Tag Archives: productivity

Debunking Time Management Myths: 12 Popular Misconceptions

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shutterstock_86113621By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Below are 12 popular misconceptions about time management. Do you believe any of them to be true?

  1. There’s plenty of time. I can do that later.
  2. There’s too much to do. It can’t be done.
  3. He/she has more time than I have.
  4. I’m busy right now so I can let that slide.
  5. I’m the only one who can do it.
  6. I can get more done in more time when I wisely use caffeine, sugar, alcohol, or nicotine.
  7. I should have no limits
  8. It’ll be quicker if I just do it myself.
  9. The longer I work, the more I will get done.
  10. Multi-tasking will save time.
  11. Breaks? That’s a waste of time. I don’t need them.
  12. I have no control over the way I spend my time.

Hanging onto misconceptions about our time such as these will ultimately create stress and interfere with our productivity. Talk with your colleagues, partner, or coach to see how these misconceptions are untrue and to figure out better, healthier, and more effective ways to think about managing your time.

So You Think You Can Multitask? Try This!

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shutterstock_4842088By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute

If you’re reading this while participating in a webinar, eating a sandwich, and periodically checking your email, please stop! Multitasking will ultimately reduce your productivity, strain your focus, and produce poorer results, for two reasons:

  1. No one can actually perform several cognitive tasks simultaneously. Rather, multitaskers quickly switch from one task to the other. Therefore, all things being equal, multitasking should be no faster than single tasking.
  2. Bearing this point in mind, it would seem that a person would require a certain amount of time to switch from one task to the other. Even if that time is tiny, it will ultimately add up after numerous switches from task to task. This would suggest that multitasking is actually slower than tackling one task at a time.

If you don’t believe this, try this exercise and see for yourself. Take out a blank piece of paper and write the word multitasking in upper case letters. Then, below the word, write the numbers 1-12, one number beneath each letter, like this:

M   U   L   T   I   T   A   S   K   I    N    G

1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8    9  10  11  12

 You did that relatively quickly and easily, right?

Now turn the paper over. You will write the word multitasking and the numbers 1-12 again. But this time, you’ll do it by multitasking. Do not write the whole word. Rather, switch back and forth between writing the word and writing the numbers beneath it. Begin by writing the m and then beneath it, the 1. Then write the u and beneath it the number 2. Then write the L and beneath it the number 3, etc. Ready? Don’t look at your previous work or these instructions. Now, go ahead and try it.

That was considerably more difficult and took much longer, didn’t it? Switching back and forth between writing a word and writing a sequence of numbers cut your productivity and probably, created some strain. Remember this exercise the next time you’re tempted to multitask. In the long run, you’ll find that focusing on a single task will make you better and faster at it – and far less stressed.