10 Sneaky Time Wasters That Hold You Back From Success
#6 Having an affair
I have blackout weeks.
Weeks I can’t — for the life of me — remember. My brain has forgotten them because nothing relevant happened. Nothing that contributed to my definition of success.
Blackout weeks are the typical times of the year I spend bingeing on Netflix, scrolling through Instagram, re-watching Friends for the tenth time, and so on.
Still, sometimes they’re necessary, as I explained in the article, How to Prevent and Fix Burnout by Structuring Your Life Like a Story.
Sometimes we need moments to step back and recharge. The problem arises when all our weeks contain countless time wasters, especially those we’re not aware of — sneaky critters that consume our time and sanity.
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have luck on their backs? Why success shadows their steps?
They are experts not only on managing their time but on spotting time wasters. Thanks to their awareness, they can course correct, enhancing their productivity.
Here are ten sneaky time wasters you probably never thought about before or guessed their magnitude:
1. Over-Indulging in Food and Alcohol
According to Brendon Burchard in his book, High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way, the second habit of successful people is to generate energy by improving their physical and mental well-being.
High performers care about exercise and how they eat because they know it directly influences their productivity.
Though it’s perfectly fine to have the occasional wild night, we are inadvertently wasting our time when we abuse our food and alcohol intake.
If we’ve consumed too much alcohol, we’re hangover the next day, making it impossible to focus. If we eat an entire family-sized pizza, we will probably have stomach ache.
But that’s not all.
We will also waste time feeling guilty about the wild night — or trying to make up for it by doing extra exercise to burn the extra calories.
What to do instead:
Simple: Pay attention to your health. Find a routine that fits you, or start by following the World Health Organization’s physical activity and dietary guidelines.
2. Finishing Crappy Books
Finishing a book gives us a sense of accomplishment. But, if the book is mediocre at best, is the completion thrill worth the time lost?
It’s ok to let go of a book. It doesn’t make you a quitter. It makes you smart.
What to do instead:
According to Google, there are 129,864,880 books in the world. Find something else to read that actually nurtures your mind.
3. Scrolling Through Social Media
We’re wasting an average of 7 years of our life on social media.
Unless we are social media managers, we usually have a nagging feeling of guilt when we finish our daily scroll through Instagram, Twitter, YouTube — whatever.
We all suspect we’re wasting our time. But can you guess how much of your life it will eat away?
Let’s consider FameMass’s average of 2 hours and 23 minutes. That means we spend around 36 days of the year scrolling through social media. Considering the current life expectancy of 72.63 years, that means we’re wasting an average of 7 years of our life on social media.
36 days is what it could take you to write a book following the NaNoWriMo guidelines. Do I need to mention what you could do in 7 years?
What to do instead:
Unless you’re scrolling through social media for a specific purpose, be it learning, growing your brand, etc., limit your use.
If you feel that you have an addiction, seek professional help. You could also try the tips provided by McKinley Valentine in his article, Quit Your Phone Addiction Using Methods That Work for Smokers.
4. Binge-Watching NetFlix
If 36 days a year sounds mindblowing, brace yourself for the TV statistics.
According to research, “the average person will watch more than 78.000 hours of TV” in their lifetime. That is around 9 years of our lives. Wow!
What to do instead:
You don’t have to quit cold-turkey. We all need entertainment and downtime, but we could try to redirect some of that time to more rewarding activities like reading, a hobby, a side project, among others.
5. Being Disorganized
I used to complain every time my mother asked me to organize my room. Now I understand she was right.
According to research, we waste an average of one year of our lives searching for misplaced things.
What to do instead?
Simple: Organize your life. Select a place for everything, and soon you won’t waste time searching for your sunglasses (this gets me every time) or the umbrella. If you need inspiration, check out Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.
6. Having an Affair
Keeping one relationship alive is already time-consuming. Imagine keeping two. Especially when the second one rarely works out. Is it easy to fully trust someone who cheated on their current partner to be with you?
Moreover, though you may get gratification, you will have to waste time ensuring your partner doesn’t find out.
What to do instead:
Wouldn’t it be better to invest that time either improving your current relationship or ending it and starting with someone new?
7. Trying to Save Bad Relationships
We’ve all heard about toxic people, yet we find it hard to cut them from our lives or reduce exposure. We end up wasting precious time on people who don’t value us. Worse, we spend mental energy scrutinizing and evaluating the relationship even if we aren’t physically together.
The worst manifestation of this time waster, though, is trying to change people. Often, we believe we can be the hero a person needs. But like in books, main characters only change when they want to change.
What to do instead:
If you’re in a toxic relationship, try to leave or limit your exposure. At least, try to limit the mental energy you invest in it. Don’t go overboard trying to convince someone to improve. They won’t.
8. Thinking About Exercising
According to research, people spend on average 7 minutes thinking about exercising every day. Need I say more?
What to do instead:
Either create an exercise routine that becomes automatic or redirect your attention to another activity — meditation, planning, etc. — whenever you catch yourself struggling with the idea of physical activity.
9. Reading or Watching the News
The news have two main problems: there’s too much, and they’re usually gloomy. Happy information doesn’t sell as much as the-end-the-world-is-near messages.
Moreover, because of the internet, every time we want to get extra information on something we’ve heard or seen, we start researching. We all know someone who hasn’t stopped.
News are important. Understanding what is going on in the world and what can affect us is fundamental to keeping up with the times and preparing for the future. But reading them every moment of every day is damaging our mental health and taking a lot of our time.
What to do instead:
Schedule a “news window” every day. When you’re done, focus on other things. If something happens that truly affects you, someone will let you know.
10. Complaining All the Time
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.” — Laurie Buchanan
It’s normal to vent with close friends and family whenever you have a problem. But when your problem seems to stretch indefinitely, complaining is a time waster not only for you but for the people who surround you.
What to do instead:
Make a choice: Accept your situation or change it.
Final Words
Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok.
The clock is ticking. Regardless of background or nationality, three things remain painfully true:
- Time moves forward.
- We only have 24 hours every day.
- The current world life expectancy is of 72.63 years.
In other words, our time here is finite. It’s our most precious resource. One we often squander away until it’s too late to do something about it.
If you want to increase your chances of success, evaluate your day-to-day and be wary of these ten sneaky time wasters.
Who knows? With all that newly freed time, you might end up writing a book, creating a side business, or taking your relationship to the next level.
