7 Signs You Keep Wasting Time

7 Signs You Keep Wasting Your Life

True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving. ~ Mark Manson

Eight billion humans on planet Earth are trying to survive and find their way to a more meaningful life, whether they want to admit they are aware of it or not.

Look around, and you'll see most of us are really good at wasting time living in a fantasy world.

We are scrolling social. Watching Netflix. Getting angry about ideas that aren't ours. Overthinking about the future or past. Arguing online about politicians and ideologies. Daydreaming about what could be better in our lives.

Meanwhile, a small percentage of humans create, dictate, or produce almost everything we use, buy, and consume.

If you want to stop wasting your life, it's time to focus on finding the problems you enjoy solving with the time you have left.

7 Ways You Keep Wasting Your Time (Life)

1. You want validation

Don't chase validation from people that don't matter. Or those that want to leave you behind. Don't try to get attention from those who've already checked out. Too many of us want to get love and admiration from people that will never give it to us.

You have to choose to leave people behind that waste your time on meaningless things and don't know your value or where you are trying to go.

Choose people that care for you and your dreams.

Whether it's trying to make someone love you (that doesn't) or get a friend to believe in your political affiliation (but won't), just let go and take back your time and energy.

2. You're trying to fix everyone

Instead of trying to be right all the time, we should be trying to find out how we’re wrong all the time. Because we are. ~ Mark Manson

Constantly trying to fix other people can be a form of narcissism.

Your ego feels good when you're right. Or when you try to fix people. But you can't fix deadbeat partners, you can't fix egotistical politicians, and you can't fix people that don't want to believe what you believe or help themselves. You can't fix a broken system by complaining or arguing about it with strangers on the internet.

You can, however, fix yourself and be happy with the meaningful struggle you choose in your life.

People that truly care ask questions and listen. They don't try to fix anything, they let you do the work.

3. You're escaping and numbing yourself with social media

Do you ever check your iPhone and see how much time you spend scrolling on social media?

The online world is the best place to waste time (yes, the irony is palpable). It creates a fantasy world for you to dream in. And if you keep comparing your life to the people in it, you're wasting precious time not doing what you need to do to live your best life.

Use the internet to learn, not to escape.

4. You're saying "yes" too much

Saying no doesn’t tie you down; it frees you from paltriness so you can focus on what’s most significant. ~ Mark Manson

If you want to accomplish more in your life, you have to say no to anything that distracts you from the one big thing you want to achieve this year.

If it's financial freedom. If it's health and fitness. If it's moving up in your career. If it's having a better relationship. If you constantly say yes to please people that don't align with your goals, you're wasting time not doing the thing that truly matters.

Practice saying no and work on your side hustle. Paint your masterpiece. Spend quality time with your family. Don't escape, lean in, and be where you want to be.

5. You procrastinate

Indecision happens to all of us. But it's usually because we have too many things to focus on.

Pick one big thing you want to accomplish this year.

Create a routine you do every day at the same time, the same place, and make small steps of progress towards the problem or goal you are trying to solve.

6. You stop learning and failing

Improvement at anything is based on many tiny failures, and the size of your success is based on the number of times you’ve failed at something. - Mark Manson

Learning and failing are the best ways to solve meaningful problems and stop wasting time.

Instead, we squander hours surfing the internet, scrolling, watching, and texting. We delay the inner work that needs to be done to break through to a more meaningful life.

We hinder the learning that needs to happen.

This is unproductive behavior, and if you want to produce more value in the world (and get paid for it), you must keep learning to focus on productive, meaningful behavior.

7. You don't tell the truth

To tell the truth is to bring the most habitable reality into Being. ~ Jordan B. Peterson

Your truth and your authenticity deserve to be here.

But you're scared to say what you feel.

You're scared to be vulnerable about what you want and what you need.

You'd rather stay quiet than risk anything.

This is a waste of time. When you have something meaningful to share with the world, your silence is fraudulent.

Good luck out there,

Mr. Mullet