Why Time Management Doesn’t Work

Time is a very common stress trigger for people. For some it’s the wasting of it because they have too much to do. For other’s it’s that time ticks away too slowly and the profound loneliness within that space weighs heavy on them. Still, many can find the chaos in busyness to be too much to handle day in and day out, never seeming to have a moments rest or a peaceful minute to themselves. 

The primary reason people get so stressed by time is because they are looking for ways in which to control it. Controlling time is a farce. It can’t be done. But yet we try and try because, as we’ve said many times throughout the Club, because being, feeling, thinking, and acting in control is one of the primordial ways we reduce stress. So controlling time is our innate attempt to bringing order to our lives, reducing the pressure and weight of time.

It’s important here that we clear up what time management isn’t, what it is, and why time management doesn’t work.

What Time Management Isn’t

There are a lot of myths surrounding time management and before you move on it’s critical you have clear and reasonable expectations of what you’ll get out of this course and throughout the entire category.

Myth #1- Time Management is achievable. You cannot manage something that is completely out of your control. According to Oxford, time is “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.” Indefinite. Progress of existence. Regarded as a whole. You can’t manage time. 

Myth #2- There is a magical finish line. One main reason people want to have time management is so they can get done all the “things” they need to finish. And somewhere, some way, if they just had more time management, they would cross that finish line and have some rest.

Myth #3- Successful time management is about saving time. You cannot save time! Time ticks away in only one direction. There’s no slowing it down, saving it up, or stopping it from happening.

Myth #4- Making a to-do list means more productivity.  Writing down all you have to do doesn’t mean you’ll feel as if you’ve been more productive or be more efficient over-all. It’s how you leverage that to-do list that makes the difference. And you’re in luck because you’re going to learn exactly that in just a bit!

Myth #5- Others have more time. Wrong again. Everyone has the exact number of minutes in a day, days in a week, and weeks in year. If you really think this your bs-ing yourself. 

Myth #6- You’ll have more time at some point in the future than you do now. This is a big one that people use often that robs them of living to the fullest now in hopes of more time for experiences, adventures, vacations, family time, etc. in the future.

Myth #7- You get more done with multitasking. Let’s just say research has debunked this theory repeatedly. Most studies find multitasking kills productivity by 80%. It’s time to let this go.

Myth #8- Time can be stolen. Time can be taken up by interruptions, traffic, poor scheduling, people chatting, or a myriad of other external events. When you believe this, you become easily frustrated with the smallest of blips in your day.

Myth #9- There’s not time. Yes, there is. It’s ticking right now, even as you read this. It’s how you behave within time that matters most. 

Myth #10- Time management is about getting more done in less time. Time management isn’t this. Let’s talk about what it really is.

What Time Management Is

Time Management is a customizable set of techniques, that when combined, allows you to work more productively and efficiently. That’s it. 

Why Time Management Doesn’t Work

We’ve talked about the main reason why Time Management doesn’t work; you can’t control time. Aside from that, there are still several considerations to highlight as to why you might still be struggling.

1. You believe your story that you don’t have time to use the techniques. For example, you don’t have time to sit down and think about goals when you’re knee-deep in diapers, soccer schedules, business meetings, and trying to have some social life. You have the time so be careful what you tell yourself.
2. You use organized time techniques, feel better, so you stop using them. It seems ridiculous that people do this for many things: exercise, antibiotics, antidepressants, eating healthy, journaling, and more. This process of starting-reaping-stopping is a cycle of insanity and is highly inefficient, creating the exact opposite of what you desire.
3. There’s no place in our educational system that teaches time management techniques. Yet the expectation from a young age is we are to somehow balance our entire lives on the pinpoint of a moment. As we age and gain experience, we learn some ways to control ourselves within time but it’s only after so much trial and error, resulting in low self-esteem and self-confidence. Your lack of knowledge around organized time techniques is not a fault of your own. Now that you know better, you can do better.
4. You try and try to manage time but then doubt things will ever change. Doubt results in the combinations of lies we tell ourselves. In this case, that life will always be like this, to not even bother to change, and other people have it better than you do. Doubt is not the initiator of failed attempts but the result of them. When you start to tell yourself things can change and that you simply haven’t learned how to organize your time, yet, that doubt will fade away. Keep going.