Top 10 Time Management Mistakes to Avoid for Better Productivity

As the great Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Time management mistakes often stem from impatience, which leads us to jump into our day-to-day lives without properly preparing ourselves.

If you’re struggling with time management, you’re not alone. In this post, we’ll discuss ten of the most common time management mistakes people make and share some effective strategies for preventing or overcoming them.

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Common time management mistakes

Let’s get right into it with the most common mistake.  

1. Not having a to-do list

When you start the day without a to-do list, you invite chaos and uncertainty into your life. If you don’t take the extra time each morning (or the day before) to get your task list in order, you’re setting yourself up for failure.  

It takes the average person 23 minutes to refocus when switching tasks. Doing this a few times throughout the day means you lose over an hour simply jumping from task to task. You’re wasting even more time when you don’t know your next task until you make the switch.

Fortunately, there are to-do list tools that are easy to use and can help you organize your responsibilities. We’ll touch more on this later. 

2. Lack of clear goals

Creating a to-do list makes you more effective at using your time daily, but what about your goals? How can you prioritize your tasks if you need more direction on broader company and career goals?  

Adjusting your to-do list when an item doesn’t serve your core goals can often buy you more time. Many time management methods, like the Eisenhower Matrix, operate using this mindset.

With big-picture goals in place, you can reschedule, delegate, or delete specific tasks and better manage your time. 

3. Ineffectively scheduling tasks

A strong work ethic can only get you so far if you aren’t organized. When we ineffectively schedule tasks, we’re putting ourselves in a position to miss deadlines and complicate the day-to-day lives of our teammates. 

Ineffectively scheduling tasks often stems from: 

• Not using the right technology. Disorganized teams often struggle to establish a hierarchy in project management. Work begins in Slack, emails, or even Zoom or Google Meet meetings and never makes it to a full-fledged project management tool.
  
• An inability to budget your time. Poor time management can cause you to be overzealous in time estimates. Try to give yourself double the amount of time you need to complete a task.
  
• Difficulty identifying peak productivity patterns. Are you better in the morning or in the evening? Do you feel more creative later in the week but analytical earlier? Thinking about your workload in this way can be crucial for reaching peak productivity.
  

4. The myth of multitasking

We like to tell ourselves that multitasking is an impressive, superhuman ability that makes us better at our jobs, but the reality is far less glamorous. Some experts report a 40% increase in task completion time when multitasking — and that doesn’t even begin to touch on the reduction in overall quality. 

If you’re struggling with time management, the last thing you want to hear is that you must slow down and try single-tasking. It may be tough to hear, but the brain isn’t naturally suited for multitasking. There are no shortcuts to better time management.  

5. Procrastination

Arguably the opposite, procrastination has the same devastating effects on effective time management as multitasking. When you procrastinate, you hurt yourself and create a feeling of guilt and dread as tasks pile up for you and your teammates. 

It may seem counterintuitive (and look a little more jarring on a to-do list), but breaking up larger tasks into smaller ones removes the intimidation factor. It also gives you small, manageable tasks to reward yourself for completing to help you build momentum. 

6. Failing to manage distractions

Better time management isn’t about eliminating distractions. It’s about managing and keeping them in check. Incoming texts and phone calls, social media, and emails are avoidable with the right Do Not Disturb settings, but there’s no such thing as a distraction-free environment.

Some distractions aren’t preventable, whether it’s in-office chatter or family, significant others, and pets while working remotely. The key is to limit the time it takes to refocus by organizing your tasks well, setting boundaries at home and work, and using technology to your advantage. 

7. Overcommitting

Another time management mistake is over-committing. At work, we all want to impress and feel like we can take on any challenges. However, if you take on more than you can handle, feelings of anxiety and stress can bog you down and make it hard to accomplish even the simplest of tasks. 

For some, anxiety and stress are the least of their problems. Prolonged periods of overcommitting can lead to: 

• Cynicism
• Exhaustion
• Boredom
• Worsened job performance
• Depression 

If you find yourself overcommitting at work, it’s crucial that you learn to set proper boundaries to prevent burnout. Stick to your job description, delegate work, and use your favorite time management techniques to move those low-priority tasks to a better day.

8. Skipping breaks

There’s no way someone struggling with time management should reward themselves with a break, right? Wrong. Taking breaks prevents burnout and can improve productivity, helping you maintain focus throughout the workday. 

What should you do for your break? Try to take 15 minutes to: 

• Go for a walk
• Grab a coffee
• Check your phone
• Do some quick exercise
• Grab a snack

No matter what you do, take a quick break every hour or so. The more you practice this habit, the more you’ll learn what helps you feel recharged and ready to refocus.

9. Poor self-management

With the popularity of remote and hybrid work on the rise, the responsibility of self-management becomes increasingly essential. Even though you’re working from the comforts of home, it’s necessary to: 

• Keep regular work hours. Even if you have flexibility here, keeping regular work hours helps you establish a routine, identify your peak hours, and create a healthy work-life balance.
  
• Designate a workspace. Find a spot in your home where you feel most productive. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t have to be a desk. Maybe you work best at the kitchen table or on your couch. The important thing is that you’re honest with yourself and find what works best for you. 

• Set boundaries between work and personal life. Did you know remote employees actually work more than those in a traditional office setting? If you’re a remote worker, don’t be so quick to celebrate, as a lack of work-life balance can harm your long-term success.
  
• Stay connected. To prevent isolation and remote loneliness, keep in touch with family, friends, and co-workers. If you’re a remote team manager, consider some remote collaboration ideas to keep team chemistry at a high level.
  

10. Perfectionism

Do you have that one co-worker who consistently produces seemingly effortless work? It might seem like it, but it’s not because they’re more talented than you. They’re just not wasting time with perfection on any one task.

The legendary artist Salvador Dali once said, “Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.” That means a lot coming from the man whose most famous work is a commentary on time’s fleeting and unpredictable nature. 

Perfectionism is a downward spiral, whether it’s art, music, sports, technology, or simply your day job. Sometimes, it’s better to be satisfied with good rather than perfect, as pursuing perfection causes your backlog to pile up and leads to stress, anxiety, and burnout.

Strategies to improve time management

Now that we’ve identified the common pitfalls that lead to poor time management let’s take a more positive slant and explore some strategies for avoiding time management mistakes. 

Create a to-do list

This one is a no-brainer. If you don’t have a to-do list and you find it leading to poor work performance, there’s no excuse not to make one. 

You can start small by writing your tasks down and numbering them from highest to lowest priority. You can also try a project management tool with a built-in to-do list feature. When you turn to technology, you can keep your workspace from cluttered, easily archive past to-dos, and easily change priorities to produce higher-quality work. 

Set realistic goals

Again, another easy one. If you lack clear direction at work, it’s time to set some realistic goals to enhance your time management. One of the best ways to do that is by using SMART goals, or goals that are: 

• S – Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Attainable
• R – Realistic
• T – Time-bound 

Creating your goals is only half the battle. Make sure you emphasize the ‘M’ of your smart goals and find the right tools to measure success. At Hubstaff, we’re big fans of tools like Officevibe that allow you to set short-term and long-term career goals, KPIs, OKRs, and more. 

Prioritize tasks

Sometimes, ineffective task scheduling stems from the lack of a centralized project management tool. When work develops in an array of apps like Slack, Gmail, or Zoom, it can be hard to keep track of projects.

Switching to a project management tool like Asana, Jira, or Monday.com goes a long way. You can pair these premier project management tools with a powerful time tracker to: 

• Track the time it takes to complete tasks.
• See project spend in real time.
• Use time tracking data to forecast future projects.
• Easily pay freelancers and contractors on a per-project basis.

Eliminate distractions

As previously mentioned, distractions will never be 100% preventable — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. There are still plenty of steps you can take to minimize distractions like: 

• Creating a controlled work environment. Set up a home office with an ergonomically friendly desk and chair, soundproofing, and anything else you need to be successful. If you’re struggling, sometimes a change of scenery can help.
  
• Scheduling free time. Scheduling time for family, friends, significant others, and even pets is a great way to avoid feeling like you’re blowing them off when you need to lock in and focus on work.

• Set devices to Do Not Disturb. Put your phone and other distracting devices on Do Not Disturb so you’re not distracted by texts, social media, bank notifications, and those spam phone calls we all seem to get constantly. 

If you’re still distracted, our next tip could be just what you need. 

Schedule breaks

Eliminating distractions is a lot harder than it sounds. Sometimes, it’s best to lean into them — but only in a controlled, systematic way. 

By scheduling breaks, it’s easier to put away your phone, close out of those social media sites, and focus if you reward your focus time with some breaks. Give yourself some 15-minute breaks each day to check your texts, browse the internet, or get out and stretch your legs with a walk or some exercise. 

Breaks can seem counterintuitive when there’s a lot to do, but they have been proven to reenergize us and provide us with the relief we need to sustain focus long-term. 

Delegate tasks

Last but not least, it might be time to accept that you’re simply doing too much. Sometimes, it doesn’t take to-do lists, clear goals, or more breaks to realize that you’re just flat-out overworked. By delegating tasks, you free up your schedule and allow yourself more time to focus on core work and balancing the challenges of work and life.

It can be hard to accept that you’re overwhelmed and can’t handle your workload, but we must remove the stigma around overwork. Healthy time management isn’t about racing through tasks to fill every second of your day with work. If you’re struggling with letting go, consider reframing your mindset.

Delegating tasks isn’t a cop-out or a failure to complete your workload. Instead, you’re adding a new to-do list: teaching your team new skills.  

In doing so, you can foster collaboration, improve team dynamics, and optimize overall efficiency.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it. There are plenty of time management mistakes we’re all in danger of making daily. The important thing to remember is not to get too hung up on utilizing every second of your day to perfection. 

Taking extra time for breaks, creating to-do lists, delegating tasks, or eliminating distractions might cost you a little time upfront, but it can help you produce top-quality work and be the difference between sustained, long-term success in time management.