The economy is slowly but surely improving. The roads are filling up again and the workload is increasing. However, many companies and entrepreneurs are still anxious because of the fragile recovery. In other words: only cautious investments are made in, for example, new staff. The result is that work pressure and stress are increasing rapidly in many companies and employees. Too busy, too few hours in the day, difficulty setting priorities. In short: time to take another look at the topic of time management.

Why is it so difficult? 

Let's start by looking at what time management stands for. At Kenneth Smit, effective time management means learning skills that will allow you to regain control of your own agenda. How do you train yourself to make the most of your day? It starts with awareness. Realizing that your time management is not in order. What could that be?

Procrastination

Some tasks are simply more fun than others. We often postpone more complex or boring tasks. Procrastination is one of the main bottlenecks in time management.

Unrealistic (splintered) planning

You have way too many tasks on your list! Mostly small tasks that may only take 15 minutes each. However, such tasks can take a lot of energy because you have to continuously focus your attention on different topics. An unrealistic planning causes a lot of stress and therefore lower performance.

Bad briefing

Can you move forward immediately after receiving a task, or do you have to go through half the company to find out exactly what the intention is? In today's world, many tasks are briefed extremely poorly, making it unclear what exactly the intention is. This is directly at the expense of efficiency.

Don't stand strong

Do you dare to say no to colleagues or your manager? Or do you want to impress and take whatever is thrown at your desk? Ultimately, this is at the expense of the tasks for which you are charged. So don't do it! Dare to say no, then you will make a better impression in the long term and you will remain in charge of your own position.

The key is: know yourself!

The key to better time management really lies within yourself. In addition to awareness, your personality plays a decisive role. Personality says a lot about how you work and what your pitfalls are in terms of planning. Know yourself, then you can work on a solution. A practical model that you can use to determine what kind of time manager you are is the DISC model. Fill it out, which type are you?

The Dominant time manager

You work in a goal-oriented manner, you pay attention to effectiveness in yourself and others and you avoid time-wasters such as lengthy meetings and fragmented tasks. However, you have to be careful not to take on too much, force things too quickly and be impatient with yourself and others. In addition, you are not suitable for too much routine work, then you will rush through.

The Influencing Time Manager

You are a spontaneous and enthusiastic person with great optimism. Collaboration and internal relationships are important to you. However, your energy often causes you to plan too optimistically and with all your enthusiasm you also cause problems for others. You quickly say yes, even though you cannot always make that happen and are therefore occasionally late with deliveries. You are also easily distracted and interrupted in your work.

The Stable time manager

You get along well with routine and are a strong planner of your own agenda. You maintain internal relationships closely and can work well together. However, you may experience problems under high time pressure because you will not be able to keep the overview you want. Moreover, you find it difficult to say no and enter into confrontations. You also don't like abrupt changes.

The Conscientious Time Manager

You like to document everything very neatly and completely. You always know how to find out what agreements were and work very efficiently. You are also someone who can be trusted. A promise is a promise! However, you have difficulty dealing with disorder and chaos and are not always a real team player. You prefer to work independently. You also sometimes place too much emphasis on details and plan in too much detail, which can cause you to lose sight of 'the bigger picture'.

You now know what your pitfalls can be. During the training time management from Kenneth Smit you will gain insight into your “personal time management”. You will be given tools to regain control of your agenda. That question, how do I divide my day to achieve optimal returns, is central. You can get started with it right away. Something for you?