10 Sneaky Time Management Mistakes
Do you end most days feeling mentally bloodied and bruised?
Does your week wrap and you feel like you have nothing to show for it except a few more gray hairs?
You’re probably making some sneaky time management mistakes causing this unnecessary angst.
Stop sabotaging yourself.
Read on for the 10 mistakes you’re probably making…and how to avoid them!
Time Management Mistake #1: You’re scheduling 100% of your time
You may have taken an important time management step by planning your day with a system like time blocking. So why does it still feel like nothing’s getting done…
A brand new project lands in your lap.
The hour you planned to write that client proposal took two hours.
You got sick and had to take the afternoon off.
Suddenly, your priorities are unclear and all of the work you’d originally planned to get done has gone nowhere. Making it seem like a waste of time to plan in the first place.
The reality is, there is always going to be something unexpected. In fact, it is completely predictable. So plan for it!
If you schedule 100% of your time with back-to-back projects and meetings, there’s no wiggle room. Any unexpected task or roadblock will throw off your whole week, leaving a mountain of undone work.
Leave some margin on your calendar that can be used for these unknowns. This will allow you to flex your schedule throughout the week while still getting everything accomplished on your to-do list.
Time Management Mistake #2: You’re being a perfectionist
Do you find yourself letting a task drag on for days?
You re-read. Re-work. Re-research. Convinced it can be better. Throwing more hours at it, not ready to show it to the world until it’s absolutely perfect.
You may think this is a sign of your competence and ambition…but it’s an impossible goal that is setting you back.
I love the concept of “B- work”.
Just get the task to a B- level. (Chances are, your B- work is someone else’s A+ work, so give yourself a little bit of a break.)
Done is better than perfect.
Done allows you to get something out there to learn and grow from or releases you to move on to other priorities that are more worthy of your time.
If you find yourself with some extra time left in your calendar later in the week, sure, give it another read-through. But for now, time’s up. Call it done. Move on.
Time Management Mistake #3: You’re getting easily distracted
You may set out with good intentions of making the most of your day.
Then…”Ping!” A new IM. “Ping!” Another email. “Ping!” A text message.
All of these interruptions pull your focus to react to someone else’s priorities and needs.
Jumping to a different platform may even take you down a rabbit hole of phone apps, unread emails, or the latest Apple News posts sucking you in.
These notifications don’t need your immediate attention (hard truth, but trust me on this one). Jumping from “Ping!” to “Ping!” wastes focus and time and can pull you into a 30-minute digital black hole before you regain consciousness and come back up for air.
If these distractions are all too tempting, set some boundaries when you’re diving into heads-down work. Turn off notifications. Even set your phone in a separate room. Focus.
Time Management Mistake #4: You’re not taking breaks
Just stay busy. Grit your teeth through long hours and stretches of work to try to finish that to-do list. No breaks allowed.
That habit could be the culprit of your decreased productivity and the root of your burnout at the end of a long week.
While it may seem counterintuitive, taking a break for a 20-minute walk or even coming back to something in the morning can actually expedite your progress.
What may have taken you an hour at the end of a long 10-hour day could be a quick 15-minute polish with a fresh brain the next morning.
Don’t let the guilt of taking a break keep you pushing through when your tank is empty. Trust yourself to know when you’ve got nothing else to give. Take a break. Give the future you a chance to shine.
Time Management Mistake #5: You’re overcommitting to unrealistic deadlines
We all want to be able to “do it all” and never let anyone down.
It may feel good at the moment to blindly commit to a project based on hopeful thinking you can fit it into your schedule. But there will be negative consequences. Missed deadlines. Extra stress. Disappointed colleagues.
It’s tempting to commit so you can get that quick dopamine hit of making someone else happy. But, they’ll be much better off with a committed deadline that’s a little further out, but that you’ll actually be able to achieve than disappointed when you aren’t able to deliver what you promised.
Take a look at your schedule. Be realistic about when, or if, you can fit in new requests. Then offer up a deadline you can successfully accomplish. You’ll get the project done with less stress and keep everyone, including you, happier with the results.
Or…just say “no” to the request in the first place. (Find out more about this people pleaser’s worst nightmare next...)
Time Management Mistake #6: You’re not saying ‘no’
If you’re a people pleaser like me, I know, this one’s a challenge.
But here is your permission to be in the driver’s seat of your priorities and your schedule.
It will require some ‘nos’...
If someone is asking you for things they could do themselves or someone else could do better, don’t be afraid to say ‘no’ by directing them to a different resource.
If someone is asking for a deadline you know you can’t commit to, say ‘no’ by offering a different deadline that works for you.
If someone is asking you to help with a project that is of little interest and will take you away from one that’s more important to you, empower yourself with a ‘no’.
The fact of the matter is, you’re saying no every day. Every time you choose to work on one thing, you’re saying ‘no’ to working on another. So while it may feel scary, being intentional with your ‘nos’ goes a long way to ending the day and week with a little less stress and a little more peace.
Time Management Mistake #7: You’re procrastinating the hard stuff
You don’t want to do it (you probably have a specific “it” in mind as you read this), so you schedule that task for the end of the day or the end of the week.
But…the hum of dread sits with you.
You let other tasks, any other task, drag on to avoid getting to the hard one. Eventually even needing to reschedule that hard task for some other time, prolonging this cycle.
Instead, consider doing the worst, first. Get the hard task out of the way first thing in the week or first thing in the morning.
This approach will not only create momentum but will also free up your brain to focus on everything else you have planned, minus the dread.
Time Management Mistake #8: You’re not committing to your time boxes
Did you schedule 30 minutes for a task but end up spending an hour or more?
This phenomenon could be related to many of the habits we’ve already discussed: unrealistic scheduling, distraction, perfectionism…etc. So you may be able to fix this mistake as a ripple effect of addressing the others.
But if you’re still struggling to complete a task within a committed time limit, try making these adjustments.
First, define what you want to have accomplished at the end of the time box. For example: commit to “Complete quarterly report for internal reviews” instead of just blocking out time to “Work on report”. This will give your brain a finish line to work towards.
Then, with that end goal in mind, make it a non-negotiable to complete it within the time you’ve given yourself. This will require you to double down on must-haves so you can strip out and ignore any of the fluff that would cause the task to drag on.
Once the time box is over, consider that task complete and move on to the next (i.e. accept your B- work.)
Time Management Mistake #9: You’re not creating a plan
While many of the mistakes we’ve already gone through are about a plan going slightly awry, maybe you haven’t even created a plan at all.
You’re telling yourself that something will get done, but you’re not proactively breaking down what you need to do and scheduling it out.
You try to wing it.
This approach sets you up to fail and will ensure you get to the end of your day feeling completely unaccomplished.
Instead, decide on a system for planning your day and implement it. This will help you get aligned on your priorities and be realistic about what you can, and want to, accomplish each week.
Need some inspiration on a time management system? Try my easy-to-implement Never Work Overtime Again course. The course teaches you how to manage your workday with ease so you can get back to what matters most. I walk you through step-by-step. No guessing on how you’ll make it work. No wasted time scouring the internet trying to piece a system together on your own. No complicated systems, fancy paper planners, or new tools to learn. Take the course on a Sunday afternoon. Then roll into Monday morning, confident, stress-free, and ready to tackle the week.
Time Management Mistake #10: You’re not utilizing extra minutes
A meeting ends early. You wrap up a report 10 minutes ahead of schedule. A project that was due “ASAP” suddenly gets postponed.
Whatever it may be, you find yourself with some extra minutes.
It can be tempting to fill this time with something mindless, unproductive, and not really all that relaxing. Think Instagram doom scrolling or cat videos. The standard go-tos.
However, not maximizing these miscellaneous minutes between meetings and other free time throughout the day is a missed opportunity.
You miss the chance to get a head start on your next project. Throwing just a few minutes at a bigger project can chunk away at the time needed to devote to it later on. By using these spare minutes wisely, you can collectively free up larger chunks of time in your week to fully enjoy some real downtime.
Conclusion
Improving your time management skills by avoiding mistakes like these can remove unnecessary stress and help you feel more in control of your days.
Small changes can create big results towards achieving your goals and creating the life you want.
What changes can you make this week?
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in March 2023.
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About Me
Hi, I’m Kara. I’m a former workaholic turned time-management expert. I help women stressed out in their 9-5 get more done, in less time, so they can get back in the driver’s seat and start living a life they love.
