Always feel like you don’t have enough time whether that’s to deliver what’s needed for your project or just to do your role as a Project Manager?
I used to feel like I was always fighting against time. I’d often work later to try and catch up, but those “things” I was chasing just kept appearing and never seemed to reduce.
So then I’d start earlier, but that only made the afternoons harder. By 3pm, I was done, while everyone else still had plenty left in the tank.
Like me, you might have thought that fixing the big problems would be the answer.
The project management tool you use, if you replaced it, surely that would free up time?
Or maybe downloading the latest task management app would finally make the difference?
I’m not saying fixing big problems doesn’t help, it can. But the truth is, the biggest issue is often all the small problems.
On any given project, you might only have one or two big problems, but plenty of small ones. They might be with the project itself, or simply with how you work.
The danger with small problems is they don’t feel urgent, so they don’t get the attention. They’re easy to brush off and just accept.
They’re a bit like scope creep—harder to say no to.
But if you add up the time wasted on the small things, it often comes to more than the big ones.
“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision”
The good news? Small problems are usually easy to fix.
Here are a few examples:
- Hour-long meetings that could be 45 minutes. Even if they run to 55, you’ll still save yourself around 25 minutes a week (just from five meetings).
- Spending 5–10 minutes scrolling the news or social media before work? That’s 50 minutes a week.
- Checking your inbox or Teams every time a notification pops up, then switching back into the task you were doing? That’s 20–30 minutes a day or 2.5 hours a week.
- Team members asking you where things are might just 5 minutes a day, but it adds up. That’s another 25 minutes a week.
I’ll stop there, but you get the idea. Just the above examples alone add up to over 4 hours a week.That’s more than half a day.
Over a month, that’s 18 hours, more than 2.5 full days.
Over a year, that’s 216 hours, or just under 29 working days assuming you do a 7.5hr day!
So this week’s tip: focus on the small problems.
Here’s how:
- Analyse your days and week, where is your time going? Look at how you work, and the habits of those around you
- Every day for a week, write down where you lose time or can save it.. If that feels like too much, just do a quick review at lunch and the end of the day. Note the time wasted.
- Add it up daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Seeing it in the bigger numbers will show you how much it matters.
- For each time waster, ask: how can I shave a few minutes off this or remove it completely?
- Put it into practice.
To summarise: It’s not just the big problems that drain your time it’s all the small ones stacked together. Tackle them, and the compounding effect will free up your time, boost your confidence, and reduce the mental pressure.
Have a great week 💪🏼
Ben
