@bellheld02
Profile
Registered: 2 days, 10 hours ago
The Psychology Behind Effective Time Management Skills Training
Why Australian Businesses Are Still Hopeless at Time Management
Look, I've been banging on about this for the better part of two decades now, and most companies I visit still have their people running around like crazy people. Not long ago, I'm sitting in this impressive office tower in Sydney's CBD watching a manager frantically toggle between seventeen different browser tabs while trying to explain why their monthly goals are shot to pieces. Honestly.
The team member has got three phones going off, chat alerts going mental, and he's genuinely amazed when I suggest maybe just maybe this method isn't working. This is 2025, not 1995, yet we're still treating time management like it's some mysterious dark art instead of basic workplace practice.
The thing that drives me mental. Most Business owner I meet believes their people are "just naturally disorganised" or "are missing the right approach." Complete nonsense. Your team isn't damaged your systems are. And nine times out of ten, it's because you've never tried teaching them how to actually organise their time well.
The Hidden Price of Poor Time Management
Here's a story about Sarah from this creative studio in Brisbane. Talented beyond belief, this one. Could make magic happen with clients and had more innovative solutions than seemed humanly possible. But good grief, seeing her work was like witnessing a car crash in slow motion.
First thing, she'd begin her day checking emails for an hour. Then she'd attack this complex project proposal, get halfway through, remember she needed to call a client, get sidetracked by someone dropping by, start working on a different campaign, notice she'd forgotten about a meeting, rush off that, come back to her desk completely frazzled. Rinse and repeat for endlessly.
The kicker? This woman was working massive overtime and feeling like she was spinning her wheels. Her burnout were through the roof, her work output was inconsistent, and she was planning to finding another job for something "less demanding." In contrast, her colleague Dave was cruising through the same responsibilities in standard hours and always seemed to have time for actual lunch.
What's the difference between them? Dave knew something most people never figure out time isn't something that controls your day, it's something you take charge of. Simple concept when you think about it, doesn't it?
What Succeeds vs What's Total Nonsense
Before you roll your eyes and think I'm about to sell you another digital solution or some complex methodology, hold on. Real time management isn't about having the perfect digital setup or colour coding your calendar like a rainbow threw up on it.
It's about understanding three fundamental things that most training programs completely miss:
Number one Focus isn't plural. Yeah, I know that's poor English, but listen up. At any point in time, you've got one main thing. Not multiple, not three, only one. The second you start juggling "priorities," you've already lost the plot. Discovered this the tough way operating a business back in Darwin during the resources surge. Assumed I was being clever managing fifteen "urgent" projects at once. Came close to ruining the Business entirely trying to be universally helpful.
Point two Distractions aren't inevitable, they're optional. This is where most Australian businesses get it absolutely wrong. We've created this environment where being "responsive" and "immediate" means responding every time someone's phone dings. Mate, that's not effectiveness, that's automatic responses.
Consulted for this legal practice on the in Brisbane where the senior lawyers were boasting that they responded to emails within half an hour. Seriously proud! Meanwhile, their billable hours were down, client work was taking way longer as it should, and their legal team looked like the walking dead. Once we created proper communication boundaries shock horror both efficiency and client satisfaction increased.
Last rule Your energy isn't steady, so quit acting like it is. This is my favourite topic, probably because I spent most of my younger years trying to ignore energy dips with excessive espresso. News flash: made things worse.
Some tasks need you alert and concentrated. Others you can do when you're half asleep. Yet most people randomly assign work throughout their day like they're some sort of work android that operates at constant capacity. Absolutely mental.
Programs That Deliver Results
Here's where I'm going to annoy some people. Most time management courses is complete rubbish. Had to be, I said it. It's either overly academic all models and diagrams that look pretty on presentations but fail in the actual workplace or it's too focused on software and programs that become just another thing to handle.
Effective approaches is education that acknowledges people are messy, workplaces are unpredictable, and flawless processes don't exist. The best program I've ever conducted was for a team of tradies in Darwin. These guys didn't want to know about the Eisenhower Matrix or Getting Things Done methodology.
Their focus was simple techniques they could use on a construction site where chaos happens every few minutes.
So we zeroed in on three simple concepts: batch similar tasks together, preserve your high performance periods for critical tasks, and learn to refuse commitments without shame about it. Nothing earth shattering, nothing complex. Six months later, their job finishing statistics were up a solid third, additional labour expenses had fallen dramatically, and injury compensation cases had virtually disappeared.
Compare that to this premium consultancy business in Adelaide that spent serious money on elaborate efficiency platforms and detailed productivity methodologies. A year and a half down the line, half the workforce still wasn't using the system properly, and the other half was spending longer periods maintaining the systems than actually getting work done.
Where Australian Companies Stuff This Up
It's not that managers fail to understand the importance of time management. They generally do. Where things go wrong is they treat it as a universal fix. Send everyone to the same training course, provide identical resources to all staff, anticipate consistent outcomes.
Absolute nonsense.
Here's the story of this manufacturing Company in Newcastle that brought me in because their floor managers were always running late. The CEO was convinced it was a skills gap get the department heads some organisational training and all problems would disappear.
Turns out the real problem was that management kept shifting focus unexpectedly, the scheduling software was about as helpful as an ashtray on a motorbike, and the floor managers lost significant time in discussions that should have been with a five minute phone call.
No amount of efficiency education wasn't going to solve structural problems. We ended up overhauling their information systems and implementing proper project management protocols before we even looked at individual efficiency development.
This is what drives me mental about so many Aussie organisations. They want to address the outcomes without dealing with the fundamental problem. Your people can't manage their time effectively if your business doesn't prioritise productivity as a valuable resource.
The Brisbane Breakthrough
Speaking of organisational respect for time, let me tell you about this software Company in Brisbane that totally shifted my thinking on what's possible. Compact crew of about fifteen, but they operated with a level of scheduling awareness that put major companies to shame.
Each session featured a defined purpose and a firm conclusion deadline. People actually arrived ready instead of treating discussions as thinking time. Messages weren't handled like chat. And here's the kicker they had a Company wide agreement that unless it was truly critical, professional contact ceased at evening.
Groundbreaking? Not really. But the results were remarkable. Staff efficiency was better than comparable organisations I'd worked with. Workforce stability was almost perfect. And Customer happiness ratings were off the charts because the output standard was reliably superior.
The owner's mindset was basic: "We hire smart people and rely on them to handle their responsibilities. Our job is to create an environment where that's actually possible."
Contrast that with this extraction industry firm in Kalgoorlie where managers wore their 80 hour weeks like symbols of commitment, meetings ran over schedule as a normal occurrence, and "critical" was the default status for everything. Despite having significantly more resources than the digital business, their per employee productivity was roughly half.
If you have any kind of inquiries concerning where and how you can utilize Time Management For Workers, you could contact us at our web site.
Website: https://stretchlocal.bigcartel.com/product/time-management-for-busy-professionals/
Forums
Topics Started: 0
Replies Created: 0
Forum Role: Participant