We are all terrible at managing our own time, scientists prove

We are all terrible at managing our own time, scientists proveWe are all terrible at managing our own time, scientists proveEvery job has a prescribed set of daily tasks assigned to it. Teachers must teach classes. Doctors must see X number of patients. I need to file this story to my editor.Theres a human tendency to think that maybe we the employees would be better at scheduling ourselvesthan the companies and corporations we work for. Who wants to be shackled to deadlines and limited timeframes for production? Why not let our inner selves be free?Heres why were not good at it. A Harvard Business School studyfound that when employees wentrogue and deviated from their prescribed schedules, they actually became less productive and efficient. The researchers looked at2,766,209 cases that a radiology firm processed between 2005 and 2007 to figure out what drives peopleto deviate from company-mandated tasks, and if that autonomy helped radiologists work mora quickly.Choosing our own sch edules makes us slowerFirst, they found out that many employees were veering from their company-approved schedules to manage their own time.As a test, the researchers examined radiologists, who examine x-rays. While their company wanted them to look at images on a first-come, first-served basis, 42% of radiologists would independently choose the order of images they needed to process.The result the radiologists who did things their way worked mora slowly. The time it took those rogue radiologists to read an image increased by 13%, which cost the doctors more time and their firm up to 3% increase in profits lost.Why we go rogue and why that makes us slowerNot surprisingly, we go rogue when we get more experienced at our jobs, which convinces us we know better than company policies. With seniority comes familiarity with ones job, and the desire to be more autonomous about how we complete these responsibilities.With each year that the radiologists worked at the firm, the likelihood tha t they would make these independent changes to their queueincreased by 18.4%.The choice to defy the accepted practice wasnt random, though. The researchers suggested that radiologists were doing this so that they could do the easier, shorter cases before taking on the more daunting, difficult cases. Radiologists were also changing up their queues, so that they could handle cases by categories and get their brain scans done all at once.These changes sound good in theory - but the decision-making was costing employees time. The researchers found that employees fail to take into account the time lost in just making your own schedule decisionspeople fail to consider the time it takes just to choose one task over another, in what they believe to be the best interest of personal productivity.For leaderswho have to make many minor and large decisions a day, figuring out ways to prioritize decision making is key to limiting inefficiency and preventing decision fatigue. Thats why former Pre sident Obama always wore the same clothes. As he told Vanity Fair in 2012,Im trying to pare down decisions. I dont want to make decisions about what Im eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.Of course, this study does not mean that managers shouldnt empower their employees to make decisions about their work. But a well-designed schedule should make it easier for employees to prioritize their tasks, so that they dont have to think about minor annoyances like order of tasks, and can focus on more essentialtasks like doing their job.