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READING
E
XPERIENCE
5: T
IME
, P
LANNING
,
AND
P
RODUCTIVITY
124
L
EARNING
TO
L
EARN
: B
ECOMING
A
S
ELF
-G
ROWER
creating and working with systems. If the first item
on your daily “to-do” list is, “Create daily to-do list,”
the chances are good that you’ve fallen into the over-
organization trap. This is only partly in jest; treating
time management as a problem in and of itself can
lead to spending inordinate amounts of time and effort
in planning, scheduling, analyzing, and tweaking your
calendar and task and priority lists, leaving little time
for the actual tasks themselves. Over-organization is
not efficient or effective time management. The goal
is to spend enough time creating and then managing
your time so that you maximize the
impact
of that
time.
Procrastination
We’re all guilty of procrastination (putting off a task until later), at some point. Given the choice,
we all prefer to spend our time engaged in enjoyable activities rather than those that are difficult or
uncomfortable. Wise time managers understand this, and rather than letting procrastination become
habitual, they consistently work to overcome and avoid it.
Procrastination is more than just a personality quirk; it can be very destructive. The longer we
procrastinate, the longer the list of things we need to do becomes. As that list grows, it is increasingly
tempting to procrastinate. The good news is that there are ways to stop this cycle even once you’re in
it. And doing that is important because this kind of cycle is exceedingly self-destructive and can lead to
poor self esteem and even acute feelings of failure and self-hatred. Three of the most common causes
of procrastination are discussed in this section along with suggestions for dealing with them.
Fear of failure
We think that avoiding a task will somehow keep us from running the risk of failure. After all, if
you don’t wear a watch, no one can accuse you of being late, right? It is obvious that this reaction is
not rational, but even otherwise successful people are sometimes afraid of failure. The difference is
that they cut themselves some slack and go ahead and try. If you are afraid to commit to tasks and
projects for fear of failing, there is little hope of managing your time efficiently, because you’re not
only working against the clock (or calendar). You’re also working against yourself.
•
Once you become aware of these tendencies, remind yourself that “failure” is very often just
an early stage of success and that everyone starts somewhere (i.e., even Rembrandt colored
outside the lines as a child).
•
Refuse to judge yourself and instead assess your performance, recognizing your strengths and
giving yourself credit for each attempt and bit of progress you make.
Feeling Overwhelmed
Your life is a busy environment where you must juggle multiple requirements and responsibilities.
Adding college to that mix virtually guarantees that, at some point, you will feel overwhelmed.
One fairly typical reaction to this feeling is to stop trying to keep up with activities and projects.
Rather than trying and failing, we begin failing to even try.