Nobody needs a lesson on how to waste time, do they? Or do we think it’s so obvious we don’t realize there are subtle ways to ruin a day?
There are plenty of examples of time-sucking activities. However, what came to mind when you read the headline? Did any of these thoughts come to you about wasting time?
- A slacker just sits in front of their TV each day
- Someone at work doing anything but work
- A social butterfly flitting between people, spreading gossip and idle chit chat to their surroundings
We look at disdain to people we consider lazy and unproductive. But what we don’t realize is how often we waste time being busy. It is possible to be incredibly busy but doing the wrong things.
- We can stay up late, then wake up late in a manic push to get out the door
- Some of us can be tempted to just answer email instead of consider long-term planning
- An alert on our phone can distract us from an important task we are doing
We don’t have to be idle to waste time. Focusing all our energy on urgent matters that aren’t important can make us waste just as much time as someone who isn’t busy. In fact, we need downtime and breaks to keep us from burning out. Consider taking a break and do the following:
- Write a list and consider what is really important for today
- Turn off phone notifications when you need to focus
- Spend some time considering what is important in the long-term as opposed to what seems urgent today that won’t matter tomorrow
- Take a look at the toxic time triangle and consider if your life is out of balance
There are too many ways to waste time. Let’s consider how slowing down and taking a look at what’s important can keep us from wasting more of it.