7 barriers that make even time management tools ineffective
“Either run the day or the day runs you.”
Time management is a core and crtitical skill for every leader.
It’s even more important for leaders as they climb up the ladder.
Recently, I shared a post on LinkedIn the 7 most effective and tried and tested ways to manage time.
And while these tools are extremely effective, if they aren’t working for you, it is not the tool, but inherent beliefs that might be obstructing you from being more effective and productive.
In this article, I deep dive into the 7 most common reasons why time management tools fail.
The first three barriers are some ineffective actions that lead to a huge backlog, overwhelming us or consuming us and our days in the process.
1️⃣ Ineffective prioritization: We often do tasks that we enjoy, or we feel passionate about, or are in our comfort zone, first. However, they may not be the most critical task or urgent even, leading to too much time spent on less essential activities and overall inefficiency.
Leader’s approach: Set clear priorities. Use one of the 7 techniques to identify your priorities, or simply list your to do’s and arrange according to important for you and urgent due to dependencies or deadlines.
2️⃣ Ineffective planning: Time management also hinges on effective planning. If the planning process is flawed or over-optimistic, tasks may not align with realistic timelines or resources.
Leader’s approach: Reasses planning, Ensure they are detailed, flexible, and account for unexpected disruptions. Avoid cutting it too fine. Keep some room and buffer days. Without this, even well-intentioned plans may crumble.
3️⃣ Neglecting personal boundaries: We often overlook the importance of setting boundaries and take on too much on our plate, or say yes to other people’s priorities over our own. Ignoring personal boundaries can lead to disastrous outcomes, especially burnout, diminishing overall productivity and undermining our efforts to manage time effectively.
Leader’s approach: Take a step back and reassess what your job entails and what your priorities are on a given day. Recognize when you are prioritizing other people’s priorities over yours. Learn to say no or not now calmly. Avoid overcommitment and allow yourself time for rest and rejuvenation.
The next 4 reasons go deeper and highlight certain underlying beliefs that run interference on one’s time management and productivity.
4️⃣ Fear of failure or perfectionism: A fear of failure or a perfectionist mindset often leads to the need of getting it right, looking and relooking. Procrastination soon takes over and excessive time is spent without completing the task or pushing it out.
Leader’s approach: Challenge inherent limiting beliefs and patterns, create mechanics to overcome the perfectionism bug (I had it too), and find ways to combat these beliefs that help you get unstuck and move forward.
5️⃣ Inability to delegate: Some struggle with time management because they find it challenging to delegate work. This may stem from the limiting belief that only they can complete the work to a satisfactory standard (another shade of perfectionism) or the saboteur of ‘control’ overpowers their ability to let go. Sometimes an even deeper issue of trust exists. Inability to trust that someone else can and will do the job, makes it hard to delegate.
Leader’s approach: Overcome the innate barriers and address what holds you back from delegating. Start small and get clear on why you are delegating and what is it that you can delegate. The Eisenhower Matrix is really an effective tool to identify what tasks you can delegate.
6️⃣ “I don’t have time”: The classics - I don’t have time , I’m too busy - comes from our innate belief about time constraints. The overwhelm we feel with a high number of tasks at hand creates an illusion or a frame of mind that there isn’t enough time, leading us to make rushed decisions, incomplete tasks, or deliver sub-standard work.
Leader’s approach: Challenging these limiting beliefs and using simple task-batching and/or time-blocking strategy provide a realistic view of what is achievable, when, and how reducing the overwhelm and increasing dedicated focus.
7️⃣ “Doing it all”: This another age-old belief that doing it all means one is being more productive is highly misplaced and ineffective leading us to create an unrealistic and sometimes sundry list of to-dos which is so hard to check-off that we often fall behind with the to dos piling up.
Leader’s approach: Know that you dont have to do it all. Look at the Eisnhower Marrix that helps you divide your tasks into four quadrants - Do, Schedule, Delegate, Delete (or Never Do). This also elevates your leadership ability to delegate, collaborate, become more strategic and making efficient use of your time.
“Time management is not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters most.”
Effective time management requires making choices that align with personal and professional goals.
And time management tools that will be effective and sustainable for you are the ones that will be more natural to you and fits seamlessly into your way of doing things.
You may use one tool or combine a couple, the idea is to create your unique way that empowers you to focus on things that matter.
Identify the reason(s) you haven’t been effective so far, shift your mindset, and adopt techniques and practices that make you more effective on the way to becoming more impactful.
Answer these questions and understand what is showing up for you as your innate limiting barrier, and use the approaches to master time management.
What are your top barriers to time management?
What technique (or combination) will be more natural and sustainable for you?
How will you know if a technique is working for you or not?
Hi, I’m Preeti Kurani, I facilitate core-empowered and self-authored growth, that unleashes a leader’s natural way of being and doing and confidence to own who they are, pursuing at full throttle, their ambition, success, and impact.
Does it feel like you could use a potion of encouragement and inspiration? Connect with me or schedule a one-off coaching session here.
