Skip breaks to get ready earlier, and get things done quickly. Can you really organize your working hours and save time? The biggest time management mistakes and solutions – learn how to do it better.
Answering an e-mail quickly, gulping lunch down, and informing the employee about the next project – how practical if you do three things at the same time and save time. Because some have far too little. But does it really work? Is multitasking a sensible way to manage your time?
Here I write some common time management mistakes and solutions:
I Don’t Have Time
The email inbox should really be tidied up and the paperwork sorted on the desk. But there is simply no time. You never seem to have enough of it.
Mistake, We see what is missing – not what we have: namely, 24 hours a day. The problem: We waste time every day on tasks that we do not like and that helps us to stop working – for example with senseless meetings. Anyone who only spends one hour a day doing such tasks will do so for 32 days a year.
This is how it works: Instead of a to-do list, write a not-to-do list, Time wasters land on it: answering unimportant emails, checking the work of employees, wanting to be present at every meeting. Employees can do a lot without the boss – or let them know when they need him.
Experts also advise you to pretend that you have more time: People who have the attitude that they have enough time act strategically, appear more confident on the outside and achieve better results than hectic time pessimists in the same period.
Faster Is Better
Quickly write an invoice, quickly prepare the presentation for the business partner, quickly make a phone call. In the hectic pace, we often forget the most important thing or make gross mistakes.
This is how it works: The time management expert recommends a mixture of a fast and slow pace. Urgent deliveries or projects with deadlines must be dealt with quickly – what is not urgent can also be processed in peace. The Eisenhower principle helps those who have difficulty setting priorities.
One way to get used to a slower pace is to do something a little slower than usual every day. For example, reading the newspaper or eating.
A Lot Helps A Lot
Many overtime hours shrink the mountain of work, and many appointments with potential business partners or customers create new opportunities – but also make you tired. If you spend too much time, you quickly sink into chaos – Learn to recognize when it is enough and prefer to throw one or the other interesting possibility into the wind. The Pareto principle can also help.
This is how it works: Those who are unsure which appointments are superfluous should check their calendar, and mark appointments that were superfluous afterward. This makes it easier to filter out which future appointments are unnecessary.
Instead of planning the entire working day, entrepreneurs should keep buffers free for the unexpected. An unplanned conversation with an employee or a lunch that lasts two hours instead of one doesn’t put them under pressure at the same time.
Internet And Smartphone Save Time
Digitization makes everyday work easier – and overloads us with information. Anyone who is available around the clock may be flexible, but does not save time, but also stresses with work in their free time.
This is how it works: Even entrepreneurs don’t always have to be reachable. Go for a walk during the lunch break, but leave your cell phone behind on your desk. It is also worth using a private and a service cell phone – entrepreneurs should switch off their cell phones outside of working hours. Most messages can wait a night.
E-mails can be easily distracted, which takes time. So just switch off the mail program in between. Take two or three times a day in the block to answer the messages.
I Save Time By Multitasking
Calling your mother, typing e-mails at the same time, and handing tasks over to the employee. Busy people, in particular, want to save time through multitasking – but they do the opposite: You make phone calls inattentively, formulate an e-mail full of errors, and inadequately inform the employee.
Based on the findings of modern brain research, we now know that you can only do one thing right. Anyone who does everything at once takes much longer, is less focused, and makes significantly more mistakes. Monotasking is the order of the day. ”
This is how it works: Instead of working through everything at once, it is important to set priorities. It sounds a bit banal, but it still helps to keep in mind that tasks are best done in order, the most important and urgent ones first. Because you work so thoroughly and flawlessly, you are faster overall.
Small things often distract. Experts recommend writing down all interruptions and thinking about how to avoid them. For example, was it employees who distracted you? Then you could discuss it with them when you don’t want to be disturbed. Or spend a day in the home office every now and then.
Breaks Are Superfluous
The presentation should be finished by 2 p.m., so the lunch break is canceled. A mistake – Even short breaks can give you a lot of strength and energy – Nobody can power at full speed all day.
This is how it works: Every person needs a break after 90 minutes or at most two hours because after this time the performance drops. Experts recommend taking five breaks a day: two short breaks each morning and afternoon and a long lunch break.
How you spend your break is up to you – as long as it is not about work. So you’d better not do anything for a few minutes, move around, or chat with employees about weekend plans.
Every Meeting Is Important
Most meetings are superfluous, They take far too long, are poorly managed, poorly prepared, and followed up. Those who schedule meetings because they are looking for ideas or advice for decisions often only waste the time of their employees – and their own.
This is how it works: Only schedule meetings when they are really important. Before a meeting, bosses should think about what they want to achieve and write down a clear road map of what they want to talk about. Conferring for half an hour while standing, i.e. ‘standing’ instead of ‘sitting’, is sufficient in many cases and is also good for the back.
Recommended Readings: Personal Kanban: How To Regain Control Of Your To-Do List
Bottom Line
These are some of the biggest and most common “Time management mistakes and solutions”. Another biggest mistake is to believe that you can really manage your time. We cannot manage time, it runs away relentlessly. We can only make our time more meaningful and professional. And that does not mean working through five tasks at the same time and taking fewer breaks.