Promise and Threat of the Internet, Bill Davido explains that

[00:01:33] many of us find it impossible to ignore the ping of an email. The notification causes a spike in

[00:01:38] the feel-good hormone dopamine, but it also spikes the stress hormone cortisol. To avoid this roller

[00:01:44] coaster of hormones, turn off all your email notifications so that you don't get an alert

[00:01:48] every time a new message comes in. Another great idea is to allocate yourself certain times in the

[00:01:53] day just for checking and replying to emails and sticking to them.

[00:01:58] 2. Indecisiveness

[00:02:00] Delete? Archive? Immediately reply? What did you do with the last email you received? If you spent

[00:02:07] time wondering what to do, you will have derailed your work session. This is because indecision

[00:02:12] consumes a lot of willpower and mental energy, causing any productive work session to come to a

[00:02:16] screeching halt. To get around wasting time like this, embrace the 2-minute rule. Take care of any

[00:02:23] ad hoc tasks when you are not working, but if they take more than 2 minutes to resolve, file them in

[00:02:28] the decision list. This way, you'll give yourself the time to think about it and answer later.

[00:02:33] 3. Long to-do lists

[00:02:36] One of the most popular ways of managing your time is creating a to-do list. But while to-do

[00:02:41] lists can help you organize your day, they can also do more harm than good if you're not careful.

[00:02:46] After all, it's easy to fill a list with a dozen or more tasks, but you'll soon find that you can't

[00:02:51] complete them all. According to one Franklin Covey video, if you have two or three priorities,

[00:02:57] you will complete two or three tasks. If you have four to ten, you will complete one or two.

[00:03:03] If you have more than ten, you will complete none. Taking on too many obligations will only

[00:03:08] lead to poor performance. You can get around this by keeping your to-do lists short with

[00:03:12] one to five tasks. Knocking these tasks out will ensure that you don't become overwhelmed

[00:03:17] and can keep up your momentum. 4. Being busy for the sake of it

[00:03:22] In the words of business psychologist and author of Busy, Tony Crabb,

[00:03:28] people are running their lives at breakneck speed and don't have the energy or perspective

[00:03:32] to see if there's a different way of doing things. We're so busy being busy that we

[00:03:38] can't differentiate between high-impact tasks and being busy for the sake of it,

[00:03:43] and thus expend effort unnecessarily. To manage our time better, we must first

[00:03:47] understand the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is getting a lot of

[00:03:52] tasks done, while effectiveness is getting the right tasks done. Which tasks will move the

[00:03:58] business or your career forward? Not sure how you spend your efforts? Don't rely on your memory or

[00:04:04] judgment. Employ a time-tracking solution. Whether it's an app or just a pen and paper,

[00:04:09] start tracking where your time goes. This information will show you just how much

[00:04:13] time is slipping away, where you spend it, and will help you spot any troubling patterns.

[00:04:18] Knowing this makes it easier to better allocate your time.

[00:04:22] 5. Constant distractions Did you know it takes an average of

[00:04:27] 23 minutes for a person to fully regain focus after being distracted? Distractions are stressful,

[00:04:32] costly, and will increase the time needed to complete any task. The solution you choose

[00:04:37] will depend on what distracts you. If it's your social media feed, use site blockers or unplug

[00:04:43] your router if you don't have to use the internet for a while. If it's your friends and family,

[00:04:47] let them know that you do not want to be disturbed during specified working hours,

[00:04:51] or go out to work where others can't bother you, like a coffee shop. If it's your phone,

[00:04:55] try turning off all notifications when you need to work.

[00:04:59] 6. Perfectionism Do you have unrealistically high work standards?

[00:05:04] Do you spend so much time trying to make sure that you do your tasks perfectly that you end up

[00:05:09] spending all your time preparing and not actually doing anything? Chasing perfectionism ruins

[00:05:15] productivity levels, as you will fall behind schedule and cause a mountain of extra tasks

[00:05:19] to build up. Try focusing on finishing your tasks instead and not on being perfect.

[00:05:25] 7. Multitasking Have you ever been halfway through one task

[00:05:30] and suddenly switched to another, only to realize much later that you didn't finish either one?

[00:05:35] We've all been there. Multitasking seems like a good idea, but it ultimately means we start many

[00:05:40] things and finish few. When you multitask, you're essentially giving partial focus to a single task.

[00:05:47] The majority of your focus is on the act of switching tasks, so you expend energy just

[00:05:51] switching tasks and not completing them. Multitasking simply doesn't work and is a

[00:05:56] drain on mental resources, so stop doing a number of tasks at the same time and try to

[00:06:01] practice single tasking. By focusing on finishing that one task, you can get it done to a much

[00:06:07] higher standard. 8. Wallowing in clutter

[00:06:11] Do you find yourself saving files to your desktop because you fear losing them?

[00:06:15] Is your desktop packed with icons and folders with no rhyme or reason?

[00:06:19] Do you keep thousands of files with no labeling system and keep telling yourself

[00:06:23] and others that you know exactly where everything is on your desk?

[00:06:27] If your desk mirrors your electronic clutter, it will impede your ability to efficiently do

[00:06:31] any work. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average worker spends up to 6 weeks looking

[00:06:36] for documents that they already have. If you are spending too much time going through folders and

[00:06:41] files, you should rethink and rearrange your folder system and email management process.

[00:06:46] Conclusion There are many more methods available to

[00:06:49] help you get the most out of your day, including actually taking breaks, figuring out when you do

[00:06:54] your best work, and setting up a work routine that incorporates solutions from what we've

[00:06:58] discussed. Incorporating these things into your routine will help you enjoy the benefits of

[00:07:03] better time management, including getting more work done, avoiding rework, having more free

[00:07:08] time, and being less stressed. While a few bad habits can be the difference between a productive,

[00:07:15] happy life and a stressful one, acknowledging them and the impact they have on your productivity

[00:07:20] is the first step to curbing them. Isn't it time you replaced those bad time management

[00:07:25] habits with better ones? You just listened to the post titled

[00:07:32] 9 Reasons Why Bad Time Management Is Holding You Back by Kaylin Bruce of moneyminiblog.com.

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[00:08:41] Need to hire? You need Indeed. And by the way, you may have noticed there were actually only

[00:08:47] eight reasons instead of nine like the title states. But in any case, a great post from Kalen

[00:08:52] today, really helpful in terms of some tips for time management. And let me tell you a little bit

[00:08:57] about Kalen. He's the creator of Moneyminiblog. And he and his wife had $24,000 of debt and they

[00:09:03] wanted to get out from under that. So Kalen became a student of finances. The couple is now debt free

[00:09:08] and building wealth. And he shares what he's learned with you on moneyminiblog.com, where he

[00:09:13] talks about productivity, personal finance, and a whole lot more. You can find a ton of great

[00:09:18] resources on the site. So do come by moneyminiblog.com. And big thank you again to Kalen for

[00:09:23] letting us share his work. So that's going to do it for this episode. I thank you so much for being

[00:09:28] a subscriber or follower of the show and for sharing it with others when you get a chance

[00:09:32] because that really goes a long way to help keep the podcast going. So I wish you a great rest of

[00:09:37] your day and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.