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.
Today I'll talk about 4 time wasters, that by avoiding, you could have more time for
the things that actually matter.
Number one:
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 having the best gear in the game benefit you in any way in 5 years?
Probably not.
Number two:
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 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".
Number three:
Surfing the internet.
Lets 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.
You might feel like you're going to miss out if you don't check the article about 8 proven
ways to lose belly fat or watch a video about 4 bad habits you must avoid.
This is exactly what happened to Mike.
After he checked his email, he thought it might be a good idea to quickly check Facebook
as well.
Then he got an urge to check the front page of Reddit and Youtube.
Since he didn't want to miss anything important, he kept on surfing.
By this time, Mike was already sucked in to the Internet black hole.
Internet is a great tool when used correctly.
But when it's done mindlessly it can be your greatest enemy.
The fourth and final habit to quit is: Scrolling through social media.
While social media is a 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 on 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 are 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.
Do you agree or disagree with my list?
Would you add anything to it?
Let me know in the comments below, I read them all.
Keep on improving, so you can be better than yesterday.