In this article, we will be talking all about time-wasting activities, understanding what time stealers are, common time wasters and how to overcome them.
In recent times, the art of time management has become a skill that a lot of people particularly young people and those in the working class, struggle with.
The average person in our world complains that 24 hours seems to no longer be enough. Due to the inability of people to efficiently and judiciously manage this precious resource called time, many have become victims of unpleasant situations.
Lost opportunities, failures of diverse kinds, and the emotions of regret seem to now be the order of the day. Here is a popular question most folks like to ask, “what are time-wasting activities and how to overcome them?”
Time-wasting activities, looters, or whatever fancy name you can give, are activities of any kind that bring you to a point where you successfully waste or mismanage your time.
Time stealers are very common activities that most of us are culprits of practicing daily. In fact, due to how frequently they are being practiced, most time-wasting activities have become subconscious acts that have become ingrained into our beings.
It is therefore of utmost importance that these habits are first recognized before they can be dealt with.
No matter how terrible the situation might seem, there is definitely, the light at the end of the tunnel if this happens to be your predicament.
What are the top 15 time wasters? In this article, I’ll be introducing you to the top 15 time-wasting activities that you must make efforts to get rid of.
1. Inability To Say No And Being Available For Everything
The crazy thing about having 24 hours in a day is that everything and anything scrambles for your attention. Your Tv at home wants your attention. Your mobile phone and social media apps also want your attention.
The same goes for your friends, family, your boss at work, and even your own body. They all need and want your attention. If you even check properly you might realize that most of these things screaming for your attention are not very relevant and important at that very moment.
Now, imagine you begin to give each of them that attention that they all badly desire. Here’s what’s going to happen.
You’re going to close and open your eyes and realize that 24 hours is all gone! If that happens, you’d probably have not gotten all your important tasks and responsibilities done which also means that you stand a chance of losing your job, valuable opportunities, and relationships.
So what do we do in such a situation? Learn to Say No! You have got to learn that not everything is valuable enough to deserve our attention especially on days when there’s so much to do!
Giving your attention to anything and everything is one very bad habit that you must get rid of if you’ll be productive in life because the most productive people are very conscious about how they spend every minute of their life.
So, if you’re going to be as productive as they are, you’ll need to avoid letting everything get your attention.
2. Doing Everything Yourself
At first, this might not look like one of the many time-wasting activities. You might even mistake it for competence and efficiency but if you look hard enough, you’ll realize that you have been wasting your time.
As we grow, we begin to handle higher and more responsibilities in addition to the ones that lie in our hands.
Choosing to handle all those responsibilities all by yourself especially when there are available pairs of hands is choosing to waste your time and choosing to deal with exhaustion.
As I said, you might even think that you are being productive and hardworking but believe me, it isn’t. If you learn to delegate those responsibilities, you’d have time to handle the ones on your hands better and still find time to deal with more important matters!
Imagine all the time you could have saved if you had just let someone else get the job! You are bound to waste more time and resources and also be less efficient in the execution of your tasks and responsibilities if you keep doing things all by yourself.
3. Aiming For Perfection
I’ll shed light on all time-wasting activities but I must discuss extensively this one using relatable experiences. Let’s start with a friend’s experience.
This friend of mine wanted to launch his first brand on the 3rd of march but ended up launching months later.
Why? His brand was a startup and he felt he did not have enough products to launch his brand and so he decided to stall a little while hop in that he’d get enough money to acquire more products.
The products never came and he launched months later (November). Till today, he still regrets wasting that much when more could have been done and achieved.
In a bid to want everything to look sleek, spic and span, we end up wasting time unnecessarily. Your strive for perfection can be a limitation in your growth journey.
Why? Because the time that can be used in making gradual and consistent improvements will be used in gathering resources just so that the first step can be perfect and mind-blowing.
I used to make these mistakes daily until I corrected them. I love working, creating, and building my ideas from the scratch in what my mind recognizes as a perfect work environment or condition.
A perfect work environment/ condition for me means loud, slow music, food, coffee, stationery of every form, access to date, and of course, solitude! Weird, I know but it always does the magic for me.
So, many times I’d end up procrastinating or not working at all if even one of those items were not available. It not only wasted my time but also made me unproductive and incompetent.
Our ideas of perfection are diverse but they all share mutual negative side effects which are a waste of time and resources and also slow growth. Learn to avoid this time-waster like a plague. You’d be doing yourself a whole lot of good.
4. Comparing Yourself To Others
Of all time-wasting activities, this one messes with your mental health and emotional stability the most! Comparison, they say is a thief of joy and I cannot agree more.
It puts you in a situation where you compare someone’s success reel with your behind-the-scenes progress. Once you began to play the comparison game, you begin to lose focus of the vision, of the big picture, of the reason why you decided to make efforts to become successful.
And so instead of channeling your energy, time, and resources into taking the necessary steps, you begin to waste time just complaining and talking about how everyone seems to be having fast and smooth lives while you struggle daily.
I played the comparison game in a season of my life where I was very depressed. Do you know how much time I wasted? Coupled with the depression, I’d spend reasonable time sulking and sometimes crying because I thought everyone was making progress and I wasn’t.
All the work I should have got done just kept piling up and piling up. Just like other time-wasting activities, it made me lose several opportunities. I eventually recovered and got back on my feet but the time I lost could never be recovered.
If there’s any other reason why you should avoid time-wasting activities especially this one, it’s because of the damage it does to your mental health and how much it messes with your emotions.
5. Lacking A System, Routine, Or Action Plan
Lacking a routine or a plan revolves around a lot of things. It refers to an absence of a mechanism that allows you to get things done, like a system of operations that guides you and helps you channel your energy and time properly.
This includes the use of a to-do list, schedules, and deadlines. Without the latter, you end up wasting time trying to figure out what to do first and when to do it which would have been avoided if you had made a plan!
Planning saves you the time of not knowing what to do or from doing the right thing at the wrong time. Of all time-wasting activities that I have come across, this one leaves you incapacitated until it is dealt with. If you are currently struggling with this, I have created a detailed guide on how to effectively plan your day and be productive.
Failure to handle this will leave you with productivity, incompetence, and irresponsibility. This time-waster also falls among the many time-wasting activities in the workplace that should be avoided.
Why? Because you stand to leave a lot of important stuff undone and that could get you in serious trouble with your employer.
It also ruins your reputation because people know that giving a man who doesn’t have a plan, a job would be throwing hard-earned money into the gutter.
Please, avoid this time-waster the same way you’d avoid getting an F in a course.
6. Multi-Tasking
Ever seen someone riding a bike that doesn’t move forward? That’s what multitasking does to you. You get to put in the time, energy, and valuable resources, and it leaves you with little or no results at all, almost like going in a circle.
Multi-tasking is a big time waster because you get to spend longer time on a job that can take less if you focus on just that one and so you end up juggling three tasks at never getting the desired results.
I have made several unnecessary mistakes when I used to multi-task consistently. I once tried cooking, cleaning the house, and working on a project all at once. You don’t need to guess much.
Dinner got burnt and ruined, I spent more time cleaning the house, and I never got to finish the project. Imagine if I had picked one of those activities and focused on that one till the end.
Dinner would never have gotten messed up and I would have finished the cleaning and the project. All that time I wasted would have been used to make progress.
So you see, multitasking gives you setbacks, delays, and wasted efforts and resources. What other reasons do you need to begin to avoid this time-waster? None, I guess.
7. Postponing Harder Tasks
I am a regular culprit of doing this and boy, it can be so limiting! Sometimes out of fear and probably laziness, we tend to keep postponing the harder jobs instead of starting them at the very instance.
It’s being scared of dealing with the reality that you have to get that task done and over with.
It’s alright to want to start with the simpler ones first but when you fail to begin the process of working out the more complex ones, you end up postponing it over and over again thereby wasting time.
The time that could be used to take on newer jobs, tasks, and responsibilities would be spent on the consistent postponement of just one or two difficult tasks.
Which sounds reasonable and more realistic? Do you spend two weeks of hard work on a difficult project or spending three months without starting while you continue to postpone it?
Always keep in mind that mulling or brooding over that task isn’t going to get the job done. The earlier you face it, the better.
8. Giving Excuses
Nothing wastes your time like a pile of reasons why you shouldn’t get the job done. Sometimes, you’d find the habit of giving excuses walking alongside perfectionism.
Excuses like, “I’m not ready yet, I don’t have enough time” and others are the many reasons why some of us remain lazy and unproductive. Most people who give excuses are also consistent or habitual procrastinators.
If you have a bad habit of giving excuses, you’ll always have an excuse for your incompetence and poor time management.
I like to think of excuses as lies that we like to tell and believe ourselves. The time we spend making excuses if invested can take you halfway across that project! All that ever comes out of time-wasting activities like making excuses are abandoned tasks and projects and of course, more excuses.
I believe that if you can come up with excuses to avoid working then you should also be able to come up with strategic ways of doing your job!
9. Disorganization/Distractions
What are time stealers? Time stealers are habitual things that we practice that waste our time without us even realizing it. One of such time stealers is distractions.
In our time and age, it is very easy to get distracted and most times we get distracted and do not even know. Distractions most times, leave you with the time that you can’t account for.
Notice that every time you get distracted, you can’t either remember or point out what you spent that time doing exactly.
You can get distracted by even the smallest things; a strong thought, loud music, or places, the beep of a notification on your mobile phone, and lots more.
At some point, getting distracted can be a choice. Most of us do not set or create boundaries that can help us deal with this time waster.
We carelessly leave our defenses down and end up spending the entire day doing the flimsiest things and leaving the important stuff out. Curbing distractions will cost you three things; discipline, getting your priorities right, and more discipline.
For example, I work with my phone and if you use the internet a lot, you’ll know that it gets very easy to get distracted out there.
So, to deal with that, I freeze all my social media apps, any app that can get me distracted basically, and leave out the ones that will help out while I work.
Do I still get distracted at the end of the day? Sometimes yes. But it reduces the rate at which I do get distracted. Distractions will always be everywhere. Remember and always keep in mind that getting distracted is a choice to a very large extent.
10. Indecisiveness
Making decisions sometimes can be quite hectic and might require time. However, when taking decisions taken longer time than they should, then there’s a problem.
Every day and at every point of our lives, we are faced with making decisions some of which are simple, others complex.
Decisions like what to eat, what to wear are usually simple to make especially when there is not enough but on some days making those decisions can be such a chore!
In my family, we sometimes spend an average of 20 to 30 minutes just arguing about what to make for dinner. All that time could be saved if some kind of planning was done ahead of time.
Yes! Planning can be a great help in helping you reduce the fate at which you waste your time. If you learn to plan what you eat or even make a schedule for what you wear, you could end up saving your time and improving your skill at time management.
I once arrived at an interview hall late because picking what to wear took a lot of time and that was due to my poor planning and preparation skills.
As little as this time waster might seem, it can mess with your day and also deprive you of life-changing opportunities, and that my friend can be very hazardous to your growth as a person.
11. Unproductive Screen Time
Here’s an interesting fact I found online at Hrnews.co.uk.
“During the past year, computer and mobile screen usage drastically increased on a global scale.
A staggering 76% of the population between 16 and 24 are spending more time on their phones, while 45% have increased the amount of time they spend on their laptops.
And it’s not just phones and laptops that are the digital culprits: 34% of the population are spending more time watching TV, while 22% have increased their tablet usage.”
The above paragraph is proof of how much time people spend on their phones, laptops, TVs, and more! However, in this context, we’re not looking at just how much people spend on their mobile gadgets.
We’re looking at how much unproductive time they spend on it. Most people use their mobile gadgets for very important stuff. I use mine for work purposes and research.
However, there are times when we end up spending more necessary time on those gadgets especially on your mobile phone which can become a serious time-consuming agent.
If you check properly, you’ll discover that you spend a lot of time on your phone doing unproductive things. That time if directed into something more profitable could prove to be a more valuable investment of your time.
Unfortunately we most times, end up doing the direct opposite.
Among the many time-wasting activities that I am familiar with, this one happens to be very common among young people.
Sometimes we cling and use our phones for the flimsiest reasons of reasons. That time spent on having random and unprofitable conversations on social media can be invested in something worthwhile.
This time-wasting habit steals your time in micro-units until you realize that you spent the entire day doing nothing result in less.
12. Talking More And Doing Less
This habit is common among lazy folks. People who tend to talk without any action backing their words will never get any work done.
The time they could use in putting in the needed efforts for their growth and improvement, would be spent talking about their plans and building castles in the air.
One of the reasons why this is a very unhealthy habit is that it not only wastes your time but also creates a bad impression about you in the eyes of people.
People will never take your words seriously because they know that there will be no action to back them up.
To be honest, I was once like this. Whenever I had a job to do, you’d find me talking about the many steps and procedures that I’d use to get the job done but at the end of the day, there’d be nothing to show for it.
Consequences? I spent more time doing something than was required. It took a lot of discipline to eventually get rid of this time waster and sincerely, it was also a bit of a struggle.
But the advantage of dealing with this time-waster is that it boosts your competence and productivity by a mile. It also affects your self-confidence especially when you know that you’re now a person who’d keep to his words.
13. Complaining
Here’s my opinion about complainers. I like to think of complainers as blind people. Because their pessimistic approach to life and their blaming game blinds them from seeing the truth and also opportunities. Any of the time-wasting activities highlighted above should be avoided including this one.
Complainers are also consistent at giving and making excuses. And making excuses requires energy and time. Since complaining is an act that doesn’t get you any closer to achieving your goals, then it will waste your time.
I once had a classmate in college who complained about literally everything from quiz questions to the teacher’s method of teaching. While I invested my time in research and learning, he invested his in complaining.
Soon enough, he had piles of undone assignments, and soon enough, he failed woefully. That’s what Complaining does, it keeps you from making progress and also blinds you from the pending disaster that looms right in front of you.
Like I said earlier, some time-wasting activities can metamorphose due to consistent practice to a point where it becomes a subconscious activity and so whenever an unpleasant situation pops up, the first thing that comes to mind is to complain.
I agree that all time-wasting activities can affect our productivity a lot but none does it like the habit of complaining. Make solid efforts to be rid of this habit called complaining.
14. Inefficient Learning/Implementing New Systems
This is one time stealer that doesn’t only waste your time but also your efforts. Inefficient learning is most times caused by poor learning techniques or methods.
One of such methods is what we know as cramming. Imagine reading a book on self-discipline and let’s say the reason for your doing that is to imbibe new principles that will help you become more disciplined. If you decided to learn those principles by cramming, here’s what you’re going to experience.
After cramming from that book, you’re most likely to forget 90% of what you’ve read, or you’d probably never practice what Is in the book.
The same also goes for poor learning styles like the use of mnemonics or highlighting. They all leave you with wasted efforts, energy, and time hence the reason why they fall into this list of time-wasting activities.
This time stealer also happens to be among the list of the most common time wasters for students.
15. Deciding On Trivial Tasks And Not Prioritizing Important Tasks
I learned from a wise man that a man who fails to set the right priorities is bound to waste resources and that includes time. Having priorities is not enough. Having the right ones in a scale of preference format is what will give you the results you see.
Priorities are part of the many factors that guide the day-to-day activities of people. It not only shows them the reason why they do the things they do but also points out how important those priorities are.
The essence of priorities is to help you channel your energy into the tasks that have the highest urgency done quickly so that the next set of tasks can be dealt with also.
Now, it becomes foolish to begin to deal with the assignments of less importance before the ones in high demand and urgency. It’s like choosing to drive a car before turning it on.
Why this particular act will waste your time is that at the end of the day, you’ll be forced to go back to working on the more important projects first and that means the time you spent on the less important tasks would be lost for good.
And trust me, nothing sucks like having to divide your energy into something that doesn’t work at the end of the day.
You must note this about time-wasting activities. It is one thing to know that you are wasting your time and it is another thing to the ability to point out what exactly wastes your time.
Sometimes, even after discovering how these time-wasting activities affect us negatively, it becomes a bit of a challenge to get rid of them.
For You!Â
However, you can find the answers you need in this article; 15 Time management tips for successful people you need.
One of the ways to deal with time-wasting activities is by exposing your mind to information that can give you insight that can help you deal with the menace of Time stealers. One of such materials has been made available on this link our very own transformational worksheets.Â
Dealing and becoming an expert in managing time is a process that will require you to put in consistent efforts. Your unwavering determination will also be needed as breaking out of the grip of time stealers can be generally overwhelming.
In all, never forget that the reason why time must be managed is to bring you to a point in your life where you become prosperous, confident, and successful!
At the end of the day, your success and well-being all depend on one very important factor; You!
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