Do you fall into the trap of wasting time? Time is a valuable commodity! When you waste your precious time, you’re actually preventing yourself from achieving the things you desire.
Managing your time effectively requires commitment and discipline. I find it easy to fall off the rails and do things I like doing instead of those things that are going to my personal and professional life.
Technology hasn’t helped by providing notifications and interesting sites like Facebook where you can catch up with people and discover what’s going on. Furthermore, there is an unconscious reward when you receive a notification that says “I’m important” and it really hard not to go to the email, text, Instagram or Snapchat as soon as it arrives.
Take a look at the list of the top ten time wasters and see which ones you fall prey to for wasting your time. If you find yourself spending too much time on these activities, try changing some of your habits so your time can be more productive and rewarding.
1. Wasting Your Worry
Many people will worry until doomsday about every little thing in their lives which is unproductive and bad for your health, mind, and spirit. My mother was a worrier and I learned not to tell her I was travelling away for work until I got back. Otherwise, I would have to call her when I arrived so she knew I got there safely.
If you have something worrisome coming up, craft a plan of positive action on paper, then let it go. After all, worrying doesn’t accomplish anything positive.
2. Television
We’re a couch potato society! We schedule our lives around our favorite television shows and we spend less time doing more important activities like attending social events that could strengthen our relationships.
Break the habit by recording your favorite TV shows and watch them during your leisure time, or limit your TV intake to just a couple hours a week. With sites like Netflix, this can be easily done. However, the opposite can happen when you have an endless supply of interesting shows to binge on. You need to be disciplined to stay within your limit.
3. Video and Computer Games
Video and computer games are becoming such a time waster that gamers are actually developing what is called “gamers thumb,” which is a repetitive stress injury.
Break the habit by setting time limits for yourself and your kids and help your kids understand why this is important. In this time of distraction, teaching children to be disciplined on how they spend their time is increasingly important and they need to be taught balance between all things early on.
4. Internet time
Are you constantly browsing the Internet, Facebook or Twitter? Are your kids hearing you say, “In a minute,” much too often when they ask you to spend time with them?
Break the habit by keeping your time on the Internet short and get involved in life. Instead of chatting with your online friends, spend more time with your real-life friends and family because the internet does not replace face to face socialization. Take a look at this interview with Simon Sinek, Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace to help you understand why it’s important to set aside technology and engage face to face.
5. Telephone Chatter
Sure, we like to call old friends and chat, but do you chat on the phone all day long? If you do, you may find that you get hardly anything done all day.
Break the habit by keeping phone calls to a minimum or set a timer to go off after 15 minutes. This way you won’t feel deprived of a good conversation, but it won’t take over your whole day.
6. Traffic and Commuting
Some of us spend an enormous amount of time traveling to and from work. You can turn your commuting time into productive time!
Break the habit by carpooling or taking the bus, subway or train to work. You can use this time to read, plan your day, complete paperwork, or even relax your mind before a productive day.
If you drive, you can listen to inspiring and informative CDs or tapes to sharpen your mind each morning. A site I recently discovered is Blinkist.
7. Hobbies
Yes, there are people who are so obsessed with a hobby that they don’t make time to do anything else. They rush home from work to their hobby, even skipping dinner.
Break the habit by scheduling your hobby time so you’re not skipping meals, missing time with your family, or cutting into other productive time.
8. Daydreaming
It’s fun and healthy to dream about career ambitions or future aspirations, but when those dreams prevent you from taking action in your life, then you’re wasting time. Avoid getting bogged down with too much dreaming.
Break the habit by making a list of your goals or dreams, then take action to make those dreams come true.
9. Meetings
Although necessary, meetings can be one of the biggest time wasters of our workday. If everyone is wiped out from sitting in long meetings all day, productive time will be low.
If you’re in charge of meetings, set timeframes for them and stick to your stated time.
Break the habit by limiting the length of your meetings: keep needless chatter and agendas out of the meeting.
10. Planning
If you don’t take the time to plan your day, the important things you need to accomplish may not get done. Write down your daily goals and tasks.
Break the habit by scheduling your day in the order of your top priorities.
“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.” — Charles Richards
There are many ways we waste our time in our everyday lives, but with a little effort, you can avoid time-wasting activities and turn that time into an advantage
Karin Naslund
CEO, Educator & Mentor, Naslund Consulting Group Inc.
Karin Naslund is the CEO of Life Bright Learning and Naslund Consulting. She is a trainer, mediator, and coach. Karin has been working with new leaders for 30-years and enjoys watching them grow in confidence as they apply new skills on the job and at home.