It’s Monday, and I have work later. Whee!
I’ve always loved Mondays.
But this particular Monday comes with extra weight.
We’re basically inundated with work this week and then monday and tuesday next week to wrap things up before we take a short break on the 24th and 25th. And then we’ll be back again on the 26th to complete the week.
It’s that period where everyone wants things done now, but time is clearly running out.
Days like this always make me think about time management and how sustainable your work life actually is.
What I’ve learned over the years is this: poor time management doesn’t just affect output. It affects people.
The Problem Isn’t Work—It’s How We Stack It
Work itself isn’t the enemy.
Most of us can handle heavy workloads when they’re paced properly.
What burns people out isn’t volume—it’s cramming.
Cramming turns manageable tasks into emergencies.
It creates unnecessary urgency, rushed decisions, and that constant harried feeling where everyone is just trying to survive the day instead of doing their work well.
And the frustrating part?
Most of this is avoidable.
I genuinely wish more people valued time management—not just for themselves, but out of respect for the people they work with.
When time is managed well, work flows. When it isn’t, everyone pays the price.
With that in mind, here are five time management principles I keep coming back to—especially on weeks like this.
1. Pace Yourself
One of the biggest mistakes people make is treating every workday like a sprint.
Mondays feel urgent, so we push too hard. Tuesdays feel worse, so we push harder. By the time Wednesday comes around, we’re already exhausted—and somehow surprised by it.
Pacing yourself means acknowledging that productivity isn’t about how fast you can go once. It’s about how consistently you can show up without burning out.
I’ve learned to ask myself a simple question: Can I work this way every day?
If the answer is no, then the pace is wrong.
Sustainable work beats misguided maximum effort every time.
2. Stop Treating Everything as Equally Urgent
Not all tasks deserve the same level of urgency—but they often get treated that way.
When everything is marked “ASAP,” nothing really is. This creates panic instead of progress. Good time management requires prioritization, not just execution.
It helps to clearly separate:
- What must be done today
- What can be done today
- What only feels urgent because it was delayed
When you don’t distinguish between those, you end up doing everything halfway—and stressing the whole time.
Urgency should be intentional, not accidental.
3. Respect Transitions, Not Just Deadlines
Something people often forget about time management is that humans don’t switch modes instantly.
Going from task to task, meeting to meeting, or project to project takes mental energy. When schedules are packed too tightly, even simple work feels heavy.
I’ve found that respecting transitions—giving yourself buffer time between tasks—makes work feel calmer and more controlled.
You think better.
You respond better.
You make fewer mistakes.
Deadlines matter, yes.
But so does the space between them.
4. Avoid the “Let’s Just Push Through” Trap
There’s this unspoken belief that pushing through exhaustion is a sign of dedication.
I don’t buy that anymore.
When people are tired, they don’t work faster—they work sloppier.
Mistakes increase.
Revisions pile up.
Stress spreads.
Suddenly, everyone’s rushing because someone earlier had to rush.
Time management isn’t about squeezing more work into less time.
It’s about knowing when to slow down so the work doesn’t collapse under its own weight.
Rest isn’t a reward. It’s part of the system.
5. Good Time Management Is a Team Skill, Not a Solo One
This is the part that doesn’t get talked about enough.
You can be excellent at managing your own time—but if the people around you aren’t, you’ll still feel the pressure.
Poor planning upstream always creates chaos downstream.
That’s why I wish people would value time management not just as a personal productivity hack, but as a shared responsibility.
When people plan better:
- Requests come earlier
- Deadlines feel reasonable
- Workdays feel calmer
- Everyone works with more ease
Time management, at its best, is an act of consideration.
Why This Matters More During the Holidays
Weeks like this—right before the holidays—amplify everything.
There’s less time. More pressure. Higher expectations. And very little patience left.
That’s why pacing matters even more now.
Burning out right before a break defeats the purpose of having a break at all.
I don’t want to end the year exhausted and resentful.
I want to end it tired—but steady.
Focused—not frantic.
And that only happens when time is treated as something to be managed thoughtfully, not something to be wrestled into submission.
Pace yourself.
Work deliberately.
Respect your limits and the people you work with.
Because time management isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing things well, calmly, and without unnecessary damage.
If more of us approached work that way, Mondays wouldn’t feel so punishing—and breaks would actually feel like breaks.
And that, I believe, is something worth managing our time for.