Have you noticed how sometimes time passes laboriously slowly and you continue to look at your watch every two minutes hoping to make it go faster? And there are also times when you have so much to do that you think “How am I possibly going to get it all done in a day?”

Why is it that sometimes we waste time and other times we find ourselves caught up in a frenzy of activity? How do we find the right balance and boost our productivity without having to sacrifice our family time?

After analyzing my own work patterns, reading tons of scientific research on time management, motivation and efficiency, I found that there are 10 primary productivity mistakes that cause 80% of our work stress and make us fall behind even on seemingly simple tasks. And I am not just talking about chronic procrastinators here.

Many productive people I run into, waste on average 2-4 hours a day, doing things that actually decrease their productivity, concentration and cognitive performance!

If lately you have been feeling tired, overwhelmed and underproductive here are 10 Things you should Not be doing:

1. Don’t start without a plan.

While most of us realize the importance of having a to-do list, when we are busy, it is easy to forget about planning and to just deal with things as they come in. Whatever is most urgent gets dealt with first. The least urgent tasks get postponed and often forgotten. But the problem is that getting urgent tasks out of the way rarely means being productive. If you want to ensure that you are focusing on the right things and using your time most effectively, get into the habit of planning regularly! Start each day by highlighting the three most important things you have to do and complete them first. This step alone will save you hours of wasted time and energy.

2. Don’t wish you were somewhere else.

We can spend hours wishing we were somewhere else, doing something better. But the problem is that while we are daydreaming – we are neither getting the work done, nor are we spending this time enjoying ourselves. In fact, the only thing we are doing is actively demotivating ourselves from taking any kind of action, prolonging what we already perceive as drudgery even more. (more…)

Do you feel that your brain is ready to explode from the never-ending problems that require you immediate attention? Are you afraid to open your email and see 20 new emails from unhappy clients and a demanding manager in your inbox? Are you constantly forgetting about important tasks, because there is simply too much on your mind?

Life does it to us sometimes… It promises us attractive rewards, like a handsome paycheck, a big promotion, or Christmas bonuses and then it sucks us into the whirlpool of after-work hours, sleepless nights, days spent under the fluorescent office lights and stress-filled weekends.

Fortunately, there is a way out of this crazy whirlpool of work-work-work and no fun!

If you are tired of, seeing the sun light only out of your office window, not being able to spend enough time with your children or worrying too much about upcoming deadlines, here are 5 major steps to relieving stress, un-boiling your mind:

1. Accept the problem

While workaholism is almost encouraged in our society, because it is often linked to success and the ability to work hard, on the larger scale it is not much better than alcoholism or any other dependence problem.
On a physical level it can increase the risk of heart-disease, diabetes, and stroke, lead to weight gain and even provoke cancer. On an emotional and mindset level it can cause anxiety, depression, sleeping problems, and impede your ability to think straight and solve problems. The worst thing is that most of us do not even notice when our desire to work harder and become more productive turns into a workaholism problem.

Lately, I have meet a lot of people, who are overworked, stressed out, emotional and plain exhausted. Yet, when you try to tell them about the importance of ‘slowing down’, they immediately start naming all the reasons why they can not do this: ‘there is a deadline’, ‘everyone is waiting for this project’, ‘while the company is facing so many challenges, there is simply no way to work less’.

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“Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose” – Thomas Edison.

If lately you have been feeling stressed out and overwhelmed with how much you have to do, if you believe that you can be more productive or learn to manage yourself and your time more efficiently, if you have an incredibly busy week ahead of you – take a few minutes to read about the 7 Biggest and Boldest Time management Lies that are the main cause of our stress, burn out, and procrastination.

You might be surprised to catch yourself telling at least one of these lies before lunch time!

1. I Can Do It All!

This is one of the most frequent lies I tell myself. And then some few hours later, I have to admit that I was wrong. There simply is not enough time to do everything we usually plan on doing. Nor is there the need to do all of it. Often we are the ones who willingly put too much on our plate and then stress out about it.

So next time the thought “I can do it all!” crosses your mind – take a few deep breaths, relax and remind yourself that effective time management is not about doing more in a shorter amount of time. It is about enjoying what you do and doing it well!

2. It will Only Take a Minute!

This is another frequent lie I am guilty of. It just seems easier to get small tasks off your hands first and then dedicate yourself fully to the priorities on your list. However, priorities are called this, because you should complete them “prior” to any other tasks.

Do not kid yourself with the idea that “This will just take one minute”. Nothing ever takes just a minute – and even if it does, any such interruption usually costs you anywhere from fifteen to thirty five minutes of your productive “flow” time.

3. If I only had more time…

We often rationalize that if we only had more time we would be able to accomplish more. But the truth is that we are not going to get more than 1440 minutes a day, regardless of what we do or do not do. And no Time Management System will help us accomplish this. What makes the difference is not how much time you have, but how you choose to spend it.

4. I can do it better/faster than anyone else!

I often catch myself with this white lie. In fact, it might not necessarily be a lie. You could do something better and faster than your colleagues, assistants and employees. But it does not mean that you have to do it. This is so important that I am going to repeat it once again. Doing something better and faster than other people DOES NOT mean you should do it!

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