It is quite common to hear people talk about how much they have to get done and what little time they have. Well, here is a truth bomb for you… The average person wastes up to 2 hours a day on non-productive activity! Understanding where this time goes will help you to save yourself from falling victim to time wasting.
Where Does the Time Go?
Emails
This is one of the biggest staples to modern day communication, but also one of the biggest culprits to time wasting. More than a quarter of people spent up to two hours alone tending to their emails. You may also be a member of the club where 22% of people admit to spending more than two hours checking email daily.
Internet Surfing
Everyone can fall prey to internet surfing. The World Wide Web has a way to attaching itself to you and never letting go click after click and scroll. An estimated 80% of people spend more than two hours a day internet surfing. Looking up a simple recipe can take you down a time warp where 60 minutes disappears into thin air.
Watching Television
If you are not falling victim to the computer screen, than you may be trading it in for the television screen. More than a quarter of people spend a couple hours a day watching the box. One modern day movie alone can suck away several hours in an instant.
More Tip Time Wasters
If you do not find yourself throwing time away on any of these top three ways, than you may be one that suffers from procrastination, or find yourself counting down the hours in meetings that are counterproductive to completing your daily tasks. Getting involved in office gossip can also cost you time in non-business related conversations. Commuting back and forth to work can zap up another hour or two a day.
If this is not enough, with a mobile phone in almost every person’s hand, Facebook and Twitter have become the first two apps people go to. More than 75% of people spend more than two hours a day on social networking sites. If it isn’t commenting and liking posts on your feed, than you may be texting your beau instead. Conflicts can also lead us down the path of wasting time. For many people, stress and boredom can be a leading contributor to wasting time.
What is the Root Cause to Wasting Time?
It is commonly believed that negative emotions such as stress and boredom are a leading cause of time wasting. According to Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., the Associated Professor of Psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, procrastination can become a root cause to wasting time. He identifies the top three types of procrastinators as the last minute procrastinator, fear procrastinator, and decisional procrastinator.
Take Control of Your Time
One of the best ways to combat time wasting it to take control of your time and track it. If you know where your time is being spent than you know where it is being effectively used. More than half of people that have tried this claim it helped them to be more productive. An additional 70% found their time was more valuable and proved to be more financially lucrative to them.
Start a Bullet Journal
Scheduling your time and keeping to a schedule and task list will also prove to be helpful in managing your time. One of my favorite ways to keep on task is to track my schedule and to-do list in a bullet journal. It is a simple and effective system that can get you on track today. Check out this video with a simple explanation of how to bullet journal.
