Taming the Time Thief Within
Is your time truely yours?
What serious thought looms over your head before you go to sleep? Personally, it might begin with the thought about the time that I may have wasted during that day and what I could have done with it. It often feels like a sudden intrusion of contemplation abrupting the sense of calmness and warmth before sleeping. Before we know it, the guilt starts creeping in.
It’s a fascinating concept actually, time that is.
Without being able to put a pause button on it, time feels like it can easily spiral out of our control, especially when we feel like we are wasting our hours.
It’s a universal phrase; stop wasting time. I’m sure you’ve probably heard it from your parents, teacher, or potentially anywhere. We hear the humble brag of others about their multitasking abilities that make us feel like serial time wasters.
Even the most productive person that you know has probably wasted time. We all do it.
What the narrative of wasting time brings about can be daunting at times. As people want to constantly maintain the image of being a productive being, they begin to disassociate with anything that is deemed as time-wasting to demonstrate their efficiency, e.g. “I’m so busy with my career/business, I don’t have time to exercise.” The person may subconsciously make themselves feel productive, however, what they could have been doing is pouring their energy into something else like mindlessly scrolling through social media instead.
This is why it’s important to pause and think of the actions that we do throughout the day that have become habits. Some habits or certain actions that we do throughout the day might be the real culprits of time seeping away. These may include procrastination, multitasking, excessive screentime, overcommitting, lack of focus, overthinking, lack of delegation and the list goes on.
Although it will always be a work in progress, here are ways that I have been trying to put into practice to reduce wasting time:
1. Setting clear boundaries: I cannot stress enough the importance of establishing boundaries and communicating your limits with others to avoid time-consuming situations.
2. Prioritizing sleep: This is an obvious one. Ensuring that you are getting quality sleep improves your energy and focus, which saves you hours of time wasted on low-energy.
3. No Multi-tasking: Approaching each task separately and completing it without jumping to finish other tasks leads to increased focus and efficiency in completing the task at hand.
4. Mindful consumption: With the limitless distractions surrounding us, it becomes important to be selective in what you read, watch, scroll, and listen through. Consuming quality content can reduce time spent on irrelevant information in the long run.
5. Minimizing Overthinking: Spending excessive time ruminating or worrying about things outside of your circle of control does you no favors other than spiraling into negative emotions and preventing you from taking action. Gently remind yourself that it is out of your control and you can’t do anything about it.
To conclude, here’s a reminder for you with a little twist: time goes, where the energy flows.
