Waste No Time: How to Make Every Second Count

Time can be considered the most important commodity in our lives. You may have even heard some phrases stating the importance of time, such as, “time is money” and “beat the clock”.

Hence, we should tackle our time carefully as we know that TIME FLIES… Now, wasting your time depends on your mindset and philosophy; for one person, playing games might be a waste of time, while for another – it may be his bread and butter. Let’s understand what makes up our time so that we can waste no time in the future.

What Does It Mean to Waste Our Time?

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To waste time means that, according to your values, you could have used the time to accomplish something more meaningful and valuable. Values are very subjective, hence, they vary from person to person. Therefore, the first thing you should do is to create your definition of a “waste of time”. Brainstorm different instances of your day and then put conscious thought into them to verify if they were productive instances or just a waste of time.

By doing this exercise you would know what is waste of time according to your perspective, and you would finally get out of the bubble of social judgment.

The simple question that you should ask yourself now and then is “What have I been doing for the past 3 hours?” If the answer comes out to be “nothing”, then you have been wasting your time.

What Do We Waste Time On?

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People tend to choose the route that presents the least amount of difficulty. Simply put, if there are several ways to get somewhere, you usually take the shortest one. Similar to this, if we have an option between squandering time and focusing on a task, we select the latter since it is simpler. If you detest or find boring the activity at hand, your odds of wasting valuable time rise. You don’t waste time as much while you are working on a task you enjoy.

Hence, people spend time on whatever they love and find simple to do. Due to this, we keep procrastinating and delaying the completion of essential tasks. But, knowing how and on what we spend our precious time is very crucial.

Take The Help Of TimeSheets By TimeTrack

For creating a realistic and sustainable task list, knowing and analyzing your time consumption scenario is crucial. TimeSheets can be your game-changer. TimeSheets will help you in recording your time via a timer.

Why Is It Essential To Plug Time Leaks?

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This is the part where we can be a bit cheesy and say that “we shouldn’t waste time because life moves quickly.”

But the real answer to this question is something that only you can answer for yourself. You have to find your purpose in life and seek it by working on achieving your dreams and goals. If you find yourself constantly struggling to meet deadlines, organize your personal life, and even get that workout in, you need to plug those time leaks and make a comprehensive yet realistic schedule for your day.

How To Waste No Time?

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It will take quite a while to stop squandering time – maybe a week or even a month.

Acknowledging that you are wasting so much time would be the first step. Working long hours and long weeks will make it difficult for you to convince yourself that you are wasting time. You then have to identify your biggest time wasters and develop the discipline to break them.

Expecting to break your time-wasting behaviors in a day or two is unrealistic. Build your routine around these concepts and have the patience and discipline to seek long-term progress. You won’t even get started if you set out with the goal of quitting all of your time-wasting behaviors in a week.

Structuring Your Day

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The first and the most important task to do as a prerequisite is to create a schedule and routine to follow throughout the whole day. The most important thing to consider is to make it as realistic as possible, otherwise, you will start procrastinating, forcing you to start all over again.

Giving structure to your day is very crucial, but even more important is to follow through with that structure. You can use many tools to create a realistic to-do list, such as TimeTrack, which offers various solutions related to time optimization and execution.

Time Management Techniques

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Engage in Something You Love

This is the most basic yet practical tip that you can get. Working on something you enjoy is the best approach to stop squandering time. You are not required to work on what you adore full-time. If you desire to own a business, for instance, you can start by taking little steps in that direction while working a full-time job.

You could even pick up an old pastime again. When you were a teen, did you ever dream of playing the guitar? Spent every day for thirty minutes playing the guitar.

Being engaged in something you enjoy helps you to ignore time-wasting activities. Working on something you love gives you a rush. The adrenaline aids in clearing out the other distractions.

Don’t Wait for Precise Round-off Times to Start Working

The first and second best times to start were in the past, and the best moment to start is now.

Let’s create a typical workday scenario. You would choose to begin at 9:30 if you arrived at work by 9:20, you would read through some arbitrary group messages over those ten minutes, watch a Youtube clip, and later move on to suggested videos.

Eventually, you would put off starting work until 10 a.m., as you have already passed your ideal time mark for doing so. Who will it really hurt if you dedicate another 5 minutes to doing nothing? You are aware of what happens next. The downward spiral has no end.

Time Block Can Be Considered

When you can, try to keep to set times. For instance, you may schedule the first hour of each day for learning and development in your field of expertise. The following hour will be spent on any long-term goal-related tasks You can check emails and other things during the third hour.

You accomplish more when working by blocks of time. In the absence of a clear direction, you could flit from one duty to another. One task could go on longer than another or vice versa. You consequently jump around from one work to the next like a bubble that is being carried away by a strong breeze.

Start Using the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) Mode

Being human makes it difficult to successfully fight the impulse to read our text messages. The basic act of checking a message is not the issue. When we open the phone, you check your other notifications in addition to the text message. When you see that somebody liked your Facebook picture, you suddenly find yourself reading through the news stream for another 20 minutes.

Social networking apps and websites have figured out how to keep your interest for a long time. You experience interruptions as a victim when working, learning, or performing any other critical task.

If you only use one piece of advice from this list, make it this one. You may not be aware of how much your phone distracts you if you think you use it infrequently. Put your device on DND for a day, and you’ll be able to tell the difference for yourself. Before you give it a shot, don’t reject the concept.

Find Distraction Elimination Tools Such as “Focus”

You will waste time as a result of being around people and situations that encourage small chats, idle talk, and irrelevant gossip. People will yell at you, make jokes, answer their phones, and ask you pointless questions, among other things. Stay away from environments that encourage distractions as much as you can.

You don’t need to shut yourself off from the outside world like a convict in solitary confinement. However, avoid the chaos as much as you can. You can’t be reached if you use empty rooms when they are available. Even without listening to music, wearing headphones prevents obtrusive attention from others. Learn how to become more efficient and productive in your workspace by eliminating distractions.

Use Time Clock By TimeTrack

With the help of a timeclock app, you can record your working hours outside the office, allowing you to create realistic schedules for yourself. It offers a mobile app – the time clock – that is quick and efficient. Just take your phone out, start the timer, and the routine of daily tasks can begin. The time clock records the come and goes of all employees. You don’t even have to be online to do this, the time recording is also saved offline. And the great part is, that it offers all this ability through your smartphone.

Conclusion

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In actuality, we can’t afford to waste much time. With so much to do, wasting time on site interruptions, engaging in pointless conversations, and drifting aimlessly through our days without a plan or an objective is equivalent to taking $100 out of your bank account every day and throwing it in the trash. Therefore, starting today, pay attention to how you spend your time, avoid pointless conversations about things you can’t control, have a plan for the day, and strive to be proactive. Remember: now is the best time to waste no time at all.