The best time of the day is arguably nighttime. Why? Well, because that’s when you have time to do whatever you please: binge-watch your favorite TV show; finally get some work done; enjoy a leisurely meal with friends and family; or, most importantly, indulge in your guilty pleasures. But then there are those unfortunate instances when you can’t sleep and can’t stop thinking about all the things that need doing during the day. These thoughts become a cycle of food points, duke chart guilt and self-hatred because you just know tomorrow will be hell if you don’t take care of it now (and so on). It’s an awful feeling that leaves many people feeling stuck.
1. The answer isn’t time-wasting.
Time-wasting is actually quite simple: doing something you wouldn’t normally do, because you have time to do it. It’s only when there’s a guilt trip about not having the free time that the behavior becomes a problem. A better term for this phenomenon would be “addiction to procrastination.”
2. You should take a look at what you want to do .
If all your waking hours are consumed by work and school, it’s likely you don’t have enough free time for anything else. But what about your dreams? Do you have enough time for those? If this answer is no, then how can you expect to have time for anything else?
3. Stop waiting for perfection.
Nothing is perfect, and we all know it. But that doesn’t mean we need to keep waiting. Because perfection is only an ideal and a motivation, not a reality. Perfection doesn’t exist in the real world so it’s useless as an ideal . You must accept that not everything will go according to plan, and that’s okay . There are always things worth doing even if they don’t end exactly how you wanted them to (and there are always things that did).
4. You could start with a small change.
Change is hard because it involves effort and discomfort, but it doesn’t have to be an insurmountable mountain. One good way is to begin by taking one small step each day. This makes change feel more manageable and less intimidating. And the more you practice the easier it becomes until finally it becomes a part of who you are . Besides, learning to accept small failures builds self-esteem, which in turn leads to bigger successes .
5. You’ll be happy if you get things done on time.
The main reason people procrastinate is because they don’t want to do something or don’t want to admit something. They’d rather put it off, even if the task feels small, inconsequential and boring. See, our brains are wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain , but if we’ve been putting things off for too long, the brain gets stuck in a loop of guilt and fear. But if you can break this cycle by making progress on what you’ve been avoiding , you’ll be happier in the long run.
6. Remember that time wasted isn’t time well spent.
A common excuse for not doing anything is that we’re too busy. But there’s actually a big difference between busy and having so much unproductive time you can’t possibly do anything . The former is okay because it’s not something you suffer from daily, but the latter is a serious problem because it could have been used in your favor. In other words, if you’re so busy with things that don’t matter that you can’t get anything done , then how can it be called “wasted”?
7. Your work will still be there when you’re better rested.
If this is the case, then saving your work wouldn’t do any good anyway. It’d only be there waiting for you to deal with tomorrow. It’s the same with those things that you couldn’t complete yesterday. If you have time today, then use it today . You’ll be glad you did when happiness is all that matters.
8. You don’t need a “solid reason” to do something.
If you don’t know why then maybe you’re trying too hard to find a reason that doesn’t exist. You’re human; we all do this from time to time, but sometimes there’s no good reason at all .
9. Whatever happens, everyone has regrets .
Nobody, not even the best person in the world, can live without regrets. Of course, it’s one thing to regret something and another to learn from it and move on. The point is not to let regret in any form keep you from doing what you want to do because that’s how you lose yourself at the end of the day. You’ll be plagued by doubt, indecision and inaction as you beat yourself up for not living up to your standards (even though there are no standards for happiness).
So go out there and spread some wisdom of your own! Now is the time!
Summary:
Avoiding doing something doesn’t make it go away, so don’t waste your time on things that don’t matter . You need to start by accepting that there will be days when you can do only one thing (instead of doing a million things at once). And for those days, you’ll have less free time than usual, so the best thing you can do is learn how to live with less.
