| SolveYourProblem Article Series: Time Management
How Can I Manage My Time Better?
The
Top 10 Time Wasters in Today's Busy Society
Do you fall into the trap of wasting time?
Time is a valuable commodity! When you waste your precious
time, you're actually preventing yourself from achieving the
things you desire.
Below is a list of the top ten time wasters. If you find yourself
spending too much time on these activities, try changing some
of your habits so your time can be more productive and rewarding.
1.
Wasting Your Worry. Many people will worry until doomsday
about every little thing in their lives. This is simply unproductive
and bad for your health, mind, and spirit.
- If
you have something worrisome coming up, craft a plan of
positive action on paper, then let it go. After all, worrying
doesn't accomplish anything positive.
2.
Television. We're a couch potato society! We schedule our
lives around our favorite television shows and we spend less
time doing more important activities like attending social
events that could strengthen our relationships.
- Record
your favorite TV shows and watch them during your leisure
time, or limit your TV intake to just a couple hours
a week.
3.
Video and Computer Games. This is becoming
such a time waster that gamers are actually developing what
is called "gamers
thumb," a repetitive stress injury.
- Set
time limits for yourself and your kids and help your kids
understand why this is important.
4.
Internet time. Are you constantly browsing
the Internet, Facebook or Twitter? Are your kids hearing
you say, "In
a minute," much too often when they ask you to spend time
with them?
- Keep
your time on the Internet short and get involved in life.
Instead of chatting with your online friends, spend more
time with your real-life friends and family!
5.
Telephone Chatter. Sure, we like to call old friends and
chat, but do you chat on the phone all day long? If you do,
you may find that you get hardly anything done all day.
- Keep
phone calls to a minimum or set a timer to go off after
15 minutes. This way you won't feel deprived of a good
conversation, but it won't take over your whole day.
6.
Traffic and Commuting. Some of us spend an enormous amount
of time traveling to and from work. You can turn your commuting
time into productive time!
- Try
carpooling or taking the bus, subway or train to work.
You can use this time to read, plan your
day, complete paperwork,
or even relax your mind before a productive day.
- If
you drive, you can listen to inspiring and informative
CDs or tapes to sharpen your mind each morning.
7.
Hobbies. Yes, there are people who are so obsessed with
a hobby that they don't make time to do anything else. They
rush home from work to their hobby, even skipping dinner.
- If
this is you, schedule your hobby time so you're not skipping
meals, missing time with your family, or cutting into other
productive time.
8.
Daydreaming. It's fun and healthy to dream about career
ambitions or future aspirations, but when those dreams prevent
you from taking action in your life, then you're wasting time.
Avoid getting bogged down with too much dreaming.
- Make
a list of your goals or dreams, then take action to make
those dreams come true.
9.
Meetings. Although necessary, meetings can be one of the
biggest time wasters of our workday. If everyone is wiped out
from sitting in long meetings all day, productive time will
be low.
- If
you're in charge of meetings, set timeframes for them and
stick to your stated time.
- Limit
the length of your meetings: keep needless chatter and
agendas out of the meeting.
10.
Planning. If you don't take the time to plan your day,
the important things you need to accomplish may not get done.
- Write
down your daily goals and tasks.
- Schedule
your day in the order of your top priorities.
There are many ways we waste our time in our everyday lives,
but with a little effort, you can avoid time-wasting activities
and turn that time into an advantage.
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SolveYourProblem.com
: 2009
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