HOW TO STOP WASTING TIME AND IMPROVE YOUR PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS

I think this is one of the topics all of us googles at least once in our lifetime. Time just flies away when we well, waste away time by scrolling hours away on social media. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Time is money.”

Stop procrastinating.

We procrastinate so much, waiting for the right time, you don’t feel like doing it now, you are in the middle of a really interesting show, all these are excuses. Recognize it. You are procrastinating and wasting away your time, the same time that could have been utilized in doing something productive and constructive. Then, your workload will pile up, and it will look to you as though you have a ton of work to do and so little time. Actually, you had a lot of time and work that could be evenly be distributed and completed but you chose not to do it. Draw up a schedule and allot different sections for the whole day. Plan ahead. You have a lot of time that way, but very little time when you procrastinate.

Do one thing at a time.

Stop multitasking because you are scrunched up for the time. That is not how it works and you are going to screw up more than one task that is in your hand if you try juggling things and trying to do them at the same time. Doing one thing at a time not only completes your work and you give your whole focus on the task but also you complete your work faster, and you can proceed to the next task.

Do not definitely do not check your social media if you feel that you want to take a break.

Social media will just distract you even more, and you won’t even know where the time went. It just eats into your time and mind, and at times, social media just makes you mentally tired and not to forget to mention the fact that it even strains your eyes. The fact that on social media no one really shows their troubles, they show and try their best to portray that they live the best life, will also bring you down. The grass always seems greener on the other side. This brings you down mentally and you don’t even feel like going back to work anymore.

Turn off the notifications for a while.

You have apps that monitor your screen time as well. You are going to be distracted and curious every time your phone pings over some notification, which again, will distract you. Customize your notifications, from the most important ones to the least, or better yet, just put your phone on do not disturb or on the silent mode.

Be proactive.

Start the day with a goal, and aim to complete it. It does not even have to be a minute by minute schedule that you have to follow. A couple of tasks that need to be done and are important could be done first, and the ones which are not that important can be done later in the day at a much slower pace. But the most important thing is that you wake up with a purpose to move ahead with your day, to do something productive and something that would make you feel satisfied and not discontent that you wasted the day away. It’s not the thought that matters, that you got up with a purpose and you decided that you would do a number of things and did not follow through at all. Actions speak louder than words. This analogy applies here as well, though in a slightly different context.

Do not put things off for tomorrow.

I know how it goes. Oh, I can always do that tomorrow, I can always complete that tomorrow or even I will get up early tomorrow and do this. Do you even see what is going on here? First of all, the above lines you read are plain old excuses you tell yourself in order to assuage the guilt and to reduce your guilt and self-pity that you just wasted a perfectly good day in just doing nothing and when you actually did start working, the day was almost over and you realized that you could always complete or do the whole thing tomorrow. Second of all, you are most likely to sleep late considering the fact that you are late in doing and completing your work and you plan to get up early and complete it. That is wrong on so many levels simply because you would not get a good night of sleep with all the worry and stress of completing your work and then when you get up in the morning with not enough of sleep, which again, is really bad for your body but then who cares, you definitely don’t. The other thing is that when you do get up from your apparent beauty sleep where you were tossing and turning the whole night because of the guilt and worry of if you will be able to complete your work when you do start working you are under immense pressure already and you won’t even give whatever you are doing a hundred percent.

But honestly, these are the baby steps to start with and if you follow these, you would see the difference. The lethargic feeling you always have? It will go. The guilt that you have? Gone. Get up every morning feeling better and positive? Done. You will start feeling much better when you see yourself completing your work before deadlines and still have time to indulge yourself in watching your favorite TV shows or your hobbies or whatever you do. The secret behind getting your work done and still have time is, stop that damn procrastination and stop getting distracted by everything around you. Keep your phone away and keep your focus on things that matter to you.