I want to get the most out of my days, folks, and I’m sure you do, too. No one wants to have a huge to-do list at the end of each day with not even half of the items ticked off.
Unfortunately, though, in our quest for the max performance every day, we tend to make a lot of mistakes. Even I’m guilty of some of the common missteps below!
A lack of clear vision
When you’re always trying to be more productive, it is easy to find yourself so focused on getting things done better and faster that you forget why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. When you use time management tools to fill up your schedule and a system to tackle your daily to-do list, it’s not surprising when you get lost in the mix.
You have to ask yourself if you want to be just efficient or both efficient and effective? If you want the latter, you need to make sure what you are doing is worthwhile.
Too much multitasking
Multitasking used to be the big thing. Remember how much you admired someone who could watch the news, text and fold laundry all at the same time?
Well, as it turns out, multitasking isn’t all we thought it was. As noted by McGraw Hill, people who multitask tend to lose their focus more often and tend to be less productive over time (https://www.mheducation.com/highered/insights-ideas/multitasking-helpful-or-harmful.html). You may have noticed that when you try to do several things at once, you make more mistakes and have to keep reviewing what you are doing as you switch back and forth, which eats up more time.
If you’re already in the habit of multitasking, now is the time to make some changes. Keep in mind that although you may feel you are getting less done at first, you will see results over time.
A ton of projects
The more efficient you become, the more things you’re going to want to get done. This happens to everyone, but it’s a trap. If you start too many things at once, you will find yourself struggling, and this can even lead to burnout.
Instead of starting a million projects at once, make a project list and go one by one. You’ll be able to avoid overworking yourself and the guilt that comes from having too many unfinished irons in the fire at one time.
