We waste time in ways we don’t even realize. You need to stop wasting time at work, which can be clearly recognized and avoided. But in other ways too – not just by doing things we think are unproductive like watching TV or playing games, but also by doing things we look down on others for slacking off on – like sleeping in, or spending time with friends.
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Use a planner to organize your time
A planner can help you keep track of your stop wasting time and stay organized. You should have a planner that you can use to write out your schedule, appointments, meetings, and other commitments. Use your planner to mark down the tasks you need to complete for each day. Keep track of your homework assignments as well. This will help you make sure that you are completing all of your assignments on time. You can also use a planner to mark down any important dates or events coming up such as birthdays or anniversaries.
You can also use a digital calendar to keep track of your time and commitments. Many phones come with built-in calendars that allow you to set reminders for upcoming events. You can set alarms or reminders for homework assignments and tests. This will help you manage your stop wasting time. so that you know when an assignment is due or when an appointment is scheduled for.
Build your own productivity system and stop wasting time
A productivity system has two parts: tools and methodology. The tools make it easier to do certain things, and the methodology gives you an idea of what those certain things are. The canonical example of a tool is a calendar. If you have a wall calendar, your tool is designed to help you keep track of time. Your methodology might be something like: write down on different days the different things I need to be reminded of at that time.
But in fact, there’s no reason the tool and methodology have to match. You can use that same wall calendar to implement all sorts of methodologies besides reminding yourself what you have to do when. You could use it as a diary (just write down each day what happened) or a sketchbook (put your sketches on the appropriate days). A more general-purpose productivity tool is an interleaved notebook, in which you can mix sketches, diary entries, and reminders of what to do when, not just for the current year but for years in the future as well.
What’s really going on when you build your own system is that you’re designing an interface between yourself and reality. That interface has two sides: the side facing yourself, which is the tool; and the side facing reality, which is the methodology.
Stop wasting time on bad habits that distract you from your goals
We all have bad habits that we would like to change. The best way to do it is by replacing a bad habit with a good one. The best way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a better one.
The act of eating chocolate cake at night seems harmless enough until you realize that this habit is causing you to gain weight. A new habit, such as substituting carrot sticks for the cake, will help you lose weight and avoid the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
The same technique can be used to overcome other bad habits, such as biting your nails or watching too much television. Suppose you want to stop biting your nails. You could put a bandage on each finger so that nail-biting is physically impossible or uncomfortable. Or perhaps you could make a list of activities you could do when the urge strikes instead of biting your nails, such as calling someone on the telephone or reading an interesting magazine article. Bad habits distract us from our goals and objectives in life. It may be hard to break them at first, but if we stick with it, over time we will eliminate them altogether and enjoy better focus and success in our lives.
Stop wasting time through unconscious activities
Because most of what you do is unconscious, it’s also largely wasted. When I’m writing, I have to consciously think about what I’m doing. But when I go down the street and buy a bagel, I don’t have to think about it. Because my behavior is so consistent, because I’ve done it so many times before, nearly all of the details are handled automatically.
This is good in some ways: you can get a lot done without having to bother with the details. But it’s bad in other ways. If you want to learn something new or do something that requires a little thought, your automatic behavior gets in your way. Imagine someone trying to learn to knit while wearing mittens. His hands would be too hot and clumsy to do the work, and he’d never be able to develop any skill at it. The more automatic his knitting habits became, the more they’d get in his way. Guide your unconscious activities to work with emotional intelligence.
Pomodoro technique is a good guide
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down periods of work into 25 minutes intervals called “Pomodori” (from the Italian word for “tomatoes”) separated by short breaks.
The technique has been widely popularized by dozens of apps and websites providing timers and instructions. Closely related to concepts such as timeboxing and iterative and incremental development used in software design, the method has been adopted in pair programming contexts.
The Pomodoro Technique requires a timer, preferably a mechanical one that can be set for 25 minutes. A small notebook and pen are also needed to track tasks, so as to measure how long each task takes on average. The Pomodoro Technique has been used since the late 1980s to improve productivity and do more with less stress. It was developed by Francesco Cirillo when he was a student at the University of Rome La Sapienza. Here’s how Cirillo describes it:
Pomodoro = Tomato
1 Pomodoro = 25 minutes
Short Break = 5 minutes
Long Break = 15 minutes
A Pomodoro begins with an individual task, which may be broken down into sub-tasks if it is too large or complex. The task is identified, the Pomodoro timer (traditionally a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato) is set to minutes (traditionally 25), and the task begins. If an interruption occurs before the Pomodoro rings, the other person (or thing) is asked to wait until the completion of the current Pomodoro.
Learn to prioritize
The best way to learn how to prioritize things is to try doing it. There are two kinds of priorities. The first is the value-added priorities that help you get more done, like avoiding distractions and making your workspace as efficient as possible. The second kind is the lifestyle priorities, which help you get more done in the right way, such as having a strong work ethic or a healthy family life.
The second kind of priority has been neglected for a long time, but it is the most important thing you can do for your career. That’s because job satisfaction arises from having good relationships with your colleagues and from being able to use your skills in creative ways. Good at what? At whatever suits you best.
Extraordinary people have extraordinary careers because they make their lives fit their work not the other way around.
Stop comparing to somebody
If you want to live an interesting life, be an interesting person. A lot of people think they’re being interesting when they’re just being weird. Being weird is not quite the same as being interesting. In my experience, most people don’t want to be too strange. They may want to seem a little strange, which is easy enough: all you have to do is not worry about seeming normal. But it’s hard to do anything really strange in this world without getting in trouble.
What’s the difference between being weird and being interesting? One test I like is to ask myself if I’d enjoy talking to this person for five minutes. Not for five days, but for five minutes. If I wouldn’t enjoy their company in a very short time, then I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy it over a longer period either. But there’s another thing you can do with questions like this: use them on yourself.
If you’re wondering if you’re weird or interesting, try asking whether others would find you interesting if they met you now. The advantage of thinking of yourself as just another person is that it should give you an outside view(Intelligence) of yourself and that should help correct the natural tendency toward overconfidence everyone has in evaluating themselves.