How To Bury Your Time Wasters

In the last post, I said that resolutions were a non-factor for me – that I only had a recurring one concerning traditions that need to be kept, and that was it. Frankly, I had no desire to join an army of “resolutionists” whose numbers would dwindle by each passing week.

But that wasn’t true. I lied. I’d actually like to add one resolution, if you will, that would boost all other resolutions if I decided to make them.

Stop wasting time.

All around us, you can hear the cry of the chronically overwhelmed.

“I have no time.”

“I’m just sooooo busy.”

“Ain’t nobody got time for that.” (A personal favorite)

But when you tell the truth, a high percentage of people who declare they are too busy for the important spend a good chunk of their days on activities that add zero to their lives. And I’m as guilty as anyone else.

As a newly proclaimed resolutionist, I intend to step up my game where I’ve begun, and to start in the areas that I need to. That means burying time wasters. And there’s plenty of them that we can shovel some dirt on.

Let’s get crackin’. Here are examples of time I am no longer willing to waste. Starting….now.

The Evening News – Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings are long gone. There is no longer a reason to immerse yourself in the time wasting activity of the news. Most of it is sensationalized to bring in more advertising revenue, and it seems the only purpose is to increase the American public’s “worry factor”. About things most of us don’t have to worry about.

Stop watching stories about derailing trains or tornadoes touching down. Unless it’s happening in your house or neighborhood, the long term effects on you are minimal.

The Local News – Indulging in this is worse than watching national news. Want to hear about stabbings, shootings, and car accidents in your surrounding towns and cities? This is the place to be! Ugh. Serious waste of precious time. The only saving grace for our local news is the personality of a couple of very good meteorologists in the area, one in particular that helps animals in shelters.

Now that the Polar Vortex is upon us, they are even more excitable.

Other Television – This one may prove a little difficult. My wife and I are big Seinfeld fans, notably fans of the syndicated re-runs that are on every night. So easy to lose an hour to this one.

And sports programming can wind up being a giant time suck as well. Between football and baseball, I know I spend hours in front of the TV, soaking up all the athletic entertainment that I can.

My television habits will be a work in progress. Stay tuned…

Email – let’s face it, there are emails, meetings, and more emails – the majority being a complete waste of everyone’s time, but that never stops it from happening. In my line of work, the only activities that matter are helping clients and pitching prospects. End of story. Everything else will add little value to what my customers do, or my bottom line. These two activities must take up the majority of my day. I will no longer allow this line to be crossed. The email black hole must be stopped.

Social Media – Facebook, with its unlimited potential for negativity, political bickering, and general pointlessness, is actually useful for me keeping up with friends and family that don’t live in the area. What was once the ultimate time suck for me is now a medium that I’m logged in and logging off for 10 minutes every couple of days.

To stop wasting time I want my usage to drop even further, with the exception of sharing posts like this one. It’s a beautiful thing.

While I still plan to get notifications from people that a) live far away, or b) actually say something worth caring about, I really don’t have that many Facebook “friends” to begin with so it should only take me a few minutes, tops.

Other Minutiae Of Life – Small talk. Chit chat. Idle gossip. Feeding the rumor mill. We’ve all done this, right?

Time waster. Time waster. Time waster.

Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation and just wanted to walk away?

But you didn’t, because you were taught to be polite?

I’m going to start walking away. And not perpetuating negativity. Not letting anybody waste my time.

Because time is finite. There’s only so much left.

I’m going to turn my TV off. Brian Williams will become a stranger to me. Jerry Seinfeld may, as well. It will be so hard to say goodbye.

The time to just “watch” has passed me by. I’ve said it before – life is short. The game has nearly been decided. The clock is burning down. It’s hard to take action on the truly important because of the little things. And if that’s the case, don’t let those little things include the evening news and mindless internet surfing.

The quality of your life depends on it.