3.      Miscalculating on time-estimates.

When you resist calculating how long things take or miscalculate based on wishful thinking, you set yourself up to take on more work than you can handle, which can lead to procrastination and poor results. Good time managers ask this critical question: How long will it take? They then calculate how long a task will take and build that time into their schedules. To improve your estimating skills, choose three tasks (e.g., writing an expense report) that you tend to procrastinate on. Estimate how long each will take, and then time yourself to see how long it actually took. You can also use your daily planner as a time estimating log by simply jotting down estimated vs. actual time needed for each task on your to-do list. Once you become a skilled estimator, you’ll be able to schedule your time more realistically.

4.      Confusing activities with goals.

A goal is what you want to achieve. An activity is how you achieve it. You need to know your big-picture goals to determine which activities will be the means to reaching those goals. For each major category of your life (e.g., Self, Family, Work, Romance, Finances, Friendship, Knowledge, Spirituality), ask yourself, “What would make me happy in each of these key areas of my life?” Then write down one or two big-picture goals for each category. This list can help you to reevaluate your activities, saying no to those that will not help to accomplish what you want in life. 

5.      Experiencing work/life imbalance.

There are many categories of your life, yet your schedule can only handle a finite number of activities. When one or two categories threaten to take over your time, responsibilities in other departments get pushed to the side, which can make you feel out of balance. To achieve balance, first establish what life categories you are trying to balance. Next, analyze your daily planner to get a snapshot view of how you are spending your time. What department is monopolizing your time? Which ones are completely neglected? Then create a Time Map, a daily, weekly or monthly schedule that is divided into “Activity Zones” that correspond to your life categories and reflect your custom set of priorities and choices. A time map ensures balance, guarantees time for your core activities, allows you to live in the moment and provides a framework for daily decision making.

6.      Juggling multiple calendars or reminder systems.  

You may have two jobs and three kids, but you have only one life, which means you need only one planner. A single planner is the basic tool through which you organize both your work and personal life. With everything in one place, you’ll keep much better track of your activities and appointments. Consider your natural preferences for visual/tactile as opposed to linear/digital as you decide between a paper or an electronic planner, a stationery planner or a portable one, and special features tailored to your circumstances and aesthetics.

7.      Making your to-do list separate from your schedule. 

When you don’t record your to-dos in your planner, it’s difficult to determine whether and where a task fits into your life. For every to-do item, ask yourself three questions: 1) Which of my big-picture goals will this help me to achieve? 2) Where in my schedule does this task belong? 3) How long it will take? When you manage the to-do list in this way, your selectivity will help you to focus on the activities that matter most and help you to maintain balance.

8.      Having more tasks than time.    

Who doesn’t wish there were more than 24 hours in a day? When you reach the limits of your time, you need to make some decisions. Use the four Ds to create a doable plan. Delete: If it doesn’t fit in with your big-picture goals, say no. Diminish: Develop shortcuts by creating streamlined systems for routine tasks. Delegate: Ask yourself what you can delegate and to whom. Delegating allows for healthy interdependence among people; relationships solidify as you share the workload and learn to rely on other people. Delay: Reschedule a task for a more appropriate time. Remember, just because someone asks you to do something the moment they think of it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s urgent.

9.      Maintaining an I’ll-just-do-it-myself mentality.

How many times have you been overloaded with tasks or activities but never stopped to ask for help? Delegation is one of the most powerful tools for effective time management, but it’s also the most psychologically loaded. If you feel too busy to delegate, remember that investing a bit of time in training a “delegatee” can save you enormous amounts of time. If you feel guilty because the task seems like undesirable work, assign the job to someone who doesn’t think of it as grunt work. If you don’t delegate because you are wary of being expendable, recall that other people’s need for you is not tied up in just one task. Lastly, if you find that you have extremely high standards or are generally mistrusting, think of delegating as a development opportunity both for you and the person to whom you are assigning the job.

10.   Ignoring your plan for the day.

Without constant vigilance you can’t keep your schedule on track. Take 15 minutes every day before you leave work to review the next day’s activities. Keep goals visible and run every interruption, distraction, request, demand and tempting activity by this filter: Will it help me to reach my goals? If not, find a way to avoid the interruptions and distractions, decline the requests and demands, and resist the temptations. You’ll soon become a master time manager, doing exactly what you planned to do when you planned to do it, moving through your days feeling energized, optimistic and satisfied.