Stop Wasting Your Time On These Habits
You get 86,400 seconds every single day.
And guess what? It all comes down to how you choose to spend yours. Whether you use them productively or waste them, that's your choice.
How many times do you go through the course of the day and realize, that you didn't do anything you should have done? You obviously spent that time somewhere, but it wasn't on the things you wanted to.
Instead of trying to find another technique to make you more productive, you should look into which habits you're currently wasting so much time on. Sometimes to achieve success it’s not what you do that matters, but what you stop doing.
1. Playing video games
Gaming is one of the most lovable pastimes in the modern world. But a lot of people spend playing way too much time playing. One hour here…two hours there…
The time just disappears. Where does it go? Who knows. Not into anything productive, that’s for sure.
For the time that you’re putting into a video game…how much are you getting back out of it?
Sure, you’re getting temporary pleasure, but what about real and lasting enjoyment? You know the type of enjoyment that comes from accomplishing real-life goals? There’s nothing worse than putting a ton of time into something and having nothing to show for it.
Will have the best gear in the game benefit you in any way in 5 years? Probably not.
2. Watching TV
While many people will argue that a little bit of TV never hurt anyone, the amount of a “little bit” is constantly in debate.
Nielsen's report found that the average American watches more than 34 hours of television each week. That's almost a full workweek.
Imagine if you spent a fraction of this time working on your goals – you'd be making so much progress. No one ever accomplished anything by just sitting on the couch. Besides being an obvious time sink, research has shown that heavy TV viewers report lower life satisfaction and higher anxiety.
Television messes with our understanding of reality. It’s filled with beautiful people doing interesting things and having great adventures every show.
Life is never going to be like a TV series and this can make people very disillusioned about how their lives should look. This leads to a feeling of inadequacy and emptiness when compared to the never-ending adventures of the TV world. And here we are still telling ourselves; "Just one more episode and I'm done".
3. Surfing the internet.
Let's take a look at a scenario that is all too common in today's world. It's 4pm. Mike just got back from his college lecture and he decides that he wants to study for the exam that's ahead.
He's feeling motivated, so he sits down with a giant textbook. He's reading on the topic, but then he doesn't quite understand what the second chapter is all about.
So Mike decides to search for additional resources on the internet. He opens a Wikipedia page and finds the info he was looking for.
Since he's already here, he decides to quickly check his email before going back to studying. Suddenly it's 9pm and 5 hours have passed since Mike decided to study.
And yet he didn't progress further than the second chapter and he's still on the internet. Internet is a trap that everyone falls in to, from time to time. It's designed to keep our attention for hours on end.
The Internet is a great tool when used correctly. But when it's done mindlessly it can be your greatest enemy.
4. Scrolling through social media.
While social media is also one of the best tools to stay updated on the latest industry news, and catch-up with friends or family, it's another huge time waster.
In fact, we spend an average of 2 hours per day on social media. Unless you're a social media manager, there's no need for you to spend that much time there.
Just like TV, social media has damaging consequences on our mental health. It's been linked to higher levels of loneliness and depression after all.
And that's not a surprise, because most people on social platforms try to portray their lives as perfect, leaving you to feel inadequate.
Not many people want others to know they are feeling down, so the only thing we see on our news feed is the highlights of people's day. And often we make this mistake and think that their lives look like that all the time.
But remember, behind the scenes their life could be way worse than yours, even if it might look perfect in that one photo. And that pretty much sums it up.
Oh, a little clarification about my list: You may consider any activity I mentioned as joyful and exciting. It may be important to you.
You may be doing it with purpose and intention, rather than the force of an old habit you can’t shake. If that’s how you feel, then it's NOT a waste of time.
However you want to limit yourself to a certain degree when doing these activities, so you don't get sucked in. You might enjoy video games and you don't really want to quit playing them. That's fine.
But set a limit, to how much time you're going to spend on them. If someone asks you, "what did you do today?"
And you literally don't know where your time went, because you spent an entire day in front of a screen, then it's time to reflect and take a look at your priorities.
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