Time Wasters
Are you a procrastinator or at least have some procrastinator tendencies? Perhaps you browse the internet much longer than you need to. Or watch reality television for hours on end, until you find your television watching you.
There is nothing wrong with taking a “break” from life, and doing such mundane activities to relax the mind, but when we do these things for hours on end, knowing that we have other things to do, that is when it can become problematic.
The reality is that in today’s fast-paced world, time is precious, and as we all know, time is something that we can never get back. Yet, many of us do things that completely waste time, and are unproductive. For example, social media is one of the biggest time wasters. Have you ever said to yourself, let me check FB, Twitter, or Instagram for a quick second, and that “quick second” turned into several hours?
Before you knew it, three hours had passed, and you had nothing to show for it. There is nothing wrong with checking social media from time to time for fun, but try to give yourself a time limit to doing so. If you have a social media account for your business, of course you should spend some time on that engaging with your followers and so on, but that would be considered productive and not needlessly scrolling.
When it comes to procrastination, it only leads to stress and frustration in having put things off until the last minute. Try setting goals and breaking down your tasks into more manageable steps, to be done one at a time, rather than trying to get all of them done at once.
Imagine sitting down to write a book. You may have an overall direction for your story, but if you try to write your entire book in one sitting, you may become frustrated and overwhelmed. You may decide to take a break to check social media, and before you know it, several hours has once again passed by. Instead, why not dedicate one day to writing chapter one, another day to writing chapter two, and so on, while giving yourself several breaks throughout the day, perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes at a time. While doing this, train your mind to not check social media until your scheduled break time where you can unwind.
Another time waster than many of us engage in, myself included, is constantly checking email throughout the day. This can be a major distraction. I am trying to train myself to only check and respond to emails at specific times throughout the day, and for a specific amount of time. It is too easy to get caught up in emails for an hour or more, which can interrupt your workflow and day in general.
Lastly are those dreaded meetings that most of us hate. Have you ever attended a meeting and afterwards thought “this could have simply been an email.” Many meetings are such time wasters as they are poorly organized and lack a clear agenda, leading to wasted time and pointless discussion. And you know that there is always that one person in the meeting who talks simply because they like the sound of their own voice. We all know that person.
Let’s try to develop habits that are not time wasters. While this is no easy feat, as I am also working on these things, we all know that consistency forms habits, and once it becomes a habit, it becomes a natural part of who we are. When you identify those things that are time wasters, you can then begin to take steps to avoid them to make the most of your time and to be more productive in both your personal and professional life.
Staying focused and organized can help to minimize these time wasters and help you make the most of your day. So, what small steps will you take this week to not waste time, or to not waste as much time as you have been?
