Step 3: Understand Your Risks and Benefits
This is where it really gets interesting!
Let's continue with our car-buying example, and look first at the research part of the task.
The required skills are based in data, information gathering and analysis. If you naturally like that type of thinking, you'll probably excel at this component of the task.
It's a double-edged sword though, because you might like it so much that you spend too long on it, which isn't good for time management overall. There is always a given point where the return on time investment starts to decline and that's when you should move on.
If you don't move on, it's poor time management.
However, if you aren't so inclined towards data and analysis, you might gloss over this part of the task, which means you risk missing some really crucial details.
Just as over-allocation of time is poor time management, under-allocation of time is also poor time management.

Now consider the part where the future of car technology needs to be considered. This component requires a creative thinking approach.
If you're naturally imaginative and visionary, you might thrive on this and perhaps even spend too long on it. This brings a risk of over-allocation of time.
If you don't have a natural preference for imagination and creativity, and skip over this component, you may easily end up buying a car that doesn't turn out to be futureproof. Or even worse, you could end up buying a car when you didn't even need one at all.
And what about the comparing of different car models?
If you have a natural preference for judgment and discernment, you might be very good at drawing sound conclusions from these complicated comparisons. You just need to be aware that being too keen on coming to a decision could mean that you reached the wrong one, which is not just a failure of time management, but also a failure of the task itself.
On the other hand, if you don't naturally prefer this kind of thinking, you might end up considering details and options for too long and never reach a decision - which would be a classic time management mistake.
So step three is all about realising that your own natural thinking preferences will bring you a specific set of benefits and risks when it comes to time management of your overall task.