Due to the era of speed, time goes quickly without we even noticing it. We’re often running to work, college, associations, etc. And we keep waiting for the weekend, hoping to chill and get some rest, but unfortunately, we end up doing the tasks that we missed during the week.
Life is tough, and it makes us exhausted over time. If we don’t know how to manage our time correctly, we’re making things more difficult because we’ll miss many tasks, we’ll keep overthinking about it, which will affect us negatively, physically and mentally.
Therefore, knowing how to manage time helps our performance and productivity even more. Isn’t it good to end the day and all your tasks are done, where you have time for yourself to chill, drink a coffee or tea, read a book or watch TV, do something for yourself, something you love, with a clear mind!
Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year — and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade! — Tony Robbins
The Egyptian Ibrahim El-Feki is a Coach, businessperson, author, and motivational speaker. He was a human development and neuro-linguistic programming expert, was the CEO of the Canadian Trading Centre for Human Development and Ibrahim Elfiky International Enterprises Inc.
On Friday morning, 10, 2012, Ibrahim died with his sister and their housekeeper because of a fire break out at his apartment. His last words before he died with a few hours and insisted on his friends to retweet it:
Stay away from people who are trying to reduce your ambitions while great people are the ones who make you feel that you can become one of them. — Ibrahim El-Feki.
1-Procrastination and delay:
Said Benjamin Franklin, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” and many others, we often see different pearls of wisdom about delay and procrastination everywhere. It is essential to avoid them because that’s why most of us fail. It’s not because we aren’t good enough, but due to delaying things repeatedly.
Therefore, if you procrastinate or delay some tasks, you’ll end up never doing them. By nature, humans prefer doing enjoyable tasks rather than hard and difficult ones; that’s why we often tend to put it off until the next time, where there’s no ‘next time.’
There are some common causes of procrastination and delay, such as pursuing perfectionism, the fears of failure, criticism, etc.
Still, the main reason is ‘WE.’ It is we who chose and decided to put off until tomorrow despite the bunch of wisdom and advice around the internet and everywhere telling us not to.
LifeHacks mentioned different effects of procrastination and how damaging it is for us; one of the effects is losing opportunities. You’ll automatically lose many opportunities because of delaying tasks, lowering your self-esteem and confidence, thus making you away from your goals.
How To Avoid:
Make a To-do-list for the next day from the night, and don’t miss any of them. Try to make it reasonable to finish it during the day.
2-Lack Of Planning:
Planning is a skill that we can master through time. There’s no football game without a plan, and no project, or a wedding party as well, etc. One of the most required talents to be a manager, guide, and leader is to make good plans.
Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve the desired goal. It is the first and foremost activity to achieve desired results. — Wikipedia
However, people keep underestimating the importance of planning. Which why time passes without we move forward. Also said Benjamin Franklin, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” we have to study our plans well, and put the effort on it so that it turns back with great results.
Lack of planning is undoubtedly the road to failure; it lessens our productivity; thus, we lose motivation over time. With no motivation and no productivity, there’s no way to succeed.
How To Avoid:
- Define your mission and set a goal.
- Make a well-organized plan with a clear vision.
- Always make backup plans to reduce the risks (Plan A, Plan B, etc.)
- Review your plans.
3-Unreasonable Goals:
The media is filled with influencers from all over the world, telling us always to dream big. It’s okay to have big dreams, but setting baby steps will help you achieve all your goals and reach your impossible dreams.
How many times you set goals and made a plan, but you give up in the middle of the road!
That’s because of the unreasonable goals that seem unachievable. When we want to achieve our goals and proceed to do it, we get so excited that we set goals beyond our means, where we end up feeling frustrated and unable to achieve them.
Setting unreasonable goals wastes your time because you’ll find it hard to step forward. Where time passes and you can’t achieve anything, you’ll feel stuck. Thus, you’ll get more negative thoughts, followed by feelings of regret, blame that is lessening of you.
How To Avoid:
Set up reasonable goals that you’re able to achieve in a specific period of time. Define your goal and divide it into small achievable goals, and start taking baby steps. If you make a good plan and start with your first small goal, you’ll be able to achieve your goals successfully in a short period.
4-Tasks Interruption:
Lately, I’ve noticed I’m spending writing an article for days while I’m able to write it in a few hours because of interruption, and many other examples yet to mention.
How many times you were studying, and you tried to look for something on the internet related to your studies. Still, you end up watching youtube recommended videos or surfing Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Interruption can be caused by you, like the example above, externally, such as when your dad asks you for something or when a friend calls you to go out. We often lack the power to say ‘NO!’ because we prefer enjoyable things rather than studying, working, etc.
How To Avoid:
When you have a specific task, set a time to do it, and never stop until you finish it. Please keep away your smartphone so that you only focus on the task. Learn how to say NO! when you should. Tell your family, roommate, husband, etc. You have a task that you should finish, and ask them politely not to interrupt you.
Final Thoughts:
Time is the weapon of success. Please don’t waste it delaying and procrastinating things or doing the wrong plans. Set up achievable goals and start doing them Now! The internet is filled with advice on time management, such as to-do-list, planners, etc.
Look for the advice that works for you and step forward. Believe me; you’re able to do more than what you expect! You are just doing things wrong. Choose a good start to have the best end.
It still some days before 2021 enter. Make the next year different, and choose a better start for your goals. Change your life through simple things.
Do you have goals? If so, did you start doing them?
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: iStockPhoto.com
