- Avoiding “magical thinking” when managing your workday
- An overly ambitious schedule can result in missed deadlines, tensions with coworkers, and other frustrations
- Advice from a global CEO coach on setting realistic goals
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
Plenty of managers and employees try to be ambitious with their workday, setting a high bar for what they can accomplish. But if you don’t set realistic goals, it can result in missed deadlines, exhaustion, and tensions with coworkers.
Sabina Nawaz, a global CEO coach, writes in the Harvard Business Review that “magical thinking” can led to these problems. She says misconceptions include believing that your workload will ease enough to take on new projects or underestimating the amount of time a project will require.
Nawaz also says that while relying on team members to complete tasks can lead to errors, it is more effective to ask for corrections than complete revisions on your own. This can also help you build trust with your coworkers and avoid the feeling that you need to complete tasks on your own for them to be high quality.
