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What Is Your Biggest Time Management Challenge?
“You can’t always get what you want.” I love this song by the Stones, but I do want to add one element to the lyrics. “You can’t always get what you want, unless you know what you want.”
Knowing what I want and knowing where I can push my edge to become better at something is the secret sauce in my life. And that’s exactly the formula I have followed to have a better relationship with time and it’s what lead me to organize the Time Experts Telesummit.
So I invite you to take one minute to describe a frustration or challenge you have with managing your time and being productive. This will allow you to know what you want to get better at and it will allow me to insure that we address this challenge during the Time Expert Telesummit and on this blog.
Just enter your thoughts into the comment form below. I’ll be doing the same.
Thank you for your “time.”
September 30th, 2008 at 7:58 am
My current practice is while I am working to know exactly what task I am doing and then allow everything else to leave my mind. When I am able to do this, I get things done quicker and better than I ever thought possible. The challenge is to slow myself down enough to actually do this on a consistent basis.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Focus is my #1. I have people in my cube distracting me all day long. I have trouble focusing on my top priorities. And I keep checking my email during the day and responding to tasks that come into my inbox. As I write this, I am seeing the possibilities for improvement…
September 30th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Taking time to exercise 3 times a week. Work is getting done, need to also place attention on overall health.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:52 am
trusting ive done enough work and then
going to play!
September 30th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
i spend SO much time managing my email. i feel sligthly addicted to it and don’t think I’m being efficient. also: getting up early and getting started. This seems like such a good idea but on days when I’m working at home it almost never happens.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
My son Bjorn (6) & my daughter Simone (3)!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
rue confession….How about procrastinating from taking the political action we need to win this election!
Should I make calls? Should I canvas? . These issues seem to be the “stand=outs” while so much is at stake..
Time to redefine our greatest purpose, here and now. The vote.
This is a time to focus on the greater good of the collective- our country, our core values, the deepest beliefs in our heart and soul. It’s not enough to simply have the intention of a sane and peaceful world.. or pray.. or chant… we are being challenged to take action! Coaching is - and rightfully so= a focus on our self determination and empowerment.. or our intimate relationships. Now is the time to expand from “me” and “we” to the Largest Purpose.. “the Global I/thou”
Blessings.. Carole
September 30th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I have to continually remind myself to make time to organize and plan. The problem I have is that I feel that I’m not serving my “clients” well unless I’m working directly on their project.
The reality is that when I take the time to organize and plan I serve the “clients” more effectively…
The trick is to get myself to really know that this is the truth.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
My biggest challenge is motivation. Most of what I’m tasked with in a given day is stuff I could care less about, so I always feel I’m forcing myself to do it, rather than enjoying it.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
My greatest challenge is to keep focused and not go off on tangents. Being a woman with the inborn mentality of the berry picker means a thousand things around the house are calling to be done…
and I frequently fall into the trap!
Simplifying my life would be a great idea. What’s the good of all the information I gather and file and rarely visit or use?
October 1st, 2008 at 8:06 am
My biggest issue is anxiety… fear of incompetency and body pain (going into victim mode, never helpful!), combined with self-terrorizing and perfectionism leading to procrastination and staying in bed all day. How to balance what I need to do to stay healthy and relieve my physical pain with life chores that don’t get done and finding work and going to school…
If I had to say it in one word it would be “Perfectionism”.
Getting better at it all, but seeking more tools to use to get motivated and “Just Do It”.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:50 am
Now that I am retired (yeah!!) I find it even more difficult to organize my time. That is, having play time, reflective time and work time balanced and not feel like I am wasting time and not enjoying it.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:10 am
My greatest challenge?
AFTER my apparent addiction to responding to others instead of coming from my inner force?
Well, it would be this: Making priorities (choices, darn!) and then giving those top tier desires the structure to remember them, hold them and enjoy some kind of result.
Giving power to the desires by defining the outcomes of the next step…this gives me containers for my hours, and therefore for my days.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:23 am
PROCRASTINATION! I can’t remember the last time I started a paper more than a day before it was due…
October 1st, 2008 at 10:03 am
My greatest challenge with time management is fitting everything that I want to do in each week. It seems that I never get to my painting or I have to switch tasks before I’m really done with invoicing. The day just isn’t long enough. When things only get 80% done each day I end up having a pile up at the end of the week and I’m stuck working on the weekend, missing out on opportunities, or just not getting my “me” time in. It leads me to be unhappy with my business and my life. I have great focus. That’s not the problem. I have a feeling I could be using my time better or more creatively. Ideas?
October 1st, 2008 at 11:11 am
My biggest challenge is clearly not unique. I have difficulty choosing which of the million things I could do at any moment, I should do at any moment. Then, sticking to that choice instead of trying to hedge my bets by multitasking.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I have a hell of a time figuring out where to start, what I have energy to actually do, and then when I’m clear, not procrastinating! It’s like getting the stars and the planets to align just to meet all these prerequisites. At the moment, where to start is the most pressing.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
My week day mornings spin out of control. I get up at 6:30 a.m. and there are so many things to accomplish - prepare a nice breakfast for my family, feed my toddler son, get him ready for day care, get ready for work myself, not miss a ferry to work. Always rush, rush, rush! Perhaps it’s normal…
October 1st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I feel I have too many priorities and too little time. So I end up focusing time on them but not getting done all I want to or whats necessary to really make a difference before I feel the pressure to work on the other ones. Also with a full life, which I am blessed with, how do I keep up with maintenance (health, relationship, etc) I hope to find out that 80% of life isnt about maintenance and 20% about growth.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I have the worst time completing a task through to the end–inevitably I’ve got 5 tabs open all with pressing tasks to do and end up being partially through all of them and get easily distracted to another task that needs doing.
October 1st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I’ve been experiencing what you experienced with the time management challenge. It’s almost exact the same. I can totally relate.
The current technique I’ve been using for awhile to help me with this challenge is a to-do list with a specific completion date for each task. I even set reminders on my phone to alert me the tasks to accomplish today. I still procrastinate but not as bad because the alarm reminders irritates me. If I don’t accomplish the tasks, they’ll continue to bother me.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I have tried to schedule tasks in my day but it never works out. Distractions (kids, elderly mother, y dogs, the phone, the door bell, etc.) seem to get me off task. Even if they don’t it always seems the task takes longer than I think it will.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:19 am
Setting goals and not actually following them!!
Heavy procrastinator!!
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Procrastination/getting things done
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
My challenge is to stick with a focus to completion, cause I like to jump around to new things spontaneously and often. Basically, doing things in larger time chunks will lead to more of a sense of accomplishment.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
My challenge is perfectionism and procrastination. I put off working on projects because I don’t feel I have the big chunk of time to complete them as “perfectly” as I would like!
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Letting go of the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing small, easy things…so that I can focus on accomplishing the bigger stuff!
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:27 am
Being a business owner, my challenge is to manage all aspects of my business including sales, marketing, bookkeeping, and the actual work. I need blocks of time to get the bigger projects done but seem to get bogged down by phone calls, emails, meetings and miscellaneous administrative tasks.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Email addiction– I waste entirely too much time on email. I even read recently that multitasking (which I often do when talking on phone and checking my emails)lowers your IQ.
This is my clients biggest challenge — they/we can’t stop checking and responding to emails EVEN when we KNOW it is not productive and should set a specific time to do this.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
My challenge is not getting sidetracked. I have so many things I need/want to do sometimes it’s hard to choose. And once I do choose, it can be hard to stay focused on that with all the other things begging for my attention!
October 6th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Well, when I’ve got something really big to do that I don’t like, not only do I put off doing that project, but I get immobilized and put of most everything else, too! Ugh!
October 6th, 2008 at 9:18 am
This is embarrassing, but I just wast time and do not do what I need to do, which is to look for work. Help!
October 6th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Thank you so much for such honest posts on your biggest time management challenges. We’ll make sure we’ll address as many of these as we can during the telesummit.
Can’t wait…
~Bill Baren
October 6th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Staying focused seems like a problem for a number of folks, me included. I have such a long list of TO DO items, and calendar appointments and meetings to attend, that it often seems that I cannot simply BE exactly WHERE I AM. Organizing my workspace and my work time is also a challenge as a result of the lack of focus.
It is also difficult to say no when I think I can accomplish much more. But then the realities of time sneak up on me and I’m suddenly getting a couple of hours of sleep in order to meet all of the obligations that I have said yes to.
Finally, technology has become “too important” and I get lost in the mundane details of replying to email messages instantly, etc. It is not the panacea that we were promised!
October 6th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Perfectionism, procrastination, the illusory productivity of multitasking. The biggest place I get stuck is just getting something started. I get paralyzed, and even taking the initiative to implement the various tricks and techniques I’ve picked up over the years requires initiative. It’s like I’m addicted to that state of avoidance, the void of total procrastination. Even “productive procrastination” would be an improvement for me.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Keeping the big-picture in mind and letting-go of many of the “good”, but not-necessary, things my creative brain tells me to do!!! Great ideas abound, but time and energy are limited!!!
October 7th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Filing and followup. I waste a lot of time because I don’t know how to file/where to put things. I loose momentum looking for an address or phone ##. Out-of-sight, out of mind. I share an office with my work-at-home husband. It’s a mess. Followup is hard for me. There’s always something easier to do, e.g. brush my teeth, etc. I have trouble beginning; I’m afraid of NO; Did I say it well???????? So, I procrastinate. I have followup from May I haven’t done.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I know what I should be doing to be successful in my chosen career of sales. The issue I have is in doing the small stuff. I love to be in front of customers, doing presentations, talking about their needs. I just dislike doing all the tasky type things in between. Like returning calls, doing paperwork, etc. So I avoid them until people get really frustrated with me and then my self esteem drops because I know I let people down.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I’m in College and when there’s a big task coming up I feel this inner restistance against tackling the assignment and getting the job done, leading to unproductivity and procrastination. I suppose a solution could be to split it up into smaller chunks..
October 8th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Not staying focused on the task at hand. Thus, most tasks take longer to complete than they should.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I’d love some guidance on how to stay focused on MY tasks and priorities, when I’m often distracted by the daily “hair on fire” crisis of my own or someone else’s making.
Often, I jsut can’t keep up w/ voicemail. I would like my clients to understand that “no news means I’m working on your project and will call you when its done.” Their pre-emptive phone calls to check up on their project (often ahead of my promised due date) is annoying, a delay, and gives me a constant panicked feeling of being behind schedule.
I often have a panicked feeling that I am behind schedule. And in fact, I often am. How can I get more done, more efficiently, and be more responsive to my clients, and thus feel rewarded and appreciated by my clients?
October 9th, 2008 at 6:05 am
My biggest struggle is defining priorities and not getting bogged down with the usual everyday daily activities that are necessary. So, as you can predict, I get stuck where I am. Another way of putting it would be that I spend time reading, listening, etc. but don’t apply what I receive to my daily life.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Switching tasks mid-stream, breaking the “one thing at a time” flow that is the key to success…
October 9th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I am only one…the only one in my Custom Plastic Mfg. shop..all tasks belong to me, and all too often finding time to design new products is very difficult. I’m looking forward to your advice on organizing and focusing on 1st things first.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Blocking out time to do the most important things… and having the energy and desire to do it when I get there.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I am really excited by the prospect of addressing all of these challenges during the Telesummit. I want to thank everyone for sharing as your comments are going to make the Telesummit that much better. Here’s to transforming our relationship to time.
~Bill Baren
October 10th, 2008 at 3:48 am
I plan my day and then out of the blue a big client comes up with potential work and of course wants a detailed quote..instantly…I don’t want to annoy them or lose out on the work but it shunts everything else back an either I have to work at night or I have to reposition rest of week and my own marketing etc gets squeezed out
October 10th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Co-workers do not recognize the time it takes to complete some projects and finalize all of the documents. They procrastinate on their end and then expect me to be the miracle worker and get the remaining work done on time and in a very short time window.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:16 am
I enjoy many different activities and hobbies. I also have my work and want to spend quality time with family. Keeping it balanced where I feel like I am being successful and happy with family, career, and time for me, is my biggest challenge. Seems like I can be organized in one place, like career, but then home and hobbies suffer, and I feel overworked due to lack of “play time”.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:07 am
I get bogged down and can’t read and answer all my emails.
I also spend a lot of time searching for information on the internet and need to do it faster. Is there a language or way to work with Google that makes is more efficient?
October 10th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
If I have a list of priorities, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, …. I will often do #3, #4, and #5, and sometimes #2, but not #1. If I then reorder them, so that the top priority isn’t the actual #1, it doesn’t work…my psyche knows what the real #1 is, even if I number it #3.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Here’s another one:
Most things take longer than I or others allocate. If I do fewer things, then some critical things don’t get done.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
A core pattern of mine is to be “volcanic:” I don’t do that much for a long time, then my energy begins to gather (as things become more critical), gathering quicker and quicker, until there’s an explosion with lots of energy. My days are absolutely different; there’s pretty much no routine (almost nothing that I do every day).. This often runs counter to the “consistent and steady” routine that many time management experts lead people to.
Note that I’m not trying to change this, because it’s an essential part of my nature (and has served well in certain specific circumstances). Rather than trying to go against this, how can I make this work better, in terms of getting things done?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
As a real estate agent/home staging expert I have clients calling all the time. To attract new clients I need to answer my phone in a timely manner - but each phone call pulls me in a different direction. I’ve tried letting calls go to voicemail and returning them all at once - but then I end up with phone tag situations and upset clients…or worse no client at all. HELP!
October 12th, 2008 at 9:07 am
With a number of family members passing in too rapid succession and my being responsible for settling their matters, my house is full of boxes of stuff that needed to be removed from property that had to be sold along with just mountains of papers. Add grief and it became super challenging. Add bickering of heirs it became overwhelming. Things have been on “hold” while I’ve been trying to regroup, but the mess is great enough now, finding a starting place each day is still difficult. I also find myself looking at mounds of incoming mail and then throwing it all back into a pile to “do something about later”. Later just doesn’t seem to surface. I’m looking forward to a new way of looking at this situation to break the dam and allow the waters to flow. Many thanks!
October 12th, 2008 at 9:12 am
ADDED COMMENT: Confession: In these unique times, I also am doing a lot of research on the internet to preserve my IRA and satisfy my innate thirst for knowledge. That is a convenient way to divert from those piles of papers. I just can’t bring myself to deal with them and I do realize it is a diversion from what I must do. Again, Many Thanks!
October 13th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Information overload, especially in the form of emails. I feel like I’m spending way too much time responding to and managing emails rather than getting to the more important tasks that truly make a difference. Sometimes I long for the days before we were so electronically connected. Life was much less stressful, in my opinion. Hmmm … am I showing my age??
October 13th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Distractions combined with lack of focus. That is my number 1 time killer. I start something which leads me to something else which leads me to something else and so on and I feel like I never actually accomplish anything. Email is often the cause of the distraction - but not only.
October 14th, 2008 at 4:26 am
My biggest challenge is getting all the initiatives implemented in the time frames allotted to me, without the reality of being sucked into the day to day needs of the staff and students I work with in an elementary school building. The immediate needs are always there requiring a response but the powers that be keep requiring long term initiatives implementation, which in the day to reality doesn’t always jive.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Bill, Sounds like a fabulously valuable telesummit. I’m going to pass the notice along to my clients. Because I hear from clients they’ve just no TIME to implement the marketing strategies I give them, I’ve assembled tips for ’saving a half hour a day’ from our local women’s business exchange members. I think you’ll find some of these really obvious, some useful and some you may never have thought to do. You’re welcome to share this: http://womensbusinessexchange.wordpress.com/2008/10/\
Sincerely, Allison Bliss http://www.allisonbliss.com