Do you feel like you never have enough time? Or do you know that you waste time, but are not sure what you could do to have more time to work on important things? This article will discuss 6 methods for wasting less time.
It is probably impossible to never waste time, but one should strive towards having good time management. Time is one of the only commodities that we can’t buy or get more back. So, time is precious, and should be treated that way. Now, let’s get into 6 great methods for being able to waste less time.
Method 1 -Turn off social media and stop watching Youtube etc
I certainly spend tens of hours on Youtube and social media probably every week, but I am now consciously trying to limit that amount of time.
Maybe what you could do is to give yourself say 30 minutes of Youtube to watch every day or time to spend on social media if you finish one important task. So, it you wanted to watch more Youtube or spend time on social media, you could be much more motivated to complete more tasks.
There have been times in the past where I basically would get the jitters if I didn’t constantly look at social media. Facebook, Twitter etc can be great for communicating with friends, just don’t spend so much time on it. It can be a massive waste of time. Also, spending time on social ironically can make you depressed.
I often use social media for legitimate purposes like for advertising for my websites, but I distinguish between that and just using social media, Youtube for pleasure. In addition, watching some videos on Youtube can be very beneficial for one to learn new skills and/or improve skills you already have for your job or school. But all that being said, try your best to consciously spend less time on social media and Youtube, and think about the amount of time you actually spend on them.
Method 2 – Turn Off Your Phone Or Put it Into Silent Or Vibrate Mode
This is very similar to the previous category of social media and Youtube, but I think mobile phones should be in a category of their own. I certainly take my mobile phone with me almost every where I go, and spend lots of time on it.
But, when I’m working, I try to either turn it off, or put it into vibrate or silent mode. Having notifications make sounds whether it’s just a news alert, a message from a friend, a text message, or whatever can all distract you. If you get distracted frequently by your phone, you will be much less productive. You may worry that you will miss an important message, but you could say, work for 1 hour continually, and then briefly look at your see if you have any messages. It’s better time wise and productivity wise to do it that way.
The same can be said of games on your phone. When you are working, work. Don’t play games on your phone. You can play games during your breaks, but don’t waste time playing them while you should be working.
Method 3 – Set Specific Times When You Will Check Email And Respond To Them
This is another big one. I have dozens of email accounts, and certainly would be overwhelmed if I checked them constantly. I generally always check them in the morning, but now I am trying to check them maybe 2 times per day, and read them and respond in batches so that I don’t have to waste time later.
Email can be one of the biggest time wasters of all. Tim Ferris talks about in his book The 4 Hour Workweek how he was able to become much more productive by only responding to emails at 1 or 2 times per day, and later in the book I think he talked about how he might not even read emails every day, maybe every other day, or something like that.
While it might not be possible for you to not check emails frequently because of your job, you could at least do it once every hour or once every 2 hours, so that you will have time to focus and work. If you stop working every time you receive an email, your productivity will likely plummet.
Method 4 – Go outside your home for work and study
For whatever reason, often people are more productive when they leave the comfort zone of their home.
This might not be possible if you work from home, but you can improvise. If you have more than 1 room, I don’t recommend studying and/or working in your bedroom because it can make you sleepy or lazy. Study and work in a place where your mind knows that it will be for work and study only.
I’ve always found that when I go to a library for study, for many hours, I accomplish much more than if I stayed home. Yes, I do lose time travelling to the library. At times, I might even waste 40 minutes to 1 hour one way if I take a bus, but I’m better primed for working when I go there. A library is meant for learning, reading, studying, and (quietly) working. Seeing other people reading and working also makes me want to do the same.
It may also benefit you to go to a place like a coffee shop. I’ve been to Starbucks in many countries around the world, and have often studied and/or worked at them just to be more productive.
Yes, there are going to be people talking and noises from the coffee machines, but I’ve found that it can make me more focused.
Method 5 – Plan out day and schedule things daily
While certainly things will come up that you haven’t planned for, at least if you plan things once in the morning and ideally planning in the evening for the next day, you can have an idea of what you want to accomplish every day.
It does take discipline to do this, but the payoffs can be huge. Think of it as an investment in your time. Just as it requires money to make money in say the stock market, it usually takes time to make better use of your time. While I certainly am no expert on this, when I do plan my days, I am usually more focused, and am more productive.
You don’t want to have your schedule so packed that everything is stacked one on top of another with no breaks. If anything unexpected comes up, it could throw off your whole schedule.
This is certainly one of my ambitions for the coming year. It’s hard to do, but it’s basically never been a waste of time. If nothing else, it helps give me more confidence, and reminds me more of what I want and/or need to do.
In addition, if you actually schedule what you will do for the day, that is to say, you pick certain windows of time that you will allocate for each thing you do, this can be helpful.
Say, for example, you need to write an essay, and you think it will take you 3 hours to do so. You could schedule it at a time where you know you will be alert, let’s say from 4 PM to 7 PM.
Having a to do list is great, but if you can actually schedule them, and know for certain what times you will give yourself, this can be a motivator to waste less time.
Method 6 – Do Only One Thing At A Time
Multitasking, at least for things that require lots of brainpower and things you want to do well, is very counterproductive. This is based both on lots of research in the field of psychology and on my own experience. While it definitely takes self-discipline to force yourself to only do one thing at a time, you actually will be more productive.
If you do one thing at a time, you can get momentum while on a certain task, but you would lose that if you constantly were changing tasks. Now, if you get bored or are tired, this can be reason to take a break every hour. You may like brainstorming and then switching to another task, but when it comes to actually doing the hard work, it’s much better to do one thing at a time.
Don’t get me wrong, you can do a lot. It’s just best to do tasks one at a time. If a task can be completed in the amount of time you gave it, then fantastic. But, if you have to continue the work another day, like if it’s a large project, it’s fine to do something else.
In addition, when you are really focused on something, you will likely remember it much better than if you were switching between many different things.
A great story that comes to mind is the one of Aesop’s fables about The Tortoise and the Hare. Slow and steady wins the race.
The overall key message is that multitasking is counterproductive. You become much less productive and waste lots of time if you multitask as opposed to doing one task at a time. You can read more about why you shouldn’t multitask in an article I wrote here.
Did you like this article? Do you have anything to add? Let’s discuss it in the comments below.