10 Pointless Things That Waste Your Time

Time-wasting activities can seem harmless, but they might be stopping you from being your best self. Here are 10 things that waste your time, along with tips on how to discard them from your life.

Whoever said that time is money was really onto something. Nowadays, when life has become hectic and speedy, time is of more value than it ever has been.

Personally, I am not a fan of hustling. I don’t think you need to squeeze productivity out of every second of the day to be happy. But I also try not to get involved with activities that waste my time.

Racing against time and respecting your time are two different things.

The former can lead to mental exhaustion and stop you from enjoying the little things in life.

On the other hand, respecting your time means being mindful of how you spend it – whether it involves waking up early for your morning routine, or indulging in a mindful meditation session to reduce stress.

But try as we might, we are prone to get sucked into activities that are massive time-wasters.

Recognizing your time-wasting habits and uprooting them from your life should be a priority, because as Steve Jobs says, “The most precious resource we all have is time.”

Read on to find out the 10 things that waste your time, and also discover some hands-on tips to overcome these time-wasting habits.

10 Pesky Things That Waste Your Time

1. Being On Your Phone When You Don’t Need To

I know the importance of technology and wouldn’t give up my precious phone for anything. But excess of anything can be bad for you, and the same goes for mobile phone usage.

The social media apps that you are so obsessed with are meant to keep you hooked. They are designed in a way to make sure that you keep coming back for more.

Their notification pings break your focus and entice you to pick up your phone. You believe you’re just going to check the notification and get back to work.

But before you know it, you’re scrolling through your feed, stalking your crush, and laughing out loud at memes when you could be finishing your pending tasks or indulging in a mindful hobby.

To kill this lazy habit for good, get rid of the apps that cause distraction. Use your computer to log in to your social media sites, including the shopping portals that you use to make purchases.

This would save you a good chunk of your time, and your phone will be limited to listening to music, making calls, and sending important texts.

2. Lack Of Prioritizing

Not having your priorities straight is a recipe for a disastrous routine. For all you know, you could be spending your hours doing the wrong things, putting the important stuff on the backbench.

Take a pause right this second to create a list of 10 goals you want to work on. It could include your physical health, your work, a side project, or the goal to become financially independent.

Now, circle the top 3 items in this list. These right there, are the three things you need to focus on every single day. The rest are important too, but they should be at lower positions in your priority list.

Once you have your priorities straight, create a new daily routine for yourself.

Your schedule should be designed keeping your priorities in mind so that you can give more time to what matters, and spend less time doing things that are not of grave importance to you.

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3. Multitasking

The itch to be a multitasker can be hard to resist. It comes from the need to get more done in less time, which ironically, results in time waste.

When you try to juggle multiple things simultaneously, the end results of your efforts can be mediocre at best. This happens because of divided attention.

The work you can do in 20 minutes might end up taking an hour because your focus doesn’t have a single direction.

Time management isn’t just about the quantity of work you do. Quality time should be favored over quantity each and every day.

Avoid multitasking by making a to-do list in the morning, and then be laser-focused on getting one thing done at a time. Take life one sip at a time, and it’ll be sweeter and more fruitful.

Must Read: 8 Simple Ways To Be More Productive In Your Everyday Life

4. Staying Disorganized

Nobody wants to be the person who’s always grumbling as they look for a missing pair of socks or slam their drawers in search of an important notebook.

But if for some reason, you are that person, you need to get organized ASAP.

By keeping your life disorganized, you’re inviting chaos into your personal space, which will cause time to slip past your fingers no matter how hard you try to hold on to it.

All the time-efficient people I know are great at staying organized.

I am not asking you to turn into Monica Geller. But if you want to stop wasting time, you need to learn a few simple organization hacks and put them to use in your everyday life.

Organizing can be hard if you’ve never done it in your life, but I have a clear-cut formula that will help you get organized in the span of 7 days!

Check Out: How To Organize Your Life In One Week

5. Waiting For The Right Time

If I had a penny for all the time I wasted waiting for the ‘right moment’, I’d probably be richer than Bill Gates.

Seriously, what is with our brain’s obsession to wait for the right time? Like, what does the right time even look like?

I agree there are certain days when our energies are running high and we’re in healthier spirits, but we don’t have to depend on such occasions to get working on our goals.

Instead of waiting for the right moment to take action, learn to create the right moment. Change the story in your head that says you have to rely on the universe to make your dreams come true.

There is no such thing as the perfect time. As long as you have goals and ambitions, all you need to do is create an action plan and just get started.

I know this is easier said than done, so here is a post that will absolutely help: How To Stop Procrastinating – 9 Best Ways To Get Things Done

6. Toxic Relations

Lately, I’ve shifted to the mindset that a person isn’t necessarily toxic. Rather, two people can be toxic to each other, or it can also be a one-way street.

If there is a person in your life whose vibe doesn’t get along with yours, don’t pretend to enjoy their company. Spending any more time with them is unfair to both you and them.

Maybe you’re annoyed by their presence, or your mental health doesn’t take kindly to being in their orbit. Maybe you both bring out the worst in each other, which often happens in toxic relationships.

Whatever the case is, if you feel miserable in someone’s presence, it’s better to cut them loose and save your time and energy.

7. Trying To Please Others

Making others happy is a good thing. But trying to please others? That’s a different story altogether, one that might sabotage your most valuable resource, i.e., your time.

It might start from something as insignificant as saying yes to a party that you don’t really want to go to. But the habit of doing things just to please others can end up costing you a lot.

I gave away a good chunk of my past running after a career that didn’t make me happy because I was trying to live up to the expectations of my parents, only to realize later that I was doing wrong by myself.

In your journey, you will come across many people. Trying to please all of them is near impossible. There will always be someone in your life who won’t approve of your actions, and that’s fine.

You have to learn through your own mistakes, and your decisions should have minimum involvement from anyone from the outside.

Do things to please yourself, and let the rest go. The people who truly love you and care about you will still remain by your side.

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8. Overthinking

I was the queen of overthinking back in my school days, a habit that chewed at half my brain cells and also killed my time.

I constantly thought about things that were yet to happen, drove myself crazy pondering over my past, and would analyze every little detail of my life as if I was being paid for it.

If you can relate, then take my word for it – Nothing good comes out of overthinking.

By nitpicking your future, past, or even your present, you’re wasting the time that can be spent putting in the actual work to create your vision for life.

Plus, overthinking also leads to a poor sense of judgment. You’d always second-guess your choices and be discontent with life because you’re too busy living in your head.

Well, the time to snap out of this habit is now. Every time you catch yourself overthinking/worrying, tap three times on your nearest surface (table, door, chair), or give yourself a little pinch on the hand.

The more you practice breaking out of your headspace, the easier it’ll be to stick to the now and embrace mindfulness.

9. Doing Things You’re Not Interested In

One of the major things that waste your time is indulging in something that you’re not really interested in.

I’ve never agreed with the statement that life is too short. It is large and beautiful, and you can make whatever you want out of it.

But if you end up wasting time running after goals that mean nothing in the long term, your life will seem short, and you’ll end up regretting spending your days engaged in the wrong things.

I know ‘listen to your heart’ is overdone and cliche advice, but I stand by it for living each day to its fullest.

If you find yourself disinterested in a hobby, give it up rather than forcing yourself to love it simply because it makes you look ‘cool’. There’s no point in accumulating skills that don’t fill your heart with excitement.

Don’t set goals that add no value to your life. Instead, choose to be in alignment with your inner self and do things that make you happy and content.

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10. Staying Up Too Late

I think we can all admit that if we’re up past our bedtime, it’s not for exactly productive reasons.

If you find yourself wide awake past 10 pm, you’re probably killing time on your phone or just staring at the ceiling as your mind runs a hundred miles an hour.

As a result, you end up dozing off to restless thoughts, which affects the quality of your sleep and makes you cranky the next morning.

Falling asleep on time should be a mindful decision, a habit, and a practice that you cultivate because you know the importance of good sleep.

Unplug your devices before bed to avoid online browsing. Your phone is a major culprit behind a late bedtime and is better off being tucked away for the night.

Building a self-care night routine can help. Take a warm shower, do some journaling to put your thoughts to bed, and listen to a sleep podcast as you focus on your breaths.

Having a fixed bedtime can easily save you two-three hours of your time every day. So, make sure you work on it until it becomes a part of your daily routine.

Check Out: Relaxing Sunday Night Routine For A Better Week Ahead

Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back

-Harvey Mackay

Quit Your Time-Wasting Habits Today

You don’t have to be the person who says, ‘I don’t have time.’ We all have the same number of hours a day, the same number of days in a month, and the equal number of months in a year.

Yet some people are exceptionally good at the skill of time management, while some of us keep wracking our brains to crack the time management code.

First things first, you need to stop doing these 10 things that waste your time. It will take time to break out of your old patterns, but your patience will pay off in the end.

Quit these unproductive habits today to make for a more productive, time-efficient, and happier routine.

Got anything you’d like to add to this list of things that waste your time? Share your thoughts in the comment box down below!