11 things to stop doing right now if you want to be better at time management

If you are doing everything time management gurus say, but still struggle to complete all tasks for the day, you are right in thinking that you must be doing something wrong.

To be a success at anything, you need to know two things — what you must do and what you must not. And it is the latter that is the focus of my blog post today. That is, what are the things you need to stop doing right now if you want to be better at time management.

Let’s dive straight in.

#1. Multitasking

If I had to choose one thing you must stop doing right now to master time management, it would be this.

Multitasking ensures you end up doing mundane and unimportant things when you should be tackling more important tasks. Tasks that take you closer to your goal. When you multitask, you are not focusing completely and hence not doing justice to any of the things you are doing.

And why just work, multitasking affects other areas of your life like relationships, stress levels and social adaptability.

I myself used to be a huge fan of multitasking. It got so many of the thankless household chores done. But after burning multiple meals and sending wrong files to clients a couple of times, I realized that in the name of getting multiple things completed, I was not giving my 100% to tasks that really mattered.

Which was taking a toll on both my personal and professional lives.

Now my calendar has time slots even for lunch, cooking and relaxing during the day, when I do bulk of my freelance work. Mornings and evenings are devoted to kids, family and self care, hence there is no question of any ill fated overlap!

What to do next

Focus on just one thing at a time, be it personal or professional. You will get things done quicker and at much higher quality.

#2. Saying yes to everything that comes your way

If you are in the habit of saying yes to

• Every project that comes your way
• Every request from client, boss or colleague to help them out
• All party invitations from family and friends
• And more,

You are in big trouble and you don’t need me to tell you this.

However, you probably need to hear it from someone else — like me — that you must stop accepting all projects, requests and party invitations as of now. Today.

Why?

Because there are only 24 hours in a day and seven days in the week. How many things can you accommodate? If you accept everything because you can’t bear to offend anyone, think again.

Don’t your family members and friends get mad at you when you do not turn up for the party in time? Doesn’t your boss come at you with guns blazing when you do not turn in a deliverable in time? Trust me, you will be better off explaining to them why you cannot accept their request — whatever it might be — rather than accepting and having to fail at it later.

Letting someone else down hurts even more.

What to do instead

Set your own limits. Like, how many hours in a day are you willing to work? How many of those must be paid work? Who are the people you are willing to go the extra mile for? What are your absolute non-negotiables?

Remember, it is better to set your own limits rather than saying yes to everything and letting yourself as well as others down.

#3. Assuming that everything on your list must be done by you

This is the one I love unpacking!

Because most of us get it wrong.

We all feel tasks on our list must be done by us. We couldn’t be more wrong. You might be responsible to get the task on your list completed but it is not necessary that you do it yourself.

There is a reason why David Allen named his best seller Getting Things Done, not Doing Things.

Many tasks can be delegated to others and that is the way forward if you want to better utilize your time.

If you usually struggle to delegate, read this excellent article on delegation from Harvard Business School.

What to do next

Take a look at your To do list and see what can be delegated.

Find the right person and delegate. All you need to do now is ensure it gets done. You might have to devote some time to doing this but not as much as you would have needed if you were doing it yourself.

You save lots of time and mindspace by delegating.

#4. Doing urgent tasks rather than important ones

If you are spending your whole day firefighting and completing urgent tasks that should have been completed yesterday, stop right now.

And understand the difference between important and urgent tasks before taking up the next one. Tasks that take you closer to your goals are important. Tasks that must be completed immediately, irrespective of whether they take you nearer your goals or not, are the urgent ones.

More often than not you will find your urgent tasks are important to someone else. Such as the presentation you completed for your boss, with him/her breathing down your neck. Understand that it was important for their meeting with the board of directors.

What to do next

Identify important tasks and sprinkle them in your calendar such that some of it gets done everyday. Once you’re on top of all the urgent tasks, start scheduling yourself to deal with the important tasks first.

If you deal with the important task in time, you will never have an urgent task barging upon you.

And if you would like to read more, here is an article I wrote about urgent and important tasks.

#5. Taking your health as a given

Taking your health for granted is the biggest and most expensive mistake to make.

The day your health decides to take care of itself (by refusing to work, how else!) because you haven’t done so in a long time, you will be in great trouble.

I do not want you to make the same mistakes I made with my own health. I started consulting a doctor for my joint pain only after my mobility was severely restricted. I couldn’t get up from my chair without wincing in pain and that too only after taking support of the hand rest.

What to do next

Make time for regular exercise at least five days a week. It could be anything from walking and yoga to meditating or swimming. Whatever makes you feel good.

Schedule a full body checkup so that you have a baseline to compare your future health problems against. Make this an annual ritual.

#6. Not collecting data around your work

Most of us have no idea about how many hours a day we work or how many days in a year we holiday.

When you don’t have data around your work or personal life you do not know what you need to improve and by how much.

Over the past 10 years, I have tracked and collected data around:

• How many hours do I work in a day?
• How many hours are spent doing client work?
• How many personal projects completed successfully?
• How many pitches do I send in a week?
• My monthly, quarterly and annual income.

Since I have numbers to play around with I can increase or decrease the number of hours I work on any given day. This also gives me the flexibility to plan ahead for taking vacations, doubling down on work, increasing rates or taking new projects.

What to do next

Select 2–3 most important metrics like number of hours you work on weekdays, number of hours you work on weekends, number of days you took off from work, etc. and track them for at least a month. Analyze the data obtained to identify areas of work-life balance improvement.

#7. Using a calendar only for scheduling meetings

This is a sin.

If you are using the calendar only to schedule meetings and set reminders for them, you are wasting the most crucial tool in your arsenal for fighting time overwhelm.

Most of the time you feel stressed due to a task because you fear you will forget it needs to be done. Or not get sufficient time when you actually sit down to do it.

When you start using a calendar, you will never forget a task and also be able to devote the requisite amount of time.

Use your calendar to:

• Allocate time to tasks scheduled for the day
• Park tasks that come up
• Set up recurring tasks

What to do next

Open your calendar and start scheduling some of the important tasks so that they get done.

#8. Let others distract you from your work

If the others are able to interrupt you while you are doing focused work or in flow, forget about getting serious work done.

Don’t let others distract you while you are in the middle of important work, irrespective of who they are and what they want. If you can close the door to your work area, close it, with a do not disturb sign for good measure. If you work in an open space, let everyone know that you are not to be disturbed and if possible put a Do not disturb sign within your workspace where it is visible from far. The wall in front of you or desktop monitor are good choices.

What to do next

Make a list of people or situations that distract you from work most. It could be something as simple as a nosy colleague, continuous smartphone notifications or a demanding bass who needs everything done now.

Come up with ways to let them know you are not to be distracted and implement it.

#9. Not getting enough sleep

Do you know that you can die due to lack of sleep?

Research has proved this. Listen to this podcast or read this Harvard article on sleep if you don’t believe me. That sounds desperate but you do know that lack of sleep leads to decreased productivity, shorter attention span and eventually burn out.

Try to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night and a no screen time window of an hour before going to bed.

What to do next

Keep a record of your sleeping patterns for a week and see how much more sleep you need. Make time for it, there is no other way out. You might need to on-board your family members for this but it will be worth the effort.

You will have more energy during the day and be able to focus better for longer duration.

#10. Giving more importance to professional tasks than personal ones. Or vice versa.

Everything has its own place in the universe and that applies to both personal and professional tasks. If you feel that all professional tasks must come before personal ones always a versa, you are doing yourself as well as others a great disservice.

There are some personal commitments like your child’s first performance or graduation day, that must take precedence over everything else.

Similarly, if you have a team to lead, their well-being should always come first. Before deadlines and deliverables.

What to do instead

When you prioritize tasks on your to-do list the next time, give them the importance they deserve on their own merit not because they are either professional or personal.

#11. Branding yourself a failure at the end of the day

This is a favorite with most of us — calling ourselves a failure. All because we missed a couple of deadlines. You are more than the sum total of tasks that need to be completed.

The failure to finish tasks can be due to multiple reasons such as:

• More important tasks came up, which was also urgent
• You had taken on more than you could chew
• Your body refused to work, out of sheer fatigue or some sudden illness

So be kind to yourself.

That’s right. Just because you couldn’t complete a couple of tasks doesn’t mean you are a failure at time management. In fact, start incorporating the other 10 things in your lifestyle and see if you can’t become a time management pro.

Yep, that’s a challenge for both you and me.

Final thoughts

Time management is not rocket science. So you are as likely to succeed at it as somebody else.

Start implementing these tips and you will start getting in control of your time immediately. I promise.

And if you get stuck, write to me or leave a comment and I promise to help you overcome the problems.