14 things you're wasting your time on

Want to help everyone around

Helping people is certainly necessary if you care about their well-being. But you cannot sacrifice yourself and put your interests, responsibilities and emotional health on the altar of relationships. By wasting yourself on helping everyone you meet, you burn out mentally and lose strength. Which could lead to something really interesting and necessary.

If you spend more time on others than on yourself, in most cases it’s time to at least think about it. And as a maximum, start taking care of your condition and peace of mind.

Successful Man Method

To assess the direction of your life, complete the following task. If taken seriously, it will take some time, but believe me, it's worth it. So, take a sheet of paper and draw a table - 2 columns and 8 rows ( more if desired ).

Head the columns “ 5 years ago” and “ now” , and in the rows list all areas of your life (health, physical attractiveness, mental and emotional states, relationships ( husband/wife, children, friends, colleagues ), spiritual and social spheres, professional life).

Rate each of these areas in the past and present on a 10-point scale. And then you will see your vector. You will understand where there is slippage and where it is better to start moving forward. And most importantly, keep the rhythm .

Take a small step, but every day. Only this approach can lead to wealth and make you a truly successful person! Thank you for your attention, always your Maximum income!

Wait for the right moment

Let's remember the famous Soviet sideboard, in which the best dishes in the house were stored - a source of pride for the owners. Perhaps someone still has something similar in their apartment. Now remember: how often did someone use this utensil? Did they get it at all? Most often, the sets were saved until “better times.” Which, as a rule, never came.

In the same way, most people postpone their desires to the “beautiful far away.” They come up with conditions: when I do this, then... But at this rate, what I want may never come true. If you long for something, strive for it with all your soul, then act. The best time is now.

Compete with others

If you have a desire to become a professional and an expert in some field, then this is commendable and there is nothing to worry about. Spending time on self-development and improving your life is the right thing to do. But if you compete with your acquaintance or friend about who has a better life, this is a pointless exercise.

You don’t have to prove anything to anyone or do anything, acquire something, just to rub someone’s nose. It's a dead-end situation that forces you into a lifestyle that probably isn't right for you. And all this wastes money, energy and time that you could spend with great benefit and pleasure.

The invention of "productivity"

In the late 1870s, a machinist in a Philadelphia factory noticed that other machinists were operating their machines incorrectly and were increasing their labor costs. Frederick Winslow Taylor made the first calculations of labor efficiency, creating a “scientific manual”, from which the idea of ​​“productivity” was then born, a linguistic symbiosis of the two words “product” and “activity”, so that the concept originally sounded like “productive activity”.

For years, cultural critics and political activists have warned us about the dehumanizing side of industrialization. Since we stopped relying on the natural clockwork mechanism, and placed overseers with stopwatches over us, we have deprived ourselves of the God-given privilege of being the rulers of this resource-rich world, subjugating all its greatness, and have become cogs in the blind mechanism of industry.

Taking insults for constructive criticism

If you ask someone for their opinion on your work, and the response you get is a short “It’s bullshit” or worse, don’t get upset. Criticism is, of course, the engine of progress, but only if it is accompanied by explanations and arguments.

A response from the outside should help you look at something from a different angle and expand your vision. If in response you receive empty negativity, you must not give up, much less overreflect. Thus, you are simply wasting your time, and the “critic” at this moment continues to live without remembering you.

Agree to something so as not to offend the person

Caring about the feelings of others is not a bad thing. But if it turns into spinelessness and inability to refuse, then first of all you are doing something bad to yourself.

Of course, if a person really asks for company and has gone somewhere with you more than once, why not support him? But if such a system only works one way (not yours), stop thinking about other people's feelings. Do what is interesting and important to you. And don’t waste time coming up with excuses, because saying “No, I don’t want to” is much easier and more honest.

Why do we waste time

Precious hours are eaten up by bad habits. There are five of them. To stop wasting time, try to get rid of them all.

Wrong thinking

How often do you use the expression “if only” in life? Probably every day. People tend to evaluate what happened from this position. Often thoughts are too far from reality. Trying to build an ideal magical world, a person forgets about pressing matters. He steals time from himself.

Constant complaints about things beyond our control

It could be anything: rainy weather, a neighbor who started repairs early on Saturday morning, insufficient economic development in the country. Please note that if you often complain and start conversations on such topics, it’s time to sound the alarm. Complaining has no value. It's a waste of time, irritation and bad mood. Why not replace them with important and pleasant information?

Aimless disappearance on social networks

It is difficult to argue with the fact that the Internet has become a part of every person’s life. Moreover, many are so immersed in the virtual world that they forget about reality. In other cases, everything is not so bad, but there is a problem. Have you noticed how you wait for the next message, wander aimlessly through groups on social networks in search of news, or look at photos? This takes hours. Try to allocate no more than an hour a day to surf the Internet, for example, 30 minutes in the morning and evening. You are guaranteed to get a lot of free time.

The desire to do everything at once

Do several things at once and you will notice how quickly you feel mentally and physically tired. The human brain is capable of controlling the execution of a small number of tasks. The ideal option is 1 task for the designated period of time. Otherwise, you won't accomplish anything useful during your working day.

Follow advice blindly

Communicating with knowledgeable people, watching training videos, reading books, articles and highlighting something new and useful for yourself is certainly the right thing to do. But it's important to remember that not all good advice applies equally to everyone. You can spend a lot of time getting used to something, but in the end life will not improve, but will only get worse. For example, waking up early is not suitable for everyone. And although many people advise getting up early in the morning, this does not mean that you will immediately become more productive and that this will help you. There is a possibility that everything will turn out differently.

Therefore, approach experiments carefully. Think about what you are going to implement, and do not rush to try everything that is recommended to you. Listen to yourself, your body and sensations. They will tell you how to act.

Identify your illnesses via Google

Yes, reading health articles and studying expert comments is useful. However, diagnosing yourself is, to put it mildly, a so-so idea. Moreover, in such cases we do not limit ourselves to just studying the articles. After reading, people usually turn to self-medication, which in itself is dangerous.

If you are sick with something, you should go to the doctor, and not waste time and money going to the pharmacy for something that you may not need. Remember that when you self-medicate, you are missing out on time to fight the real disease that a doctor could diagnose you with.

Sometimes this is critical.

Time management techniques for all occasions

Technicians will free up time for personal matters and creativity. Use them without fanaticism, combining or alternating until you find yours.

"Telephone conversations - outgoing call"

  1. Think about the questions: “Should I call this person? Need to send him an email after the conversation? If so, wouldn’t it be easier to send it right away, excluding live communication?”
  2. Write down the questions you want to ask. Prepare arguments for possible objections.
  3. Place in front of you the documents necessary for the conversation, a sheet of paper with a plan and a pen. Write down your interlocutor's answers in a plan. If you don’t agree with something, make a note and ask a question at the end of the conversation. Be active - when the initiative comes from you, you control the conversation and can end it first.

"Case groups"

Suitable for daily planning.

Divide upcoming tasks into groups: personal, work, household, urgent, deferred. Prioritize each group. In “Personal”, look at who you should meet or talk on the phone and evaluate the importance of the person. If it does not bring positive emotions and benefits, move it to a deferred group. In “Work”, determine what information you are ready to receive during the day (orders from management, letters from the head office). Do not open emails or answer untargeted calls. Proceed similarly with the other groups except the urgent one - leave it empty and add cases as they arise. At the end of the day, evaluate your performance and reward yourself for successfully completing the plan.

A similar technique is the “Eisenhower Matrix”. Cases are distributed not by direction, but by urgency. The filling principle is the same.

Eisenhower Matrix - write down things in order of priority by time to complete, follow the plan within the time you set for yourself

"Tomato"

In the original, proposed by Francesco Cirillo, it is necessary to divide the activity into segments: work - 25 minutes, rest - 5 minutes. Every four cycles, break for half an hour.

During work, concentrate on the task; during rest, change the type of activity. Many people speak enthusiastically about the technique, however, it did not suit me in its pure form. I use combinations “90/15”, “45/30” or “60/60”. Improvise too.

"Writing tasks"

The technique follows from the “Miller's Purse” pattern: short-term memory contains 7 ± 2 elements. Therefore, it is impossible to remember the entire to-do list for the day if the amount of RAM is not genetically expanded. A striking example of a person with a fantastic memory is Solomon Shereshevsky. His brain remembered information in unlimited quantities. However, the man paid dearly for this - he had numerous neurological diseases, including prosopagnosia. We must thank nature for limiting the amount of working memory: this is how we have the opportunity to be normal.

Let's get back to technology. Write down any thought, freeing up space for new information. Before going to bed, spend 20 minutes processing the material: cross out unviable ideas, put good ones on the schedule. After 2-3 days you will feel that you think faster and answer questions.

Most often it works out like this for me

"No"

The inability to say “no” is the main reason for wasting time. Instead of a hobby, you follow the lead of your family or strangers, carrying out their instructions. If you have to refuse, you experience a deep sense of guilt.

The technique involves many ways: the main thing is to practice saying “no” constantly.

  1. Tell the person who wants to hear “Yes” that you can’t talk right now. Postpone the meeting with him in “Postponed” things without a specific date. During the waiting period, applicants usually resolve issues themselves.
  2. Before starting a conversation, warn that you have 2 minutes. At the end of them, stop the request and retreat to your business. Don't let anyone drag you into a discussion.
  3. Create comfortable conditions for unwanted guests less often: do not offer a chair, tea, or newspaper.

When you're about to say yes, your interests are at stake. Is it worth replacing them with someone else's?

"Big plans"

Highlight important plans for one/two/five years. Write everything that comes to mind. After some time, return to the list and look with fresh eyes. Cross out the least important plans. Repeat the procedure 4-6 times until there are 2-3 large cases left. Dedicate resources to their implementation.

I went further: I divided each plan into small subtasks and thinned them out in the same way. As a result, only a dozen important tasks remained from minor tasks. By the way, I completed the plan for 2021 in full.

Yana Frank's idea is to fill out such a table

"Checking mail blockages"

There are a lot of techniques for checking mail. If you don’t read your email right away or you’re stuck after a vacation, clear it according to the following algorithm:

  1. Take 15-20 minutes to check your email. Set a timer.
  2. Skim the email while highlighting spam. Add it to your cart.
  3. Filter by date: old letters on top, new ones on the bottom.
  4. Mark emails you need to respond to, but don't respond right away. There is a high probability that a letter will appear that will change the course of thoughts regarding the first one.
  5. Once the timer goes off, put off checking your email until the next day.

Apply techniques and change your life for the better. In time management, the hamster’s law always applies: “He who doesn’t dig has no hole.” Good luck!

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