There is no such thing as time management!

Yes, you read it right.  It is impossible to manage time. There are always going to be 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. No way around it. Managing time is a fallacy.

If you can't manage time, what can you do? You can manage how you spend your time during those 24 hours. That's it. Very simple, yet people struggle day in and day out between over committing and missing deadlines.

Here is one way to help dispel the myth of managing time and replace it with being more efficient with how you spend your time.

BE REALISTIC! 

Un-realistic: Poor planning.

Think about how many times we get caught being late for meetings. Often it's not realistic to physically go from back to back meetings when they are on different floors, or even worse - in another building!  When we were in high school, we had a bell that rang between classes allowing us 5 minutes to get from one place to another. Yet, today we book meetings every hour unrealistically expecting all of them to start on time. 

Solution? Try scheduling them to begin at the quarter hour... one from 8-9am and the next one starting at 9:15am. Another suggestion...be realistic when allowing how long a meeting will go. Too often they are scheduled for 30 minutes when the subject matter will take longer to discuss.

Un-realistic: Over committing.

Your good intentions to please can put more on your schedule than physically possible. Consider the last time someone asked you for something and you quickly replied “yes” only to question yourself later as to how on earth you would ever meet the commitment. What typically follows is a missed deadline resulting in your reputation suffering.

Solution? Learn these two phrases: "I'm sorry, I can't do that...but what I can do is..." and "What is the soonest and the latest you need it?" That first statement will get you started managing your time better. It shows you are still willing to please but mindful of your prior commitments. You will be surprised to hear the response on the second statement. We often put false deadlines on ourselves thinking someone will need something sooner than we thought.

Starting today, manage time by simply being realistic - and let me know how it is working for you.