Time Management: What’s the Problem Anyway? (Tip #1)

More often these days you hear people saying, “I don’t have enough time for that” or “there isn’t enough time in the day”.

The unintended consequences of technology, complex management structures, global competition, long and unproductive meetings are just some of the major forces in the workplace that are contributing to peoples’ struggle to manage their time effectively.

Remember how advances in technology were supposed to free us, give us that paperless office and more freedom and transportability? Fast forward just 20 years and we are living with 24/7 contact with our organizations, paper piles that we don’t know what to do with (electronic files seem to be better off due to the introduction of IT departments), and overburdened people at several levels of the organization.

Complicating matters further is the rate of change. According to change management expert and Harvard professor, John Kotter, the rate of change is happening so quickly, it isn’t even linear. It is exponential and organizations have to keep up.

All of this combined gives me a headache. You too? What if I told you there were specific tools you could use, in combination with good old fashioned self-discipline– tools that would ultimately translate into a better quality of life for you and better results for you and your organization?

Sign me up – right? … Except for the self-discipline part, maybe. But truth be told, there is no pill, there is no magic – good time management does require self-discipline. No surprise, the tip for this week is to “get real”.

You need to truthfully assess to what extent are your habits costing you or causing you to spin around and be less productive.

You then need to ask yourself: am I willing to apply a bit of self-discipline to improve results and improve the quality of how I spend my time? Are you willing to be discerning and ensure you work on the most important things first?

If you believe some of your habits are ineffective and you believe you can summon some good ole’ fashioned self-discipline……then stay tuned because the tools will be introduced in the coming weeks.

Joanne Spalton, Senior Consultant
joannes@kwelaleadership.com