What are your biggest time wasters and why do you do them?

[Skys]

What are the biggest time-wasters in your life and why are you still doing them?
I am not talking about taking time off to read a blog to get yourself going again, I am talking truly time-wasting things you do where you know they are unproductive but you still do them.

For me, it's Social Media. Being aware of it, is the first step. To me, it's terrible I wasted so many hours watching others status updates while I could be working on my 10.000 hours (outliners).
Since this week, I am no longer checking Social Media. I already feel more productive about it.

I am very curious about your time-waster. Why? Because I might see a pattern that I am unaware of myself at this moment. A blind spot that makes me unproductive.
I seriously think that having a serious work-ethic is one of the most important factors of getting succesful thus it HURTS me, LITERALLY to be unproductive.

 

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[theag]

The occasional fight with the gf..

 

[tincho1492]

Stress. Because I want to create a "buffer" fund to dedicate myself full-time to my business I started to accept more freelance projects than I can take. And now I feel stressed and don't have energy to get anything done. And that makes me waste time on Twitter or checking email.

Lesson learned.

 

[nzerinto]

Email.

I track what I do on my computer through the RescueTime app, and emailing is my #1 time suck - last week I spent 13 hours on it...! And that doesn't count the occasional one I'll send from my phone.

It's how I communicate 90% of the time with clients and 100% of the time with my contractors, so it's tricky bringing that time down. After analysis there are a few things I can try doing though:

1. Set email times (a little like Tim Ferriss) where it's dedicated to banging them out and getting them out of the way. Perhaps once in the morning, one after lunch and one near the end of the day. Prevents periodic checking and wasting time replying to single emails at a time, requiring a shift in focus from what I was doing.

2. Set a time limit when replying. Due to the time constraint, I'll hopefully be forced to keep them brief, to the point, but don't require further questions from the recipient, causing MORE emails down the track.

 

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[RBefort]

Day time job is the major one. 6am-4pm is the largest part of my day. Started staying up til at least midnight just so I can feel like I have a longer day. 4-5pm I usually play the dreaded video games, just to relax before the girlfriend gets home. 5-6pm is messed with dinner. 6-midnight is my free time. Waste it with TV, Social Media, going with gf to places I don't need to go specifically, etc. Before I know it, I gotta pack lunch, shower, do other hygeine stuff. Usually tired in evenings and want to relax, so I throw a movie on the last hour before bed. Sucks...and every morning, I wake up in a pissed off at the world mindset about why I am still in the cube. Too afraid to go back to playing poker because it isn't feasible/security isn't there...and not to mention, building up my work experience for if I fail at that or coming up with a business idea. I also suck with coming up with the idea, even though everyone says there are tons around me. Just need to focus and stop wasting time on the bullshit. Just really hard to focus when you have to donate 10 hours of your day to day job, 6 hours to sleep, then slap 8 hours of wealth-building in between. Like MJ says, I take responsibility, but have yet to be accountable

 

[Pinnacle]

1. Youtube videos: because I'd rather absorb energy for a little while than produce it.

2. Irrelevant Fastlane Forum thread reading (being honest, here): because I'd like to see what is going on with other people rather than focus on what I'm doing all the time


I'm not a workaholic, but I value work. These things keep me sane. Not much else I do wastes time.

 

[av1atic]

I've slowly cut many of mine out of my life. In high school it was computer gaming which consumed almost every hour of my days aside from school. TV was another big one; now, I watch maybe an hour of T.V per week at most, and it's usually just Bloomberg, which I'm always listening to on XM radio while driving. Social media was another big time drainer for me, so I permanently deleted my facebook on my 20th birthday. Over the last year or so my family has mentioned how "shut off from the rest of the world and obsessed with success" I have become, but they know what I'm after in life, and see that the time I used to spend out partying or gaming has transferred into self-education, working on their business, and just being there for them more often.

 

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[stranger]

my store shopping card. never try to improve the store if it works great. i was a fool when upgraded it.

 

[nitrousflame]

Almost all of my wasted time goes to the internet -- Reddit, social media, other non business/entrepreneurial forms, youtube, etc.

However, I have gotten better about filling some of the gaps with useful things. For instance, I've been listening to TED talks during my 35-40min commute to work instead of listening to the radio and I will soon be transitioning to educational, non-fiction, audiobooks. I've also committed at least 45 minutes of my time after I get home from work to exercise instead of immediately snacking and getting back onto the computer.

I used to play a lot of video games as well, but I've found a way to cut back on that too. Most of my friends that I play with have families and are busy as well. We have agreed on one evening a week in which we can all play. That way, it is easier to not play every other night.

Finally, I used to watch TV or goof off on the internet before bed, but lately I have been reading instead. Because of this, I don't even watch TV anymore and will be canceling my cable subscription. This change not only helped me reduce the amount of time wasted, but it will also save me money.

Just start making small changes at first. Once you have successfully ditched or reduced one habit or time-waster, move onto the next. It all adds up. Definitely allow yourself some room to cheat and still have fun though. It's just like exercising or dieting; if you don't let yourself have some "dessert" once in a while, your diet will be short lived.

 

[The-J]

YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook.

I'm not sure why I do them. Mostly to numb my brain, I suppose.

 

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[DeletedUser13]

My slow lane job. It is quite demanding and stressful (but still boring), leaves me with little energy for the evenings. I'm working on changing this though.

Second one are tv shows (don't have a TV, just streaming them on the laptop) - it's my way to relax... Lifting weights would be better for sure!

I have to admit that it's sometimes hard to stay organized and productive all the time, although I even get pangs of conscience because of it! Need to remember that productivity is just a means to an end, not the goal itself.

 

[Leonard Dollars]

This forum. After reading the book a couple times, researching and choosing my fastlane path the forums don't benefit me too much. Don't get me wrong, I do love the "community" aspect but I'm now at the point where I just need to push myself. Read, execute, read, execute..

 

[Moneymadness]

It was only recently that I've changed things up. It was difficult to break the bad habits, but it's slowing progressing after a few days. Luckily for me, I no longer work for anyone with a dreaded 9 - 5 job anymore. Due to the fact, I'm currently running a small business. It's actually very flexible since as I do watch services from home. So it's steady, but never consistent.

Back to the time wasters of life, mornings are usually kept busy working on my business and in it. During the afternoon and evenings, I'm usually relaxing after work, tuning in on Youtube, but now changing the videos to educational videos that would help propel me onto the right path. Finally took out Facebook, as I usually spent countless hours browsing thru other people's LIFE and not putting those hours onto mine.

Second, I spend time working out and reading during the evenings nowadays. I would take short naps to work on the idea. As for the late night after 12 AM, I'm wide awake and working until 4AM - 6AM on the fastlane idea. I hope it all pays off, but definitely a lot of great experiences nevertheless. Just have self-discipline, which sounds easier said than done.

 

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[Ali]

For me driving from one place to another throughout the day and having to go through bad traffic. You can't do much while driving except for listening to educational audio books, which doesn't fascinate me.

 

[chrishobson]

My biggest time waster is re-working things. I have a habit of liking ot look at numbers, and making overly involved graphs. It is kind of like work, but it isn't really getting anything done. I think it is a bad habit leftover from my previous job, where I was able to effectively do nothing as long as I was playing in Excel.

Not to mention that my bosses always changed their minds on which style of graph they preferred lol.

I've been good about cutting out TV, movies and political blogs for the most part. I do still check sports blogs more than I should, although the real bad part of these is the comments sections. I can easily catch myself reading through hundreds of comments about bad sports teams; this used to be my primary "hobby" so it has been difficult to break. Of course the most difficult part is that I still enjoy reading about the teams, just not the comment sections. I wonder if there is a Chrome plugin to hide all comment sections...

Most of my other procrastination techniques are still "productive", just not the most effective use of my time. Sure I need to do the dishes, and laundry, but getting my website up for adwords advertising and actually making some money at it should obviously be a higher priority.

I am very pleased that I don't spend my entire day playing WOW like my roommate.

 

[santa]

Social media was another big time drainer for me, so I permanently deleted my facebook on my 20th birthday. Over the last year or so my family has mentioned how "shut off from the rest of the world and obsessed with success" I have become, but they know what I'm after in life, and see that the time I used to spend out partying or gaming has transferred into self-education, working on their business, and just being there for them more often.

Someone sent me this quote in relation to the dangers of facebook (though the author David Wells wrote it pre-social media), you might like it;

Having turned inward in a search for meaning, we turn outward in a search for direction, scanning others for the social signals they emit regarding what is in and what is out, what is desirable and what is not. . . . This person is oriented not to inner values but to other people. It is in the peer group that acceptance is found and outcasts are named. . . . Where once people took pride in accomplishments and in their character, [they] think only of how they stand with others. . . . Once people worked to achieve tangible ends, to accomplish things. Now, such accomplishments are of far less significance than one's "image." Once people worked; now they manipulate. Once people sweated; now they seduce. Once people wished to be respected, to have their accomplishments recognized; now they wish to be envied, regardless of whether they are envied for anything they have actually accomplished.

 

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[InLikeFlint]

School 9:30-3:20
Homework 6:45-12:30+
Sleep 1:00-9:00

 

[theag]

Wtf, 6 hours of homework? I used to copy it from my table neighbors in the 5min breaks between lessons (if I even attended the lessons).

 

[InLikeFlint]

Wtf, 6 hours of homework? I used to copy it from my table neighbors in the 5min breaks between lessons (if I even attended the lessons).

Haha! If only private school was that easy!

 

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[theag]

Don't you pay for private school so you don't have to work as much?

 

[MMatt]

One word. Youtube. I do not watch any tv, but I love that fact that whatever I want to see, I can find in seconds on youtube. It's a huge time waster and I've decreased the amount of time I spend on there recently.

While I'd rather live it that watch it, watching twin turbo lambos is pretty entertaining or watching videos pertaining to any of my hobbies.

 

[Crumbs2Bricks]

I wouldn't call it a time waster but they are a waste of time: Forums.

I've pulled away from posting on them. Soon to eliminate posting on any of them.

 

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[InLikeFlint]

Don't you pay for private school so you don't have to work as much?

I thought so, guess not!

 

[ambition21]

I've slowly cut many of mine out of my life. In high school it was computer gaming which consumed almost every hour of my days aside from school. TV was another big one; now, I watch maybe an hour of T.V per week at most, and it's usually just Bloomberg, which I'm always listening to on XM radio while driving. Social media was another big time drainer for me, so I permanently deleted my facebook on my 20th birthday. Over the last year or so my family has mentioned how "shut off from the rest of the world and obsessed with success" I have become, but they know what I'm after in life, and see that the time I used to spend out partying or gaming has transferred into self-education, working on their business, and just being there for them more often.

Story of my life. Wasted high school playing video games. Wasted first two years of high school drinking 3-4 nights a week and getting arrested (twice) as a result. I almost never go on facebook/twitter now. Don't own any video games or consoles. TV is limited to one football game a week.

Today, 99% of my time is consumed by reading (finish 1 book/wk), working out (5 days/wk), studying(1-2 hours/day), class (2-4 hours/day) listening to podcasts while walking to and from class (30-45 mins/day), and reading entrepreneurial blogs and forums (~2 hours/day). I do like to watch an episode of Shark Tank every day (I'm addicted ) but that is really my only time waster during the week.