You routinely fail to complete tasks because you underestimate the time necessary to finish them.What to do: Assume as a rule that things will take longer than you expect. Start earlier than you think you need to in order to have a buffer for eventualities. Also, investigate how long past assignments took and why, and identify patterns there that can guide future decisions.

The Under-estimator 

Your professional life is being affected because you often postpone working, find hard to start working or do low-priority work instead of high priority.What to do: Starting is the hardest part. Divide your work into small tasks and schedule time to tackle at least one of them a day. Setting yourself deadlines may work too.

The Procrastinator 

You often say yes to requests and commit to so much you feel overwhelmed and exhausted.What to do: Keep track of what you need to do, how much time it will take and don’t accept nonpriority tasks if they are going to conflict with yours.

The "Never Say No" Personality

Getting sidetracked by minor concerns and are never quite able to bring the focus that you need to larger projects.What to do: Build extra time when planning your projects. Also, physically block out distractions, like by isolating yourself, turning your desk to face the wall rather than the doorway or using noise-canceling headphones to help keep you focused.

The Easily Distracted 

Everything feels like a crisis to you and you spend much of your time putting out fires, leaving you without much time for your biggest priorities.What to do: Identify your most important goals. List the things you need to accomplish within a given timeframe. Work on other items only if you finish your must-do’s for the timeframe. Also, try setting aside “work blocks” on your calendar to work on your highest priorities, and don’t let yourself schedule over them.

The Fire Fighter

If you struggle with time management (and who among us doesn't?), you probably fall into one of five common styles. If you can identify your time management "personality," it will make it easier to figure out what changes might help you make better use of your time.