5 Things You Are Wasting Your Time On – And How to Stop
Believe it or not, you may be wasting a lot of time on the things you shouldn’t be spending your time on. In this article, we will be discussing 5 things you are wasting your time on, and how you can stop doing them. Unless you want to end up being bored and unproductive for the rest of your life, you should make an effort to stop doing these things as soon as possible. There’s a good chance you’re doing one or more of these things without even realizing it. Read on and find out what you should start doing instead so you can get your life back on track.
1. Checking social media constantly
Social media is here to stay, and will continue to grow and be a relevant part of everyone’s lives. However, you shouldn’t use it as an extension of your arm and hand, constantly checking your email, Twitter, Facebook and so on while ignoring the real world around you.
You’d be surprised at how much time you spend on social media which takes away from productivity. Apple and Android phones both keep track of your online activity.
For Apple devices:
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Go to Settings
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Go to Screen Time
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Here you can see all activity; time spent on each app, daily average, how many times you picked up your phone, etc..
For Android devices:
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Go to Settings
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Go to Digital Wellbeing & Parental Controls
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Go to Dashboard and here you can see all activity.
Instead try: Setting focus times. In settings you have ability to disable apps at specific times, only allow a set amount of time on each app daily, etc… Try to designate specific times or days to enjoy social media to boost productivity.
2. You let email take over
The average user checks their phone 150 times a day. It’s become so engrained in us to feel a sense of not only to check it but to respond immediately. According to the McKinsey Global Institute analysis:
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On average, 28% of work time is spent on email.
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We check email on average 11 times per hour.
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84% keep email open in the background while working.
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64% use notifications to learn about new emails.
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70% of all received emails open within the first six seconds after receipt.
Instead try: Time blocking when you will check your email. No need to check it 11 times per hour. Start off with a morning check and mid day check then dwindle down to once a day. Also completely close your email client to prevent hearing the notifications.
3. You aren’t creating content for your target audience
Creating content for your target audience means creating content that is useful and helpful to your target audience. Generally speaking, the content that your target audience wants is the content they would actually use and benefit from. If you are creating the content yourself and haven’t took the time to understand your target audience not only are you wasting time but your leaving money on the table.
Because of this, you need to think about your target audience before you plan, draft, or publish any content. Who is your target audience? Who would read your blog, website, email list, social media account, and other content platforms? Who would benefit from the advice, information, and entertainment you plan to provide?
Instead try: Create a client avatar. This will help you identify whom your content is for and what kind of content you need to generate. You can’t just randomly throw together content and hope that people will love it. Stop creating just to create!
4. You’re only reading and watching content you like
While reading and watching content that you enjoy is a great way to spend your free time, you should also try and balance out your time with other content. If you only read and watch content that relates to your niche, you will only be learning about things that you like. This will limit your knowledge and understanding of other topics in ways that will make it hard for you to build a business. It is also a time waster because you aren’t growing.
Instead try: Use Reedsy.com to discover recommendations in genres you wouldn’t normally choose to make sure that you are reading and watching a variety of different kinds of content. This will help you balance out your reading and viewing time so that you are learning a variety of different things.
5. Unnecessary Meetings
Business meetings are a huge waste of time that you have no need for. It’s human nature to assume that if someone meets with you, they must have some business to discuss. The truth is that most business meetings are useless, and can even be harmful to your business. Unless you have a legitimate reason to meet with someone, there’s no need to go through the trouble of arranging a meeting. According to data from the University of Maryland, every business meeting that is unnecessary wastes an average of 2 hours of each person’s time. This can be a huge amount of time, especially if your business is successful.
Instead try: Using a project management/team tool that allows for seamless communication andcolloboration in a central location such as Monday.com or Zoho.com or ClickUp.com. These not only stop back and forth emails and meetings to review status but increases productivity.
Conclusion
It’s true that we are always going to make mistakes in life, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is continuing to do the same things you’ve been doing all this time. With that in mind, it’s important that you stop doing the five things mentioned in this article as soon as possible. This will improve your productivity, help you focus more and allow you to spend more time doing the things you enjoy doing.
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