CUT THE WASTE - 6 TIPS TO RECLAIM YOUR TIME

We've all heard stories about how to lead a more productive life. Meditate. Wake up Before sunrise. Exercise Regularly. But what you may not know is that there are a lot of things we already do that we need to stop. That is, there are things that bog down, distract, and disrupt our flow states.

Unless you are a minimalist at heart or already extremely conscious of these struggles, I guarantee you can take away something here and apply it to your own situation.

1. Opt out of mailing lists.

Mailing lists and memberships are designed to keep you tethered to them. It can be difficult to opt out. But it takes mental strength and capacity to delete emails, clear your inbox, skip weeks in food prep delivery services and choose between looking at sales or not. This can distract you on a regular basis from what you truly want to pay attention to and your actual aspirations.

30 minutes later and you're down some rabbit hole shopping for a product you didn't even want because it's a good deal.

Do yourself a favour and just opt out. Your time is better spent bettering yourself and then paying full price later. Better yet, opt in later on when you want those discounts or coupons again.

Those companies will accept you later on with open arms just the same.

2. Reset your phone notifications lists every once and a while

Go into your phone settings and cancel ALL your notifications. Then, slowly add them back as you need them. Too many times, they seem to infiltrate our phone feeds until you are constantly bombarded with updates. UberEats, Tiktok, Instagram DMs, Email notifications, stock ticker updates, credit card apps. Be conscious about what apps are allowed to distract you from your current attention. Maybe those can be apps that only notify you at certain times, or can be checked at a certain time deliberately when you are ready to look.

3. Block Websites and Delete Apps

You know the ones. When you load up your computer and a website you regularly visit is automatically typed in without you even thinking just because of habit. Whether its Reddit, Facebook, Youtube, Porn sites, Instagram, Tiktok - they aren't always goal oriented and you can easily waste your time. There are tons of sites and ways to limit your access to these sites. Apps like Self Control, and Freedom help to keep you accountable to your own promises or intentions and focused on what you deem important.

Of course, things can change and things can come up that are worthy detractors. I'm not arguing that. But a majority of the time for me, these sites kill my momentum and by the time I realize what's going on and can muster the will power to try to get back on task, I've lost hours of time.

If you have an addiction or feel like you waste too much time, delete the apps for a while. You can always come back to them later if you must but the act of deleting them can act as a reset on the addiction and disconnect you from them for long enough to establish or replace them with healthier habits.

4. Have A Routine For Regular Events

You can always make time to do distracting but regular duties because it can sometimes be easier or a way to avoid doing what you said you would do. Instead of working on Task A, maybe I'll water my plants, clean the dishes, do some laundry, mop the floors...and if I'm mopping the floors, I better sweep first, or dust the shelves. There are lots of things we can trick ourselves to do. The better way to protect against this is to assign a date and time to do those regular chores. If Sunday at 4pm is time to mop the floors, then it can't be your excuse on Thursday at 6pm.

5. Television Should Be An Activity To Decide On

Instead of a default thing to do when you can't think of what to do, it should be a desired activity to enjoy. I'm not saying don't watch television but to be conscious of your choice to watch an episode of television. Again, Netflix, Amazon Prime and all the streaming services are designed to take your attention. That's why they start a new episode in the absence of a decision to stop.

6. 9PM Doesn't Have to Mean Stop

Now this one is for the people who want to do more. For all the people who like to wind down at 9PM and prefer that, then this isn't for you. For those of you who want to do more, 9PM isn't a must-stop time. You can continue to organize and work and be productive at this time if you want or prefer. It isn't a hard and fast rule for my wife or I but if we are in a flow state or feel particularly productive, working into the night can be a good experience to feel accomplished. This can include home goals, home projects, chores around the house, whatever you want. The point being if you feel like your productivity quits after you get home, it doesn't have to if you don't want it to.

And That's How You Can Take Back Your Time.

It's nothing grand or super secret. But sometimes it takes a third party to point out the obvious or it takes someone to spell it out aloud to truly have it resonate with your own life.

Sometimes, it may even seem trivial to gain back the 5 or 10 minutes you saved. The aspect of this that can’t truly be objectively measured though is the cognitive load involved. The extra juggling your brain has to endure unnecessarily to maintain focus on one task while you are interrupted or distracted with 5 other tasks, a phone vibration, a text, or another fleeting thought. Your mind can always run an extra mile a minute but it is only when your mind can focus on one specific thing at a time that you can truly focus your attention, energy, and productive self at a problem in order to solve it.

That's how I have slowly extended my productive life and how I will continue to work into 2022. Now it’s time to carve out some time to put at least one of these tips into practice soon. Commit to one and try it out. See what you can do with the extra time. Also, which of the approaches are you most excited to try first? Let me know by leaving a quick comment below.