Are You Wasting Your Time?

Something that is often on the forefront of my mind, something that has become an automated system inside my head, is determining the value and use of my time. 

We all have the same amount of time, you’ve all heard of the overused and now slightly cringeworthy term “We all have the same 24 hours”, the problem is, it’s true.

The difference between ordinary people and high achievers is the latter know how to get the most value out of their time. 

In order to get good at anything, we have to become extremely conscious of time and what we’re doing with it.

Even stress is determined by it, stress is having stuff to do with no time to do it. 

So, I have come up with an equation you can use as a framework that can help determine the value of your time. 

The Value Of Time Equation

Value Of Time = Productive Activities / Available Time

Essentially, this equation suggests the more time you spend on activities that propel you forward, the more value your time has.

For example, spending 3 hours every night watching tv is most likely a complete waste of time, but 1 hour could be extremely useful if it helps you mentally recover and avoid long-term burnout.  

The trick is to not lie to yourself or make excuses, you might tell yourself that 3 hours is your recovery, but have no idea if 30 minutes has the same effect. And if it does, well that’s 2 and a half hours that could be better spent. 

You can also reverse engineer the equation, these are a set of questions I love to ask myself and other people as it really emphasises the equation.

What is something positive you have started in the past but have not stuck to?

These usually include diets, exercise, a reading habit/goal, sleeping habit or maybe quitting a bad one?

Now, when did you first try and commit to it? 

If you’ve tried multiple times, go from the earliest one, was it a couple months ago? A year ago? A couple years?

Where would you be now if you hadn't quit?

I think this is extremely powerful as the answer to that last question can really put things into perspective. You’d most likely have a much better quality of life. 

The interesting thing is, time is constantly moving, so eventually you’ll be looking back on today and it’ll be “5 years ago”, so start now, and don’t stop, your future self is depending on you to make them better. 

You, right now, might want to spend your free 2 hours a day lazing around, because it's what you feel like doing in the moment, but that's a months worth of time each year you could be dedicating to something positive.

Do not waste your time, your life could be inconceivably better for it.

Taking It Too Far 

Just like everything involved with self-improvement, this can be taken too far.

Try to avoid this at all costs, as when you pass the point of it being a useful practice and it starts becoming stressful, you're a lot more likely to abandon it altogether.

Don’t be too critical, we all waste time, just make sure it becomes a rare occasion. 

Just think if you’re spending your time stressing over how you're spending your time, it has become counter-productive. 

Disclaimer: It’s not just the productive activities that hold value, life isn't all about self-improvement….I think.

To make it easier to determine whether the things you are doing are valuable, just ask yourself if you’d look back on them and regret them.

You probably wouldn’t regret missing exercise or an important meeting if it was to meet up with old friends or loved ones, but you would regret all the time you spent sleeping in, or procrastinating, or binge watching tv shows.