“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time”, is like saying ‘I don’t want to’.”

Lao Tzu

Quite often you might feel that there is not enough time to do everything you want to. This may happen not because there is not enough time but because you might not manage properly your time daily in order to do all that you want to. There are various things wasting time daily; for example spending a lot of time -for no reason- scrolling in the newsfeed on social media. However, there are some common things that are wasting time and are bounded to a person’s deeper beliefs and/or mentality.

1. Waiting for inspiration: Good ideas are not coming on their own. They are the outcome of work, exercises and generally taking action.
2. Doing everything by yourself: It is not helpful as it causes fatigue, constant rush to catch up with everything and it leads to the lack of tangible results. Instead try to delegate tasks, collaborate with other people, and accept help and support.
3. Worrying about what people will say: An unproductive feeling that puts you in a place of constant worry. Instead you shall focus on what is good for you.
4. Not living your life: Setting boundaries is a matter of utmost importance. Otherwise, besides wasting time, it may also make you feel unhappy.
5. The fear of failure: If you fear failure, then you may never bother trying. This is not only wasting time with -most of the times- overthinking the fear but it also holds you back from moving towards your goals.
6. Complaining: Complaining changes absolutely nothing. When something is not the desired, when something does not go according to the initial plan, the most helpful thing to do is to act upon it and adjust to the new situation.
7. Unfinished tasks: When you start something and then you leave it in the middle, then you lose time from later on when you will need to do it and go through what you already did in order to remember. It consumes energy, time and attention. So, decide either execute the task or give it up.
8. Trying to please everybody: Everyone is different and unique and might have a different opinion. So, it is literally impossible to keep everyone pleased.
9. Comparing yourself: Each person is unique, thus trying to compare yourself with another person is unproductive. Getting into the vicious cycle of comparison you may end up with negative emotions that are not easy to handle, such as bitterness, jealousy and insecurity.
10. Repeating the same mistake: It is important to learn from your mistakes and not lose time repeating them. Besides, Menandros (Ancient Greek poet) said “Making the same mistake twice does not befit the wise”.
11. Perfectionism: Of course it is important the outcome of whatever you do to be decent, however what does perfect even mean? What is perfect? It is not something objectively and widely agreed, therefore to try to “catch” the perfect takes a lot of time and effort and may leave you with a constant feeling of unfulfilled.
12. Lack of priorities: It is important to prioritise and to get involved in cases that are truly important to you and not in everything.

We are all humans, which means that we all have something from the list above. It is important for someone to be honest and truly identify the aforementioned in themselves. This way, each person will be able to increase their self-awareness and make conscious interventions in order to advance their lives.

Sources:

1. Allen D., (2015), “Getting things done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” Revised edition, ‎Penguin Books

2. Gawande A., (2009), “The Checklist Manifesto: How to get things right”, New York, N.Y., Metropolitan Books.

3. Zeratsky J., Knapp J., (2018), “Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day”, Transworld

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