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Biggest Time Wasting Activities

time wasting activities

What Are The Biggest Time Wasting Activities At Work & Life?

This isn’t just about the biggest time-wasting activities at work, it’s about the biggest time-wasting activities in life. We do so many little things that keep us from the bigger picture, keep us from our dreams just because they make us feel busy.

In truth it is the little tiny things like browsing Facebook for an hour or three hours a day, sleeping in that extra hour, or gossiping and shopping for things we don’t really need.. that distract us from performing our jobs, keeping jobs or achieving our dreams.

In an article by Payscale.com, they provide a list of time-wasting activities at work, you can see it below…

Some of the top time-wasters at work include:

  • Web surfing
  • Texting
  • Personal phone calls
  • Gossiping
  • Shopping online
  • Facebook/social media
  • Water cooler chat
  • Long lunches/breaks
  • Being late/leaving early
  • Searching for a new job
  • Unproductive meetings
  • Reading email jokes/forwards
  • Constant interruptions (e.g. phone calls, emails, coworkers, requests)
  • Checking personal email
  • Video games/online games
  • Smoking breaks
  • March Madness and other office activities (e.g. potlucks, fundraising campaigns)

An article by the New York Times website said that the average person spends 50 minutes per day on Facebook.

50 minutes is a lot of time. It generally only takes about 20 hours to become skilled at something and according to Josh Kaufman, about 10,000 hours to master a craft.

I personally think Facebook is the biggest time-wasting activity in the history of humankind, so I broke it down for you.

Facebook Is A Time Wasters Favorite Thing To Do

The average Facebook user wastes..

  • 50 minutes a day
  • 25 hours a month
  • 300 hours a year
  • 1500 hours every five years
  • 3000 hours every ten years

The addicted Facebook user wastes..

  • 100 minutes a day
  • 50 hours a month
  • 600 hours a year
  • 3000 hours every five years
  • 6000 hours every ten years

So someone who doesn’t waste all their time browsing Facebook is going to be about 30% further ahead of an average Facebook user ten years from now and about 60% farther ahead of a Facebook addict.


Work Hard & Play Hard – Time Wasters Work Until They Are 60+

Throw in some gossiping, shopping for junk, smoking, and playing games… and a time-waster is still working at 60, still browsing Facebook, still gossiping, and still smoking while a successful person who stays focused could retire at the age of 35 or 40.

I’m not saying don’t be on Facebook at all and I’m not saying don’t play games.

I AM saying that if your life isn’t where you want it to be, browsing Facebook and playing games, gossiping and smoking or drugs, and drinking is NOT what you should be doing at this moment. Not if you want to keep your job, move up in life, get a better home, get out of that dead-end town, find a better boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband; be able to pay your bills on time, earn people’s trust and respect and retire at an early age on retirement savings in a beach home or ranch in the country that you OWN instead of living on social security in a broken shack and barely enough money to buy the food you want.

I used to know this hairdresser I had been going to for years, she constantly talked about how she wanted to get out of the city she lived in and one day when she had the money she was going to leave but she wanted it all to go right. She ended up having two kids, and I stopped going for a few years. I came back one day to that town for a visit and she was still there! She didn’t remember me (I changed a lot) but she still looked the same; she told me the SAME story while cutting my hair.

That girl is NEVER going to leave that town.

It’s not our words but our actions that define our future.

The Differences Between A Successful Mindset & Wasteful Mindset

  • While you were sleeping in an extra hour I was at the gym.
  • While you were browsing Facebook I was learning new techniques on how to do my job better.
  • While you were shopping for extra clothes and iPhone accessories I was investing in educational classes on how to be better at what I do
  • While you stayed up at night watching soap operas and Netflix I was reading books on psychology, sales techniques, marketing, how to be successful, how to be patient, how to handle employees, how to start a business, how to win friends and influence people
  • While you were eating out and drinking with your friends I was getting personal training at the gym
  • While you were gossipping about people behind their backs I was helping as many people as I could
  • While you complained about your job, the pay, and your boss I started my own company doing what I love

The little decisions we make every day, from waking up to brushing our teeth are all opportunities.

When we decide to watch Netflix all night after a long hard day at a job we don’t like and we use the excuse “Well, I’ve had a long day I need a break.” – A real break would be using that time to learn how to make money independently doing what you love; every night… until you get there. Then you can watch Netflix and not have to make excuses for it.

Managing Time Efficiently

Managing time efficiently is critical if you want to achieve your dreams faster, or at all. Picking up a book on time management; I recommend The 4-Hour Workweek, is really important.

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