That’s right you most likely guilty of 1 or more of these time management mistakes.

However, sometimes to realize you are doing it the wrong way. It needs to be pointed out to you.

So that’s exactly what the purpose is with this post.

I send out a bite-sized email every Thursday. Briefly introducing the weeks topic and linking you to the blog post.

Lets get into it…

11 mistakes you most likely doing without even knowing.  The more you know...

Busy. Overwhelm. Stress.

Sound familiar?

So many people I talk to feel trapped to these three and fear there is no way out.

And it all stems from having too many options.

With the gazillion options, we have for literally everything in our lives, we are really being stretched out.

We fall into this equation

So many choices = So many decisions = No actions are taken…

This is also commonly known as paralysis analysis.

This is where time management comes in. However, there are some pitfalls people commonly are guilty of.

1. Procrastinating

A nice way of saying we are avoiders. You love pushing tasks aside you supposed to be working on. Then you reach the point you become guilty you aren’t working on it. Then you become so guilty you somehow start to dread it. And when you finally do, it’s like pulling teeth.

However, there is one way can keep this monster at bay. Trick yourself… by only committing to 10 minutes of time on it. Often once you get to 10 minutes you can actually find yourself wanting to work longer.

2. No breaks

I am guilty of this too. We assume the more hours we can put in. The more productive we can be. But study after study shows your focus and productivity.

Start to nosedive quality wise after a certain while.

Your brain needs breaks to recharge.

Two things I do to help my brain recharge is one using the Pomodoro technique. Which is a system where you work for 25 minutes straight with no distractions? Once the time is up you take a 5-minute break. After performing 4 consecutive sessions this way. Your next break will actually be 15 minutes.

However, if I am really in the zone, sometimes I will skip the 5-minute break to keep working. But I will never go beyond 4 sessions without a break.

During your break, you can go for a quick walk, grab something to drink, or just sit back and let your mind rest. You should avoid social media during these breaks unless you really have to.

The second thing I do is schedule a 20-25 minute nap in the afternoon. It gives me a nice reboot. Which allows me to finish the afternoon strong.

3. Multitasking

We all know that person that swears by multitasking.

Studies are being released showing even though you think writing email while you may be on the phone with clients save time. It doesn’t.

Not only does it actually take 20-40 percent more time you end up doing both tasks more poorly.

Because your emails are full of errors and your clients can tell you not giving them your full attention.

So the best thing to do going forward is single-tasking. Which is doing one task at a time. You will be surprised how much more work you get done. And the quality of your work.

4. Perfectionism


This can be very detrimental to your business. Because you start to pile up unfinished content. You feel is not perfect to be published. You want to keep adding to a piece.

Or change the font a dozen times. Or even change the images a few times.

After a while, the time starts to pile up and you have nothing to show for it.

A mentor of mine always states you need to be satisfied with creating B+ work. This way you will keep to your deadlines and continue to produce content to keep your audience happy.

5. Not tracking time

You ever told yourself you would just check your Facebook feed for 5 minutes. Next thing you know its an hour later.

Or you never really know how long it takes you to finish a project?

Having a lack of information on how you spend your time can ruin your planning and productivity.

Numbers don’t lie. You need to start tracking time spent in your daily routine. With this information, you can eliminate or simply certain tasks to free up more time. Or funnel time over to more important high-level tasks.

6. Lack of Priorities

Most people don’t realize the importance of planning tasks in order of priority. Most of the time we think if we perform the easier or less important tasks first, we will have more time for the harder ones later.

Even though the harder tasks tend to be more important or urgent for your business.

When you start prioritizing by importance and urgency. No matter how hard the task you will see a significant boost in your overall productivity.

There are many tools out there to teach how to prioritize. No matter which you choose the most important thing is to implement the plan and stick to it.

7. Too many distractions

This is a very popular mistake we are performing. With all the things we having going on with our smartphones. And all the social media. Not to mention the constant bombardment of ads at every corner.

You need to remember your goals and put them on your calendar. And respect your time.
Do what you said you supposed be doing at that scheduled time. The more you honor your allocated tasks the better you get at eliminating distractions.

Trust.


8. goal segmentation

Say you are actually are creating goals. The next common mistake is not actually breaking your main goal into smaller actionable steps.

This way you can actually have a step-by-step action list for you to follow without having to worry what you are supposed to do next.

For example. My main goal is writing this blog post. I can break it down further.

Blog post

  1. Research topic
  2. Outline topic
  3. Rough draft
  4. Edit
  5. Final version
  6. Create pin(s)
  7. Create a featured image
  8. Publish
  9. Perform SEO checklist.

Having it laid it in this particular order allows me to write a post efficiently in the least time possible.

9. Results vs busy

You know what I’m referring to.

That person always appears to be busy doing this or doing that. But the actual results are nowhere to be found.

This is a combination of previous mistakes mentioned. You need to create goals. Result oriented goals.

For example, this is the calendar entry of a ‘busy’ person.

2-4pm Work on blog.

Sure that’s a good goal. But you can find yourself just posting on social media, or cleaning up your site. These are actionable items but they don’t move the needle.

A results oriented entry would be:

2-4pm Work on the blog below that actual things

  • Write blog post
  • Create pin images
  • Publish post

The measurable result here is an actual blog post to increase your site traffic.

10. morning routine

This is a very underrated time management practice.


Before my mornings were utter chaos. I would wake up late. Curse at myself for not having laid my clothes out the night before.

Meanwhile while ‘rushing’ I couldn’t help getting in my social media fix in.

But once I created a morning routine with a list of things I would do in order everything changed. I actually opened more free time and avoided having all my life energy being drained from social media.

11. Not asking for help

Especially when you are starting out. We want to launch our online business with the lowest costs imaginable.

Because of this, we can spend hours if not dozens of hours working on something. We have no business to be working on. For example, when I launched my first website.

I spent countless hours learning to design a website. Then hours actually designing my own website. I could have easily hired someone to design it in a couple of hours.

As you become more successful. You will realize highly productive people. Delegates tasks effectively.

There you have it. It’s a wrap.

If you are interested in hearing more. Check out the home page here imreviews.co

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