12 Common Time-Wasters | Create The Life You Want

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I’m not going to list the typical time-wasters that most productivity experts tell you to avoid. Instead, I’ll list 12 common time-wasters that have affected me or ones that I commonly see for my clients.

At the end of this article, you will find 5 healthy uses of time that help you break some of those bad habits stopping you from achieving your goals and some FREE tools that I can send you to help.

I used to think that if I constantly pushed myself to work hard and kept moving forward that I’d achieve my goals. I had my head down and I was working hard, constantly busy, and ultimately missing out on life.

My home life was suffering. I was working constantly over time, on a salary pay, so essentially giving my time away to the company. Exhaustion, stress, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed were common factors in my life.

I found myself yelling at the kids too much, missing my husband, having panic attacks, and hating my life. I needed balance but my love for my career was overshadowing my life. There had to be more to life than just my career goals.

I focused on these 12 common time-wasters and found ways to create a better life. It’s not always easy and I still have my moments, but is becoming easier when I focus on the 5 healthy uses of time (bottom of this article).

12 Common Time-Wasters

There are many more that could be listed, but I like the idea that there were 12 numbers on a clock face, so I narrowed down the list to my top 12 common time-wasters.

1. Worrying About Things Out Of Your Control

Focusing on situations beyond your control adds unnecessary stress in your life. Can you just work to let it go? Possibly but sometimes this isn’t easy.

When you find yourself focused on this situation, it might be helpful to brainstorm what you can control about the situation and what you can’t control. Then put a plan into place for what you can control. The rest needs to become fluff in the wind. Noise to ignore.

2. Staying Upset Over Past Events

Vent if you must but please don’t keep focusing on the negativity. It only eats at you and wastes energy and time. I’ll vent to get my frustrations out, or will go to my kickboxing gym for a boxing workout.

Then I’ll try to look at the situation to figure out if there was anything I could have done differently. What can I learn from this? Is there something I can do to help me in the future? Using the experience as a growth mindset learning opportunity helps you improve your life, making life just a little bit easier.

3. Saying Yes

Are you a people pleaser? Do you like to say “yes” and then over-extend yourself or your family schedule? This can add stress and much more to the family dynamic. We had to start saying no to stop over-scheduling the family.

Are you constantly staying busy saying yes to “all the things” that need to get done around the house? What about asking for some help and teaching your kids about compassion.

What did we do instead? We used the time that we created to teach our kids about the importance of family connection. We said yes to spending time together and learning self-care.

4. Saying No

This may seem contradictory to you, but there is a time to say “yes”. Are you constantly saying no to people and slowly becoming reclusive? Have you taken “homebody” to a scary level of expertise? Mental health experts recommend that connections with positive influences will improve life for everyone, including the extreme introverts out there.

Notice I used “positive influences”? Saying “no” to those people that are not helping you grow and create the life you want is absolutely necessary. Don’t cut everyone out though, because the ones that help you and love you are important to say “yes” to.

5. Multi-tasking

I know that as Moms we often refer to our superpower as being expert multi-taskers. It’s true, I used the same line for my own life. I’m challenging all moms to stop multitasking and learn to live in the moment. I would love to see all moms brag about how they caught that sparkle in their kid’s eye before they cracked a joke.

Multi-tasking trains your brain to not focus on any one thing consistently. It is the leading cause of overwhelm for mothers. Let’s say no to multi-tasking and start living a more mindful life, living in the moment and enjoying it. After all, we are only given this one life. Let’s make the most of it!

6. The Much Too Long To-Do List

This is a hard one for me. I’m constantly having big expectations on what I need to get done, then feeling like a failure or being completely exhausted trying to get “all the things” done.

Here’s a little secret though. With some life goal planning, you’ll learn to create a plan that will help you focus on what’s important. It will help you pick the 3 or 4 actions to take that will help you succeed at those goals. If you can focus on the plan then the other things are just fluff.

Stuff happens but why overwhelm yourself by adding unnecessary stress. If “all the things” truly are necessary then it’s time to consider delegating and getting some help.

7. No Self-care In Your Life

Self-care is not a fad, it’s a consistent regret that many women for many generations have. So how come we continue to put ourselves last on the list? This goes hand-in-hand with the saying “yes” to everything but ourselves. Maybe it’s time to give yourself permission to find some quiet time. Take a mom’s time-out so you can rejuvenate your mind after those busy days.

I read a stat the other day that just 6 minutes of reading every day reduces stress by 50%. That’s arriving early to pick up your child from their activity and spending those moments in the car reading a fun book.

I love a great self-help book or personal development book but for my self-care moments, having a fun book to whisk me away into another world is my favorite self-care activity.

8. Focusing On The Wrong Tasks

I’m going to be brutely honest with this one. This one is a huge issue for most people but they don’t realize it. The wrong tasks are tricky because they can look helpful but are ultimately distractions.

The wrong tasks mask as “the next hottest course or learning opportunity”. You may need the skill at some point but there is that urgency to register and work on it now. In reality, it wasn’t in the plan or even necessary for where you are at the moment but the marketing of the course sucked you in. Now you’ve over-committed yourself and are going down another rabbit hole that doesn’t move you forward with your current goals.

Most productivity experts will tell you to give up social media, television, movies, fictional books, etc. Life is completely focused on your career goals. That’s fine, but what about your life goals? What about creating a more balanced life with family connections and maintaining your mental health?

That being said, everything must be done with moderation. If your self-care activities are distracting you during your work time or are the perfect excuse for not working on other goals, then it’s time to adjust some priorities.

9. Repeating The Same Mistakes

I want to clarify this a little. I’ve repeated mistakes, but never to the same degree or in the exact same situation. If you are learning from your mistakes and making it easier to overcome those situations then you, my dear, are rocking life! Failure is truly the best learning tool. When you fail, you know what doesn’t work. Make a plan to do it differently and try again.

When you can learn from mistakes and start seeing improvements then you gain confidence in improving life a little bit more.

10. Avoiding Big or Scary Things

Fear is an ugly emotion that stops productivity in its tracks. It is one of the barriers that will stop people from moving forward with their goals. Avoiding the big and scary things will just prolong the inevitable. In fact, some situations will get worse the longer it takes you to finally do something about it.

Move past the fear and break the task into bite-sized actions. Take the overwhelm out of the equation and take action.

11. Being A Perfectionist

Who here is a perfectionist? (That’s me raising my hand.) I fully admit this and know that this will be a constant struggle for me. There have been many hours wasted expecting perfection, striving for perfection in everything I do.

I’ll share a little life hack with you though. I have started putting a value on my time, then using that dollar amount to justify if spending the additional hours making something perfect is worth it right now. Most of the time, the tasks waiting on my to-do list outweigh the cost of spending more time on that other task.

I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. I’m a real person and strive to be authentic. I will, however, put the task on a to-do list for my less important tasks and if extra time is found in my week, then I’ll work on these tasks if possible. No pressure and no expectations.

12. Comparing Yourself To Others

My goodness, this is a big one. Why must we compare our journey with other people’s journeys? Ladies, it’s not a competition! Everyone’s life situations are different than yours. YOU are unique and that is YOUR superpower. Focus on your journey and the rest doesn’t matter. Your life goals only work for you, because they are yours.

5 Healthy Uses Of Time

1. Spending Time With Those You Love

Science has proven multiple health benefits for spending time with loved ones and those people that have positive influences in your life. This has been one of my consistent life goals. I wanted strong connections with each of my kids, and I wanted a marriage that would outlast “empty nest syndrome”.

2. Enjoying Nature

Back to science (sorry the geek in me loves science)…anyway science has proven that getting outside to enjoy nature reduces stress. Hello!

It’s as easy as a short walk outside, or a campfire in your backyard. How about going for a drive in the country? That one is our favorite. My husband and I grew up in a rural area, so after spending months in the city we often go for country drives to get closer to nature. There is something peaceful about seeing the wind flow over the fields or being able to see the stars at night.

3. Giving Yourself a Time Out

Yep! A mom’s time-out! I started this when the kids were small. I was finding myself yelling too much and when I dug deep, I realized that I was still overwhelmed and stressed about other stuff. It had very little to do with the kids. By giving myself a time-out I was able to work through that stress release and then help the kids with whatever was happening at the moment.

The same happens when life becomes too hectic and busy. Sometimes the boxes you put things inside start to overflow and you become a hot mess. I’ve found that giving myself permission to take time for myself is important to slow the busy mom’s brain.

4. Valuing Your Time and Others

When you are going through your day, value your time enough to stay on task. Show up for those meetings or events on time to respect your time and others. If you find yourself being distracted do what is necessary to keep the distractions at a minimum. Put the phone in another room or locked away. Use a scheduling routine that works for you so you can stay on task and achieve your goals.

5. Setting and Tracking Your Life Goals

I mentioned life goals a few times earlier on, but I can’t stress this enough. Goals are not just for your career. Your life doesn’t stop at work. They can include health goals, relationship goals, home organization goals, vacation goals and so much more. It’s your life and you can create the life you want.

I’ve listed 12 common time-wasters that affect many people, so you aren’t alone. Some of these are problems for me too. The good news is there are ways to overcome them and manage your time effectively. You also don’t have to give up everything fun and entertaining. Life doesn’t have to be centered around your career goals. Spend some time setting some life goals and finally create the life you want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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