We all know someone who drives us crazy because they are extraordinarily bad at time management. They commit every time management sin imaginable. He off she is always late, does everything last minute, doesn’t plan at all whatsoever, and somehow it becomes your responsibility to fix everything and it’s your fault when something falls through the cracks. This can be the case with a boss, a close friend or family member, a team member, a co-worker, etc. The things we do rarely effect just ourselves so it is important to understand how what we do effects those around you. In the case of bad time management practices, below are just a few ideas that I have have come up with.
You stress others out. Poor planning on your part means those who you manage have to rearrange their priorities while they already have a busy schedule. This means things that were going to do won’t get done as planned and they will be more stressed out and aggravated. There are emergencies in life and that is understood, but there is an urgency several times a week, especially due to poor planning, those around you will be frustrated.
Momentum is interrupted. Every company, family, and individual performs better when there is a pattern and a momentum going on. When this is interrupted, everything may get off track and is not at an optimal level anymore. A decreased level of productivity often results in frustration and aggravation because people are not reaching the things they are seeking to achieve.
Unintended consequences. Things in life ripple out, one things effect another and we don’t usually have a way to see this until it may be too late. Not everything is predictable, and for example say an employee is overwhelmed and stressed because of many urgent demands over the past months, many of which resulted from poor planning. The employee becomes openly frustrated and lowers the morale in general, and then possibly good employees go looking for work in another company, and that can ripple out further. That is just an example, but we should be aware of possible unintended consequences.
You don’t get what you are looking for. People will get frustrated with you if you manage your time poorly and it negatively effects them as well. If they are working for you, they will likely end up not doing their best work. The same with a friendship or relationship or whatever else. If we continually manage our time so poorly that we miss commitments that are important to others, stress out the lives of our employees, or end up performing work poorly and miss important deadlines that will frustrate our bosses and managers, then we will not get the results in life we are desiring. There are countless examples of this, here are just a few
Loss of a job because of poor performance
Failing or doing poorly in a class because of poor performance
Losing a friend or a relationship because we miss our commitments
Upsetting a child by missing a commitment
Letting down your parents by not doing what you are saying
There are so many ways to annoy others by managing our time poorly. This can be destructive to ourselves and those around us. While we never can be perfect at managing our time, we can always do better. If it is something we don’t prioritize in our life, it will most likely suffer. It may be a skill that some people can do better than others, but we must remember the importance of managing our time to the point that we can function and that the lack of it doesn’t hinder us.