Three Time Management Mistakes You Don’t Understand
Regardless of how smart or experienced you are, it’s important to remember that you are always a beginner at something. It sounds obvious, but managers, entrepreneurs, and other business leaders often forget this, especially when it comes to how they use their time.
This post was originally published on Fast Company .
In fact, some of our biggest time management mistakes are simply due to ignorance. So how do you know if you’re doing something wrong simply because you don’t know anything better?
Knowledge development
One area I am new to is gardening. This year I have tried several times to grow flowers from seeds, but to no avail. (Trust me, this is harder than you think.) Anxious about giving them what I thought they needed, I poured a lot of them and they died. My next attempt was about petunias. Here in Michigan we have quite a lot of summer rains, so I decided not to talk about how much I watered petunias in the flower beds and hanging baskets outside. But, despite frequent showers, they soon began to look drained.
I extended my hand to my friend with a green finger, and she corrected me. Armed with solid new knowledge, I threw away the dead plants and started all over again, and I am happy to say that they are thriving. Of course, I understand that knowing how to properly care for plants depends only on time (in much the same way as partly on watering), but my experience has highlighted the role that my own ignorance has played in correcting the situation. And I realized that the same goes for some of the most common time management problems.
1. You approach unique situations as if they are the same.
This summer, I learned the hard way that you can’t apply the same strategies in every situation. For one project, you may just need to get a copy for certain updates by email rather than being weighed directly. But on another project, email itself might not be enough. You may need to schedule several lengthy meetings to determine your strategy and then review it once a week to make sure it is on track. And in one more project: the daily stand-up meeting is the best use of your time and your team’s time.
The point is, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for your business. Most entrepreneurs and managers understand this, but few really know how to adapt their efforts to each new problem that arises and requires their attention. It takes experience, trial and error. It also requires a willingness to admit that you screwed up because you didn’t know any better and start over. Awareness itself can make a huge difference in how well you allocate your time.
Try this: Take a quick inventory of your work environment and ask yourself:
- What projects might require less of my attention?
- Where do I see warning signs that I need more involvement?
- How can I take a more or less active part, depending on the specific case?
2. You don’t know how much your team needs from you.
I didn’t want to drown the seeds I planted this spring, or dehydrate the potted plants, but they didn’t care about my intentions. The result of my actions was important. This is not to say that intentions don’t matter, but how our behavior affects our work and the work of others tends to matter more.
There are many factors that can lead to difficult work relationships , but – to keep things simple – not knowing your own role in helping your professional relationship thrive is essential. If you’re unsure of what your team, colleagues, and business partners need to get the job done, make it a top priority. Chances are, you either spend too much time thinking that someone else can do better on their own, or you don’t pay enough attention to what is needed more.
Personally, I’ve seen helpers and new hires prefer frequent contact with their line managers, sometimes even once or twice a day, for quick questions and feedback. Senior managers who report to you usually agree to a strategy meeting once or twice a month. Whichever frequency you choose, remember that everyone appreciates when you stick to your commitments.
Try this: Make a list of the relationships that are most important to you at work: assistants, coworkers, direct reports, managers. Ask yourself what everyone needs from you to thrive, and decide if they can do more or less. If you don’t know, contact them directly and find out.
3. You give yourself too few reminders – or the wrong ones
One final note about my flowers: it was hard for me to just remember to water them even after knowing how much and when to do it. I conquered my ignorance, but I have not yet put my new knowledge into practice. So I set up a recurring all-day event on my Google calendar and make sure to add it to my daily to-do list. This approach may seem overkill to you, but it worked for me.
Once you figure out what you didn’t know before about how you manage your time, it’s time to start really managing it right. Let your calendar do some of the work for you. This could mean setting a weekly recurring reminder to read status updates on specific projects, or a daily reminder to contact the base with your new helper. It’s not clinical, it’s just practical. It’s really hard to memorize things.
But if you don’t want to be bombarded with reminders, use the relationship we mentioned a minute ago to your advantage. Ask the person to give you a quick nudge after lunch to answer the questions they asked earlier that day. This will not only solve his problems, but also help you better understand what this relationship requires of you.
Try this: Think about organizational changes you could make so you remember to offer the right support at the right time. Decide which technology tools are best for certain things and which analog ones might work best for others. Then take a few new approaches and see which ones work.
Only by first knowing which people, projects, and relationships need your attention can you make changes to help them thrive. Ignorance can be a very big obstacle to overcome, but it is not an excuse.
3 Time Management Mistakes You Didn’t Know About | Fast Company