- Decide that the activities you’re doing aren’t actually a waste of time.
You like these activities on some level, so just embrace it. Nobody has the power to dictate what is a “waste” except you, so exercise this power and decide your “waste” is actually good.
Maybe you are acting against your long-term best interests in which case maybe you ought to change the actions you are taking. In that case:
- Choose one good thing you enjoy and do it.
It can be simple like reading that book you bought or taking an evening walk and thinking about how nice the sun feels. These are good for you and not actively harming you so you can safely say you aren’t wasting time.
Oh, but you probably have the thing that you know you should be doing. It would be bad to put that off more with a different good thing…
- Stop caring about your “real obligations.”
If you started reading a post about not wasting time, then you were already putting off that obligation. That means it clearly isn’t urgent, so just do a different good thing that you actually want to do and stop caring about what you think you are “supposed” to do. I guarantee you won’t feel like you are wasting your time.
“But… but… I really do need to work on this. It is for my future.”
Great, we reach the point where this is either the truth or you are lying to yourself. I am going to assume you are lying.
- Stop deluding yourself and do something you enjoy.
Let’s play it out, you stress and procrastinate over this and then finally half-ass it. This cycle repeats until you either quit like I am telling you to, or you “succeed.” You graduate/get the job/impress that girl that isn’t thinking about you, and you probably aren’t happy with where you ended up.
People don’t get to places they like by “wasting their time.” So just stop now, and start doing something that makes you feel alive.
“Wait, wait. No. I actually do want what I am working towards. Doing hard stuff is a prerequisite to all higher pursuits.”
Correct! Sometimes doing the thing that is best for you is actually painful and there is no way around it.
- Just do the thing you knew would be good for you.
If it is aligned with what you want then do it.
If it isn’t, then just do the thing that is instead.
Be bold. Be brave. Don’t let yourself fail.
If this resonated with you, share this with someone. If you don’t have someone to share it with, share it with me @joe_sweeney!