The pressure of time

Not Enough Time in The Day?

Do you feel like you are always running out of time?

When you are in the role of manager or owner, it becomes easy to create for yourself a never-ending to-do list. In addition to your responsibilities, you have the responsibility for those around you.

And, if your organization suffers from a lack of accountability, communication, or systems, it is probably you who pays the price by working late or coming in early to take up the slack.

The harder you work, the less you think. The Harvard Business Review unpicks the correlation between time pressure and creativity in this paper, if you have time to read it.

When you lack a clear understanding of your priorities, it is very easy to confuse activity with productivity. Once this happens, we start placing unrealistic expectations on ourselves, and that is the fastest route to burn out.

The most common trap a manager can fall into is the fallacy that they have to be Superman or Superwoman, and be everywhere at all times, solving all problems. This type of managerial behavior is an excellent way to enable people not empower them.

Not feeling in control of your time will place a strain not just on your career, but on your relationships, health, and enjoyment of life. Erik Stafford discusses in his blog post how he intends to regain control by using the entrepreneurial time system. It’s worth considering.

The next time you feel out of control, take a moment and write down your top priorities. Examine how disproportionately your time is actually being spent.

For example, my priorities are God, Family, Health, and Work. Ironically, as a time management speaker, it doesn’t take me very long to see that how I spend my time is not congruent to my priorities.

Change management can only begin when we raise our self-awareness and we stop practicing self-deception. Remember, all personal progress starts by being honest with yourself.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” — Albert Einstein

by Eric Papp

Time Management Speaker