Individuals who are affected by poor time management could most likely link this to the failure to set goals, make plans, and prioritize tasks.
Consequences of Poor Time Management.
If you do not prioritize time management, you risk falling into the trap of;
1. Poor Reputation.
When you are guilty of poor time management, people will consider you to be the one who never gets things done, or show up for meetings in time. As a result, such a reputation is likely to affect your prospects for a promotion or success in general. Imagine a scenario where your supplier would regularly turn up late to deliver the products you need to run your business. Not only will your finances be impacted, wouldn’t you consider them as unreliable? Consequently, that’s exactly what will happen to you if you manage your time poorly.
2. Stress
Running behind time can be extremely stressful. People who fail to manage their time efficiently and effectively tend to realise that they are always about to miss a deadline. For example, a student who fails to do their assignments well ahead of time will be exposed to the risk of submitting their work late, or submitting it without the appropriate feedback. Subsequently, they are likely to have poor grades or even a fail. Certainly, going through all that horror can be extremely stressful. Read more on how Severe Stress and Depression Increase Risk of Early Death | Live Science
3. Poor Health
Poor health can be as a result of mismanaging your time. That is to say, a continuous period of stress associated to unmet targets, falling being schedule, being impacted by poor reputation, will adversely affect your mental and physical health.
4. Poor Work Quality
Often times, in order to produce a good quality job, one would need the appropriate amount of time. Therefore, in the absence of good time management skills, it is likely that your work and goals will suffer. To clarify, the quality of work you produce in a rush will not be as good as one that is done in all calm and serenity.
5. Waste of Time
So, in the game of time management, not being able to plan your time means you are likely to spend it doing things that add little or no value to your life and your existence. For example, the Lady in the image has the intention of reading the book in front of her. However, instead of doing so, she’s fantasizing about the beach, a plane trip, food and a play date with friends. Consequently, her study time is wasted, and she is unable to achieve her goals.
6. Financial Loss
Being a poor time manager will definitely come at a financial cost. There’s a popular saying which goes “time is money” and this saying isn’t necessarily untrue. For example, if you have a business trip and you are unable to get to the airport in time, you are likely to miss your flight, and you’ll be obliged to spend extra cash to book a new flight or to reschedule one.
My personal experience.
In my own case, studying an MBA and working part time was extremely taxing. Facing such a challenge forced me into the realisation that, good time management was my best bet. Importantly, because my goal was to be the best in my MBA Class, I had to mind how I spent every second of my time. I learned to rise super early and go to bed super late.
In a metropolitan city like London, buses and tubes are the most used methods of commuting. Not having a car meant that I was reliant on these two means of transportation. Furthermore, being a minute late could be disastrous to the rest of my day. Therefore, to conquer poor time management, I downloaded the transport for London mobile phone application and this app enabled me to access a summary of the different buses that commute to all my destinations, what time they arrived at the closest bus stop, and how long they commute to my destination. And this helped me enormously.
Above all, I was able to spend my time effectively at the library, to arrive at my part time job in time, and fostered an overall best time management practice.
Time management is key to achieving success and must be taken seriously. Time is a precious jewel which once lost, can never be recovered.
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