Stop Wasting Your Precious Time

Time is precious because we are only given a finite amount of it to spend on Earth. Once time has been spent, you cannot get it back. A Time Waster is a person, place, event, habit, character trait or thing that consumes your time and energy but does not yield positive results for you. Some Time Wasters can even go a step further, causing harm and generating negative results like heart break, revenue loss, unfulfilled goals and psychological trauma. Anything that prevents you from living your best and most-fulfilled life is a time waster.

In this article, I break down 10 Time Wasters that you must search out and destroy in your life. Dramatic? Yes. Crucial? Most definitely!

So here they are: 10 Time Wasters and How to Tackle Them

1. Worry/Worrywarts: Worrying is tormenting oneself with disturbing thoughts, sometimes about things that have happened, but often times about things that could potentially happen.

Worrying is actually a part of normal life.  There is healthy worrying that pushes you to anticipate issues and plan better how to manage them.   Sadly though, constant worrying can easily transition from healthy worry to preoccupation with unlikely doomsday scenarios in a way that can lead to unproductivity, misery and even physical ailment.

How can you tackle worrying?  Understand what your worries are and create plans to tackle your concerns. For example if you are worried about failing an exam, then give yourself ample time to prepare for the exam, create a well-organized study schedule that will work well with your other responsibilities, seek expert study guidance, and do simulated tests to prepare for the exam.

Additionally, if you believe that your worrying has crossed over from the healthy productive type to the unhealthy maladaptive type, then you should consider seeking help by looking for readings, seminars or counseling sessions that address anxiety.

2. Envy/Jealousy: Envy is a feeling of discontentment or resentful longing brought about by another person’s property, qualities, successes or advantages. Envy is a time waster because it distracts you from achieving your own goals by leading you to undervalue your own blessings, talents and advantages. When you undervalue your blessings you will not re-invest them appropriately to yield greater fruit for yourself or others around you—that is a terrible waste.

How can you tackle Envy? Practice counting your blessings regularly and find ways to detect the silver lining in your dark clouds. Doing this will allow you reach your full potential and keep you too gratified to be bitter about another person’s life.

  3. Anger/Hate: Anger is a strong feeling of irritation, displeasure or hostility. Anger is pointless because you have to dedicate time and energy to fuel it (if you do not fuel anger, it will naturally die out). So, not only will you be wasting precious time that you could have been using to enjoy the delightful aspects of the object of your anger, but, also, that anger will only lead to personal suffering  and can even escalate to tragic violence. Anger also clouds your judgment which will lead to inefficiency and derailed goals—it is a lose-lose deal.

How can you tackle Anger? Figure out the root-cause of your anger and find a way to solve the problem within your means (e.g. if a messy house angers you, you either get your spouse/kids to be tidy, do the job yourself and clean to your satisfaction or outsource the job—fuming about it is a waste of time). For situations that are out of your control (e.g. traffic jams, rude people, or delayed flights) just let the anger go because it not worth your time— it is that simple. For anger toward injustices of the world or evil perpetrated by others, do your best to model goodness and justice, fight for the vulnerable amongst us, and leave the rest to God (for unbelievers: Karma) to handle.

4. Lying: Lying begets more lying. In order to prevent the target of your lies from finding out the truth, you often have to invest a lot of time and energy to keeping your stories straight and manufacturing false evidence sometimes. If you had told the truth from the beginning, that would have been the end of the matter. When you tell enough lies, the effort needed to keep people from finding out the truth will become unsustainable and you will eventually be branded as untrustworthy and a person no one wants to deal with. You may think you are fooling others because you have not been confronted directly, but, trust me, all liars are eventually sniffed out.

How can you tackle lying? Just practice telling the truth and the peace of mind that comes from it will be addictive.

5. Disorganization: When you are disorganized you are unable to capitalize on opportunities as you will often be unprepared, late or at the wrong place. When you are disorganized, you will often miss deadlines, mix up assignments or just not show up at all for important events which can lead to being branded as unreliable. When your environment is messy, you work less efficiently because you waste time having to track down the tools you need to complete a task making it all so much more burdensome. 

How to tackle Disorganization? Get a planner that works for you—digital or paper. Set alarms and notifications on your hand-held device immediately as you book appointments or schedule dates/events.  Organize your work and living environment such that everything has its proper place so that you can quickly and more easily access your tools.

6. Laziness: Laziness is the quality of being averse to work or exertion. Laziness is the ultimate time waster because, the truth is, nothing comes easy so you have to put in work. It is that simple. Lazy people waste time on excuses to justify inaction and unproductivity. My favourite quote: The height that great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight. But, they, whilst their companions slept, went toiling upwards in the night. 

How to tackle Laziness? Break big tasks into bite size (more manageable) pieces that will make them less overwhelming. Schedule important tasks and make them non-negotiable, especially the things you find challenging. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, schedule your workouts like you would an important event you do not want to miss. Also focus on the potential rewards that you may reap as the result of your hard work to keep you motivated.

7. Cure-all Pills/Magic Bullets/No work needed solutions: If it is too good to be true, IT OFTEN IS. Don’t get sucked into Pyramid schemes and get-rich-quick deals. Nothing good comes easy (repeat after me: NOTHING GOOD COMES EASY). You can lose precious time, money and, even your life, on these dangerous deals, so please be wise.

How to tackle too good to be true propositions? Do your research and get knowledgeable about the subject matter in which you are investing resources (time, energy or money). When you come across something that seems too good to be true, be suspicious and approach with caution. These schemes often promise great reward, which often renders them high risk, so do not put all your eggs in one basket in these types of cases if you are too enticed to ignore the deal.

8. Ignorance: Ignorance is lack of knowledge or information. When you lack knowledge you take missteps because you make uninformed choices resulting in wasted effort and unfulfilled goals. Contrary to popular belief, ignorance is NOT bliss.

How can you tackle Ignorance? Seek out knowledge through reading, listening to and interacting with experts, appreciating diversity and keeping an open mind.

9. Pity-Parties: Pity-parties are instances of indulgence in feeling sorry for yourself and constant complaining of how bad you find your life or the things happening to you. It is one thing to experience grief during a time of loss, it is a whole other thing to spend time constantly complaining or feeling sorry for yourself. We are all going to experience loss and challenges at some point in life—it is inevitable. Pity-parties magnify your losses/challenges and make them seem unfair and disproportionate to that of others. This will lead to unrealized dreams and untapped potential.

How can you tackle Pity-Parties? When you feel a pity-party coming on or you sense that you are throwing one, re-focus your mind on the loved ones around you and the tools you DO have at your disposal, not on your losses. Also, remember that a diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure—please hang in there! 

10. Fear: Fear is an unpleasant emotion created by the belief that something or someone is a threat or will cause us pain/harm. Uncontrolled fear can lead to paralysis and inaction because the mind gets distracted from focusing on the things that will actually help us (like your discipline, your talents, your relationship with God, and your supporters/loved ones, etc). Most fears actually never come to pass, so why let them torment you and derail your goals?

How can you tackle Fear? Keep in mind that most of your fears go unrealized, so press on.  Focus on people, activities and attributes that can help you, not hurt you. The Bible says, “For God has not given you a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.” If fear didn’t come from God, then who sent it? Food for thought.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please share them in the comment section below and let’s grow together, building a strong community of lifelong learners.

Love, Chichi