The Staggering Amount of Time Most of Us Waste Everyday
Why everyone should have some system of time management.
The average amount of time people spend on their phones is 5.6 hours a day according to World Metrics. It’s not surprising either. Anytime I walk out on the street, about 50% of the people walking around have their heads glued to their phones. some people just cross streets aimless without even thinking about the danger of a potential car that could hit them. That driver would probably also be on their phone.
Beyond the 5.6 hours of phone usage a day, think about the other places where people waste time. People also spend 3.2-4.5 hours a day on streaming services to go along with their phone usage.
So we’re talking almost 10 hours a day looking at a screen?
You’re probably reading this article right now on your phone.
Does that mean that phone usage and streaming usage should be zero though? Of course it doesn’t. Some people love to take things to the extreme and throw out their smartphone, get a dumb phone, get rid of their TV and then say how they’re so zen and calm now because they disconnected.
I’ve done that, it’s cool for about a week then you realize that there are a lot of sacrifices that you do make by disconnecting yourself.
Social media and the internet can be a powerful tool if it’s wielded correctly. However, most people do not know how to wield it and end up letting the device control them.
It’s hard. I know it is. When you’re watching a show that’s good and they leave you on a cliff hanger, you have to know what happens next. When you see a video on TikTok, you want to go to the next one and keep going since you feel like you might find that perfect nugget of information that your brain wants to know.
How do we get take back our time? Do we have to go to the extremes or can we find balance?
Taking back your time will make you a better person, worker and give you a greater wellbeing.
Lets dive into the ways that you can take back your time and avoid wasting it like 99% of people out there.
Take A Minimalistic Approach
To go Marie Kondo, take a minimalist approach on how you spend your time. Ask yourself, “is what I am doing right now giving me joy?”
If the answer is no, you probably should cut it out. Does binging a Netflix show actually give you joy? Or is it a bandaid for you to forget how purposeless you feel?
This isn’t to say that you should cut out everything. Just as your parents might have only given you an hour a day to watch TV when you were a kid, enforce the same rule for yourself. It’s hypocritical when parents will tell that to their kids to do that but not abide by the rule themselves. The whole purpose of a parent doing that is for the kid to be focused on school to better themselves. Well, what is the parent doing to better themselves?
Understand What You Spend Your Time On
If you spend 50% of the time on your phone actually doing something productive educational like listening to a podcast on YouTube in the background, that’s different than spending 2 hours scrolling through TikTok.
There may be educational content on TikTok but the thing about short form media like TikTok or YouTube Shorts is that the information comes so fast and sporadic that the likelihood of retaining or implementing is low. Can you remember information from a TikTok clip from two days ago? The answer is probably not.
However, long form content is more engaging and the mind gets primed to the information that you are listening to. When there is deeper engagement on a topic, you’re more likely to remember it. It’s one reason why reading a book can be more powerful than skimming through articles online.
Another part of seeing what you spend your time on is looking at the little things. The other day, I was planning to go on a run but my fiancé was watching an episode of Law and Order SVU. I got sucked into the episode and wanted to see what was going to happen next. The next thing I knew, those 5 minutes that I rationalized to watch the show turned into 30 minutes. That was 30 minutes more I could have been running. I ended up cutting my run shorter than I intended because it was getting late and I didn’t want to finish my run too close to bedtime.
Understand that some things will always be there for you like a show you want to watch. Building up to accomplish your goals will not always be there for you and you might miss your opportunity.
Commit To Only Doing One Thing At A Time
I schedule my entire day. All 24 hours have some purpose to them. This might seem excessive to some people but I think that it’s worth doing.
I break out my calendar into a few things, I have one calendar called “Weekly Calendar” that is tasks that I do repeatedly. This bucket is work, workouts, writing and taking the dog out (because you might spend an hour of your day doing that).
I usually keep these calendar blocks pretty vague. Then each week, I’ll plan my week out and get more specific with the calendar block as the week approaches.
When that thing on the calendar block comes, that is the only thing that I do during that time. Nothing else is allowed unless it’s an emergency.
Sometimes it helps to see everything that you spend your time on because little things do add up. As we noted earlier, the average person spends almost 9 hours of their day on their phone or watching TV. How productive of a person can you be doing that? You’re certainly slacking off at work when you’re on your phone that much. Some people in the work place say they don’t have enough time to do some things. Maybe that person is you. Take a hard look at how you manage your time and see how much more you can take on. Maybe that dead-end job isn’t as much of a dead-end as you thought?
How To Put It Together?
There’s a few small steps you can make to start gaining back your time. Start with these takeaways:
Take a hard look at the screen time on your phone. Is it too much? Too little?
Only watch one show a day on a streaming service (it will be there tomorrow, I promise.)
Block out all the time of your day. You don’t have to be hyper-disciplined and follow it perfectly. Blocking it out will help hold you accountable when you reflect on your day. Instead of asking yourself, “what was I supposed to do at 8:00am yesterday?” You’ll see, “I was supposed to go to the gym and skipped it. Why?”
Ask yourself, “is what I am doing right now giving me joy?” If you have the option to cut it out, do it.
Time management comes natural to some people and unnatural to others. It can be especially hard for some ADHD people or people who like to be spontaneous. There can still be spontaneity in how you manage your time. Sometimes you might have something blocked off in your calendar that’s not a priority and you can choose to be spontaneous. Other times, you might not have the option because of priorities. Everyone should try to manage their time as well as possible because we only live once and we should utilize the time we have here to the fullest.