7 Time Management Mistakes That Erode Your Self-Esteem

Have you ever noticed that when your life is humming along, you feel more confident in yourself? You have this sense that your time is being spent well, and that you have the bandwidth to handle new challenges. But when the opposite is true, a kind of heaviness sets in and you feel stuck by a sense that you’re just barely keeping up.

This effect isn’t just the way we feel about ourselves, it appears to flow into the actual ways we behave. Studies show that self-esteem and self-efficacy are associated with better time management. So in a sense, when you let your time management slip, you’re putting yourself on a road to lower self-esteem and a kind of learned helplessness.

The first step to any change is awareness. That’s why I want to bring your attention to some of the most common poor time management habits that are likely to erode your self-esteem over time. Combatting these habits will be the subject of future articles— today’s encouragement is to begin by applying a sharp focus on spotting these behaviors in your own life.

Procrastinating on important tasks.

I think every human is likely to procrastinate from time to time, at least on tasks we don’t enjoy. But chronic procrastination is simply a bad time management habit. Instead of facing the real reasons we avoid some tasks, we run away and distract ourselves with other things. You’ll know it’s getting bad when the procrastination doesn’t even bring you joy— you’re in a kind of restless state that won’t let you enjoy anything, but too timid to address what’s important. Over time, this can lead to feelings of inadequacy as your to-do list stalls out.

Doing things inefficiently without changing.

My wife and I have been married for well over a decade now.

One of the things that attracts me to her is her ruthlessness about making our lives more efficient. Instead of just doing things the way they’ve always been done, she asks: how can this be easier? Sometimes it’s a simple solution like putting a frequently used object in a more convenient place or getting rid of a task altogether. It’s the compound effect of small efficiencies that help to keep the constant threat of chaos at bay while raising four children and running multiple businesses. The slow drip of inefficiency, by contrast, can leave you feeling like you’ll never get your act together.

Trying to get every detail perfect.

Do you ever find yourself falling behind schedule? One of the first places I would look is how much time and emotional energy you’re spending trying to get things perfect. My own tendencies used to lean this way, but one of the things I love about writing a blog is that it can never be perfect. At some point, you just have to hit publish and move on with your life. While I always try to deliver my best work, I’ve learned to appreciate the good feeling that comes with delivering a piece of work consistently. That consistency has proven to be one of the greatest drivers of self-esteem I’ve experienced in the past few years.

Letting small distractions completely derail.

Of all the habits on this list, this is the one I’m most afflicted by. In fact, just the other day I stayed up late trying to make a small, silly decision about which journal to use for my notes. A small, seemingly innocent distraction became a rabbit hole that threw off my entire evening routine. These kinds of distractions are often the result of a simple impulse to pursue something more fun than what you were originally working on. But each time you let them win, you’re quietly training yourself to give in to distractions, and eroding your own confidence.

Failing to prioritize tasks by importance.

I’m more aware than ever of my own mortality, and the limited time I have to pursue the things that matter most to me. I won’t get to do everything, but I can choose a few important things and throw myself into them wholeheartedly. The worst thing, then, is to let the small minutia of life fill your day when there are bigger, more rewarding goals you’d rather be chasing. The art of saying no and prioritization is something I’m still learning each day, but I know that each daily decision is a chance to practice these skills and to bolster my self-esteem by making progress.

Clinging to low-value tasks rather than delegating.

Time management isn’t just about being more efficient with your time or working harder. In fact, one of the best ways to unlock more time is to start delegating to others. To be honest, I’m not great at this, but I’m really thankful for a wife who has pushed me in this area. One of the best examples is a cleaner we hire to keep our home in great shape. This gives us more time in our day, but also eliminates one source of stress as two working parents. Delegating is great for your self-esteem because it relieves the pressure you feel from too many plates spinning at once.

Multitasking and constant context switching.

You’ve probably noticed, as I have, that your ability to focus has gotten worse. It feels good to work from one task to another, but all that switching erodes the quality of your work and eventually the quantity too. Multitasking is so alluring because it promises to solve all of our problems and do more at once, but it never works. Multitaskers are busier than ever, but never getting ahead, and that’s a recipe for deflated self-esteem.

Focusing on urgent tasks instead of important tasks.

Anything that helps you to feel in control of your time and on top of your responsibilities is a great way to add to the self-efficacy. But when it comes to time management, there’s one mistake that can really get you off course— it’s when you become so focused on the urgent tasks that you leave no time for the important, but not urgent ones. The problem with doing this each day is that you’re never clearing out space for any long-term projects. The important work gets neglected, and you feel like you’re spinning your wheels.