When you struggle with time management techniques recognize the underlying cause of your problem is your goals and your integrity with yourself. When you catch yourself constantly changing direction throughout the day, reacting and responding to every interruption, and spending a lot of time on low value activities understand that you need to get to the real source of your problems before things will get better. When you make these mistakes they cost you precious time and keep you trapped in a time deficit nightmare. You don't change directions throughout the day because you enjoy the extra stress and tension and like to waste a lot of time and energy. You do it because you haven't taken the time to develop a detailed plan for what you're trying to accomplish and how you would do that. You have a general idea of what you want, but you lack the specific actions required to get that and so you don't know what you really should be doing next.

When you respond immediately to other people and circumstances you are choosing to allow these people and circumstance to control your destiny. Responding reactively keeps you from following your plan, so your really following someone else's plan or no plan at all. You can't get what you want when you don't have a plan and you allow other people and circumstances to change your plans based on their wants and needs.

It's actually easier to do the non-productive low value things than it is to do the productive high value things. And that's exactly why you allow yourself to get side tracked. Holding yourself accountable for productivity is a valuable time management skill that will not only improve your time management, but your results too. To accomplish your objectives you understand that you have to set goals. Your goals must involve the actual actions you will take. As you accomplish each action and then move immediately to the next action your productivity increases. As your productivity increases the amount of free time you have increases.

You understand that when you give your word to someone else that if you don't keep your word you're out of integrity with that person. But the same thing is true when you don't hold yourself accountable for actually taking the actions you plan to take. If you do this regularly it becomes a habit and you lose confidence in yourself and your ability to get things done. Even while you're planning to take action your thoughts are replaying the fact that you haven't kept your word with yourself the last time you planned to something so you probably won't now.

The reason you get side tracked and automatically react to the interruptions is because you lack focus. Because you don't have a plan for what you want you don't know what to focus on. You don't know the specific actions you should be taking, you don't know the right actions to take, and so you avoid taking any action.

Poor time management skills lead to a poor time management mindset. You begin to make excuses for yourself or place blame on anyone and everyone but yourself. Develop the mindset of a time efficient, and you'll become that person as you follow your plan and take the actions you need to take each and every day.