Stop Wasting Your Life on These 11 Time-Consuming Tasks
How would you like to get an extra hour in your day? Well... sorry I can't give you an extra hour in your day. But I can help you figure out what tasks you should remove from your life to get back the hours in your day so you can live the productive, wonderful life you have always wanted to! Stop wasting your life on these 11 time-consuming tasks right now!
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Updated for 2024
A while ago, I wrote an article on how I figured out where all of my time went. You can use this same method to figure out where all of your time goes too. This strategy gave me great insight into how I spend my time so if you haven't read that article, I would recommend reading it before you read this one.
Recommended Post - The Simple Strategy to Discover Where Your Time Goes
Recently, I've been thinking a lot about time management. Somehow, at the end of the day, I always end up feeling like there wasn't enough time in the day to get everything done. I'm sure you know what this is like!
You wake up early in the morning, you work out, eat a healthy breakfast, cross items off your to-do list all day with a few healthy breaks, and you still don't finish your to-do list. You can't add an extra hour to your day, so something has to go.
I know that I spend a lot of time using technology, so I'm working on cutting that time down, and I'm planning on writing a whole post on how I'm doing that. You might already have an idea of what you spend a lot of time on, but here are a few other time-wasters that might be sneaking into your day!
Let's get right into the things that you can remove from your life to create extra free time!
Stop Wasting Your Life on These Time-Consuming Tasks
1. Duplicates
This is a big one for me, and it probably is for you too, even if you don't think it is! How many times a day do you check your email or social media?
You probably are just checking to make sure you don't miss anything, but how often do you actually get an email that you need to respond to ASAP? And.. how many times, do you just waste time looking at other things, when you open that app to check?
The best way to cut down on checking is to turn off the notifications for emails and social media, and then just check once per day (or less if you can!).
Batch any task you can, and it will seem like you have less to do every week!
A duplicate in your life, may not seem like a duplicate. For example, I enjoy reading the news almost daily (I'm cutting down on this!) so I can stay informed. That seems like a good thing, right?
Well, the thing is I also receive a weekly newspaper that I read every week too. This is a duplicate. I've realized that I enjoy reading the newspaper I receive to my house more than I enjoy reading the news online, and when I read the news online I get sucked into spending more time online than is ideal.
Identify duplicates in your life and then cut down on them!
2. Obsessing About the Past or the Future
Do you really want to spend your life obsessing and being stressed about what is to come, and feeling regret over your past mistakes?
Nope! That doesn't sound like a fun life.
You should plan ahead. "Wait... didn't you just say to not obsess about the future?"
Yes, I did! Planning ahead will help you not be stressed about the future because you will have clear guidelines about what you are going to do. You don't have to be afraid about things you already know.
Your past does not define who you are. You define who you are. Yes, experiences shape who you are, but ultimately, you get to decide what your life will be like, so make it one that you are proud of!
3. Procrastination
Did you procrastinate today? Not going to lie, I procrastinated yesterday!
You probably procrastinate without even realizing it. Yesterday, when my alarm went off, I got out of bed, I turned it off... and then (surprise! surprise!) I went back to bed.
Technically, I didn't have an early morning class, so I didn't need to wake up at 5:30, but I still could have gotten a head start to my day.
Procrastination is a SUPER hard habit to break, so if you have the bad habit of procrastinating, don't be hard on yourself. The number one thing you can do is to recognize why you are procrastinating, and then remove that roadblock.
You can stop the habit of always procrastinating, but it will take some time!
Just one more note about procrastination: Everyone procrastinates sometimes, just on different things. You can't entirely remove procrastination from your life, but you can cut back on how much time you spend procrastinating.
4. Other Peoples' Priorities
This is YOUR life. No, I don't mean to sound selfish or self-centered, but you can't be a people-pleaser all of the time. Everything shouldn't be centered around you, but you shouldn't be always putting other peoples' priorities above your own.
When you give service to other people you benefit because when you do something kind for someone else, it makes you feel good, and it makes you a better person!
With that being said, you should decide who is most important to you in your life, and then you should prioritize those people over everyone else.
Make the decision to put yourself first every once in a while though so you can achieve your goals!
5. Things You Don't Actually Need to Do
Priorities. Priorities. Priorities. This point is very similar to the one above, but this one is about having your own priorities straight.
When you are about to do something you don't necessarily need to do, ask yourself why you are doing it.
Does doing this task bring you happiness? Joy? Are you just avoiding doing another task?
Binge-watching a TV show may be enjoyable in the moment, but it rarely is afterward, when you think of everything else you could've done.
If you are reading a personal development book because you want to be a better person, but the book isn't interesting and you are struggling to get through it, you can just read a different book. You don't need to read the boring book!
Sometimes, after you set a goal, you may feel like you can't change it, and that it is set in stone. This is not true! If a goal isn't working for you, then you should change it. It's time-consuming to work on a goal that you don't even want to achieve.
6. Getting Distracted
Distractions are everywhere! At this moment, I am thinking of opening up a new tab on my computer so I can work on a new blogging project... but I told myself that I would finish writing this article first so that is what I am endeavoring to do.
Do whatever you can to remove distractions from your life so you can more clearly focus on what really matters to you.
At the end of your life, it isn't going to matter to you what is happening in the news, how many likes you got on social media, or how many new emails you have. Why then, does all of this matter to you right now?
7. Indecision
Indecision is simply another form of procrastination. The best way to get rid of indecision is to decide in advance so you don't have to decide when it really matters. It's probably pretty obvious (since I blog about bullet journaling), but I love to plan in advance! 😂
I plan out my goals for the year, I plan what I'm going to wear, I plan out my weeks, and I even plan out my plans.
When I plan ahead, I'm not caught up in second-guessing my decisions because I already decided. Everything I have planned ahead, I don't have to think about getting done.
8. "Multi-Tasking"
Ah, one of the best ways to be more productive, right? Wrong! Okay, well partially wrong. It depends if you are doing real multi-tasking or fake multi-tasking. If you are trying to do two tasks at once, that both require your brain, then you are not multi-tasking.
You are switching between tasks, and so it will probably take you longer to finish because each time you switch tasks you have to refocus.
I have a whole article written on multi-tasking, so if you want to dive deeper into how you can actually multi-task, then I suggest reading the article above.
9. Not Taking Breaks
Whether you like it or not, you are going to take breaks. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Taking a break will actually aid your productivity.
The only problem is when you take unplanned breaks. Take this scenario for example. Imagine you skip eating lunch, and you work six hours straight.
When you finally take a break for lunch, do you think you are going to go home and eat a healthy meal? Or are you more likely to head straight to your favorite fast food restaurant because you need something to eat "right now"?
Conversely, taking unplanned breaks isn't going to be as healthy for your productivity as taking planned breaks is.
10. Not Being Organized
Having a stress-free happy life starts with having an organized living environment. Have you ever lost something that is super important to you?
It was probably stressful, and time-consuming to find it, and maybe if your house was cleaner, it wouldn't have gotten lost. I've lost things before too so I'm not blaming you if you have had this happen to you!
When you have an organized living environment, it is much easier to also be less stressed. Having less clutter leads to a less cluttered mind.
11. Planning But Never Taking Action
Lastly, I wanted to touch on planning but never taking action. AKA dreaming. Planning is a wonderful tool, but if you never take the time to actually implement your plan, then all of your work is for nothing. It's actually time-wasting.
If there is a large goal you want to complete, you should go for it! Think about where you would be right now if you had started on that goal last year. You can never plan for everything!
Stop Wasting Your Life on These Time-Consuming Tasks
If you have gotten anything out of this post, I hope that it is: you should focus on your goals and what you really want out of life. When you focus on your goals, these time-consuming tasks fall to the wayside because you'll see that they are just what they are: time-wasters.
If you liked this post, you will enjoy reading these ones too!
- Secret Sneaky Ways You Can Actually Multi-Task
- Small Habits to Create Now to Overhaul Your Day
- How to Re-evaluate Your Yearly Goals
- How to Have a Productive Day Even When You Wake Up Late
I hope you have a productive week and kick those time-wasters to the curb!
Share this post so your friends can stop doing these time-consuming tasks too! Thank you for supporting my blog!
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