If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say — or even said myself — that they “wish there were more hours in a day,” I’d probably have enough money to buy a car. It’d be a clunker, but the point is that this is something you and I probably hear (and say) fairly regularly.
Let’s face it, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. And while this wish for more time is somewhat a figure of speech, most of us find that it’s a race against the clock (better said, a race against one complete rotation of the earth) to get everything done that we want to each day.
But what if we didn’t need more time…what if we just needed to make better useof the time we had? The truth is that most of us are “leaking” time each day on things that really don’t matter. That’s a nice way of saying that at some point during the day, most people are wasting time. Here are 5 common time vampires sucking this precious resource from you.
Checking email…over…and over. Do you check your email routinely throughout the day? Worse, do you keep your email browser open and feel summoned by every “ding” you hear? Email is a huge distraction, taking your time and focus away from the things that really count. Try cutting back your email time to three times, twice, or even once a day.
Watching TV. The average person spends about 35 hours watching TV a week. That’s insane. It’s basically a full-time job. We’re not saying to get rid of TV. We’re just saying that there’s probably a better way (or 20) to spend at least a fraction of that time.
Gossiping. Not only is it an utter waste of time, gossiping is negative, sucking time, energy, and life out of you — and whoever else is involved in the useless banter. Use that time to practice gratitude, meditate, write a note to someone, or have a meaningful conversation with a friend.
Not having a to-do list. If you’re going to protect your time, use it productively, and win the day, you need to have a game plan that emphasizes your top priorities (those things that are urgent and important). Sure, there’s a good chance things may not go exactly according to plan, and you need to be flexible to a degree; but you’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Social media. While social media isn’t inherently bad, when you’re spending 2 – 9 hours on it a day like most people are, that’s too much valuable time that’s being wasted. Don’t believe you’re leaking that much time to the social media vampires? Use an app like Pyxsee to track your social media use (and even set limits on how much time you do spend); you’ll be surprised.