The Simple Reason Why Time Management Does Not Work

If you have been wondering why all your best intentions, your smartest planners, your latest technological gadgets don’t help you manage your time  the way you want: Welcome to the club!

This club is full of bright, high-performing individuals who keep feeling stressed in order to meet their commitments, and frustrated because in the end they never have  time  for themselves and for what really matters.

And here’s exactly why

Time Management does not work because it is impossible to manage time. Time is free and it simply “exists”.  We cannot hold it, we cannot make it last shorter or longer. No matter whether we are poor or rich, dumb or smart.

The only thing we can do is choose how we want to use our time.  Wouldn’t the term Choice Management be more appropriate?

Next time we find ourselves sitting in the office until 9 p.m., complaining that we never have time for ourself or our family, let’s remember that we can choose. We can choose to work late, and we can choose to go home.

Too simple?

It’s that simple! Our choices depend on the benefit we see in what we are doing. For example, working late may provide the benefit that we don’t lose a client, that we collect one more reason for a promotion, or that we don’t feel bored or lonely at home.

The tricky part is that while we are seeing the one benefit on one side, we may not be fully aware of what we are losing on the other side: for example, precious physical and mental health; the chance to “grow” with our kids; our dignity if we are constantly at someone else’s disposal, etc.

So the tough part is balancing the various benefits (and minimizing the losses). Is it really true that I will lose the client if I do not finish that work tonight? What else could I do to avoid this?  How could I avoid a similar unpleasant situation in the future?

We can choose to leave everything as it is and to keep carrying the stress with us, or we can choose to create a better balance in our life. Again, it’s  our choice. And our choice will determine our next step.

How do we make sure we don’t miss out on what we really want?

Simple: Let’s start from what we really want! Instead of planning  our week according to what we “should” do, let’s choose what we want to spend our time on this week.

Sure this is challenging, like when we choose to get up at 4 a.m. in order to leave for a longed for holiday. We could also choose not to go on holiday at all, or not to get up at 4 a.m. even if we “should”.

If we are not happy with the outcome, at least we know it depended on our choice  :-)

Taking action

Do you want to find out how I could help you gain focus and manage your time more effectively?

Simply schedule a free consultation. I look forward to talking with you!

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