The Biggest Problems in Time Management - Intro

I’m planning to write a series of articles over the coming weeks on the biggest problems in time management, and how they can be overcome.

The provisional list of subjects I will cover is as follows: 

• Too Much Work
• Too Little Time
• Resistance
• Wasting Time
• Lack of Concentration
• Lack of Direction
• Failure to Finish 

Warning: This list may change!

These articles will come out at irregular intervals, so don’t expect them every day, or every Monday, or the first of every month or any other interval.

Comments

[Ryan]

I’m really looking forward to these! Lack of direction is particularly something I’ve been struggling with lately.

[Johan]

Mark:
Would you say that lack of energy is part of
Resistance
and/or
Failure to Finish
?

[Mark Forster]

Johan:

Lack of energy may have nothing to do with time management. It may be a medical problem. I was suffering from almost continuous fatigue early this year and taking a multi-vitamin tablet daily sorted it out virtually immediately.

Apart from that, I have always said that the best source of energy is to be completely on top of your work.

[Cajun]

"Too Much Work"

By this do you mean having too much overdue tasks?

[Alan Baljeu]

Based on past writings he means something deeper. You can only achieve so much. If you add more than that to your list, you will inevitably and repeatedly fall behind. It's not about overdue tasks only, but it's about what work you take on to begin with. Too much and you are doomed to fail.

[michael]

Some research I found on this: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/over-commitment-epidemic-3-out-of-5-people-say-they-cant-possibly-get-everything-done-on-their-to-do-list-300782549.html

[Mark Forster]

michael:

The reasons for over-commitment given in the article are:

1. Desire to be helpful, accommodating, and polite (73 percent)

2. Tendency to jump in and fix problems, even when they aren't theirs (56 percent)

3. Ambiguous limits and unclear rules about which tasks to accept or reject (39 percent)

4. Working with those in authority who make non-negotiable demands (38 percent)
Inability to say "no" or renegotiate commitments (32 percent)

It's interesting to note that only number 4. is "I've been given too much work to do by my boss".

The others seem to be mainly self-inflicted..