Dwelling on the past. I don’t know about you, but I can’t time-travel to my past and make it better. Focus on what you can do right now to improve your life. Let bygones be bygones.
Worrying about future. Again, focus on what you can do right now to improve your life. Worry does nothing but steals the present moment away from you. If you think you deserve a better future, work on them instead of worrying about them.
Deciding trivial matters. If Mark Zuckerberg spends 20 minutes on his wardrobe everyday, we wouldn’t have Facebook today.
Making alarm snoozes. If you want to sleep, sleep. If you want to wake up, wake up. Why wake yourself up if you know you wouldn’t get up anyway?
Scrolling social media endlessly. Do you think you can scroll to the bottom of your news feed? No. I’ve tried that. It’s okay to catch up with friends through social media but don’t let it consume your life.
Oversleeping. Sleeping is vital, but don’t overdo it. Even though you’ve worked hard and deserve a rest, oversleeping isn’t the right way to pamper yourself. Substitute oversleeping with hobbies or activities that you enjoy doing.
Planning too much. Similarly, planing is important. Failing to plan is planning to fail. But planning too much could be procrastination in disguise. If you spend more time planning than executing, you’re probably planning too much.
Attending events that aren’t helpful. Don’t worry, you don’t have to attend every event. No one actually expects you to do so. Take it easy. Overcome that fear of missing out.
Spend time with the wrong people. Some people bring you up. Some pull you down. Spend time with the former. “You're The Average Of The Five People You Spend The Most Time With” -- Jim Rohn.
Thinking about how others think about you. You should value people’s feedback, but don’t live your life with the goal to please people. That’s worse than slavery.
Helping extremely negative people. Some people are so negative that they suck all your energy like a black hole. If you’re not careful, soon you will be as negative and helpless as them without even knowing why. Don’t sacrifice for nothing. I’ve been there…
Trying to change someone. It’s easier to reach the Moon than to change someone. If you feel someone has to change, try to change your views or opinions about them. That’s much more doable and you will feel better too.
Engaging in meaningless arguments. Some people will bring you down to their level and defeat you at that particular level. “Pick your “wars” wisely.” — Sun Tzu.
Not pursuing your goals. Time is ticking, my friend.
Last but not least…
- Not paying attention to anything you do. No matter what you do, you’re somewhat wasting your time if you don’t pay attention to it. If you’re reading a book while thinking about the live soccer match, it’s better to simply watch the live match and return to reading with full attention later. Attention is scarce today. If you can focus on one thing at a time, you can go truly far.
That said…I believe that different people have different priorities. So it’s impractical to nitpick each activity and judge whether it’s productive or a waste of time. So my personal rule of thumb is this: As long as you know what you’re doing and doing them intentionally/purposefully, your time is probably well spent.