Last Updated on September 23, 2020 by Shane Corbitt
Many people tout the benefits of using time management tools to help them focus on their important tasks. Many of these tools, including software, can give you the ability to schedule tasks, often down to the second. These tools come with reports showing what tasks you are spending time on, in hopes to be able to evaluate and improve.
These tools help many people but you should not mistake them for taking over your tasks for you. No tool in the world can account for taking no action. The tools only remind you of what you should be working on.
This is an important distinction because if you don’t have the right plan in place, the tool is not going to alert you to that fact. If you spend your hours on the wrong tasks, don’t expect much when using these time management tools.
Even worse, people will try to blame the tool for not achieving what they had hoped. In other words, if you aren’t performing the correct tasks, you will let others know that you used a time management tool and it didn’t work. It has to be the tool’s fault, right?
Where these time management tools shine, is helping show how long your tasks took to complete. Each task requires an estimate of how long you believe it should take you to complete your tasks. Then, you are timed and the actual time is compared against the estimate. You can use this to hone in on your estimation skills. The idea is that you should get better at estimating your tasks and hence, become more productive.
There are people who feel self-conscious with time management tools, especially when others (such as management) are evaluating the result. If your performance reviews are based on this evaluation, this can increase the stress at work. Management can abuse it by constantly reminding you of what you are doing wrong, instead of approaching from the perspective of what you are doing right.
These tools are not for everyone. Some people excel when using them while others feel it adds more unnecessary work for them. The best approach is to try a few of the tools to see if they are right for you. If they do work out, you should become more productive, which will eventually improve your focus. This will take you to new levels in your career as well as your life.
Thanks for this great article!