Four Wastes Of Your Time That Will Keep You Broke

Do you want to be rich? Do you want to move up on the living scale ladder? Will your nine to five job get you there? For many of us, our daily job may help us to live our normal existence, but if you want to be really successful or increase your wealth, then you will need to keep the distracters away from your life that are wastes of your time. One of the best examples I have ever read came from Robert Pagliarini’s book, “The Other 8 Hours”. In his opening, he describes going to a typical nine to five job and passing through a nice section of Beverly Hills. Those people did not get that rich by working a typical nine to five job. People who become rich create things, start businesses, and make the most out of all the available time that they have. Below are four wastes of your time that will keep your poor and broke if they are not carefully managed.

Four Wastes Of Time That Will Keep You Broke

1. Constantly Checking Your Email

Many people constantly check their email. One of the worst things that you can do is keep your email program open. Worst yet is leaving the sounds one so you are alerted when a new email arrives in your inbox. Instead, make it a point to only check your email twice a day, in the beginning of the work day and at the end. If there was a true emergency, the person sending you the email would just call you on the phone anyway. Use the time that you would normally waste at work checking your email to focus on the projects that earn your company that most money or earn you the most kudos from your boss.

2. Playing Video Games

When you get home after a long day at work, there are several distracters at home that can keep you from earning more money on the side. If you want to begin to change your life and your livelihood, you will need to do something with the other eight hours that you are not at work. That is the entire premise of Pagliarini’s book, “The Other 8 Hours”. Making good use of the other eight hours we don’t spend at work or sleeping by creating something that earns an income or working on the side. Playing video games is one of the biggest suck of spare time for people. The average 13- to 18 year old plays 14 hours of video games per week, and while the number goes down as twenty somethings grow out of the video game addiction, there are still a lot of adults who still spend an enormous amount of time in front of a video game each week instead of adding to their lives. The time spent on video games could be used in a more productive manner by going back to college or pursuing other career progression endeavors.

3. Watching Too Much Television

Like playing video games, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of television each day which equates to 28 hours per week or almost two complete months out of the year dedicated to watching TV. That is a lot of time that is used to not being productive. I am all for spending a little bit of time unwinding in front of the television, but four hours a day will lead you down the path of unproductively.

4. Piddling Around On Facebook And The Internet

According to a new poll from Harris Interactive, users between the ages of 30 to 39 are the most active Internet users. On average, this age group is online for 18 hours per week. I cannot begin to even count the number of times that I see workers and executive assistances in my office who seem to continuously be logged into Facebook and other sites instead of being productive at work. The average person who used Facebook in each of the last 12 months has spent 70 hours 26 minutes on the site during the past year, according to Nielsen Online who conducted the study.

Whether we like it or not, our lives are invaded by distractions that are wastes of your time. The people who are truly successful, who create things, who strive to be the best in their fields, and those who continue their educations do not waste their time or waste too much time with distracters. Too many of us waste our time in front of the television, computer, or on our smart phones wasting time instead of being productive. We tell ourselves that we are getting “work” done, but are not using our day to its full potential. Skipping out on the five time sucks listed above can help keep you on track and focused on what is most important about your job or about moving forward with your life.

Tagged as: Career, Productivity