# How Do You Unconsciously Waste Time?
#done 
![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article4.6bc1851654a0.png)
[[ReadWise]]
## Metadata
- Author: [[Watch now]]
- Full Title: How Do You Unconsciously Waste Time?
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://memory.ai/timely-blog/how-do-you-unconsciously-waste-time

## Highlights
- **Break big projects into smaller tasks**
- **Create a productive structure each day**
- **How to stop wasting time**
- Time blocking your day into set, finite units is a great way to go about this
- **Completion bias can be hacked to benefit your most important big tasks simply by breaking them into more achievable ones**
- **Use technology to track your progress**
- **Automate low-value repetitive tasks**
- Reclaim unproductive dead time
- Manage entitlement to your time
- **Take constructive deep breaks**
- When you need to take a break, **make sure it isn't frittered away on passive social media scrolling and doesn't introduce new stresses**
- Productive deep breaks **have a time limit and let you take a cognitive breather without distracting you with new problems.**
- Ultimately, to stop wasting your time you need to **be completely aware of how you use it and be intentional about how you want to use it.**
- **Identify incidences of “trapped time” in your daily schedule, like commuting, waiting for a morning stand-up or your post-lunch food coma, and use it to get through useful small tasks.**
- Ways we unconsciously waste time
- We don’t deliberately set out to waste time. In fact, many of the ways we waste time actually masquerade as work itself. So in order to become more productive and put our time to best use, we need to be able to recognize the ways we unconsciously misuse it. The most common include:
- **1.  Small task addiction**
- A lot of us suffer from **completion bias**. **It feels good to finish a task, so we prioritize work we can easily write off to get our dopamine fix**
- **2.  Multitasking**
- Dividing your attention between too many tasks at once can also kill your net productivity
- Context switching comes with a cognitive cost—you need time to re-focus each time you switch to a different
- **3.  Unnecessary meetings**
- **4.  Doing other people’s work**
- you shouldn’t be routinely doing somebody else’s work or solving problems within their power to solve. If a task doesn’t serve your own goals and isn’t your responsibility, it’s wasting your time.
- **5.  Procrastinating and precrastinating**
- No one sets out to procrastinate; it just happens—like brief relief from a difficult task or a break between tasks.
- so many minutes are lost to empty, directionless  web browsing and passive social scrolling which we package as a “reward”
- **6.  Passive work**
- Time spent reactively answering emails, slack messages and phone calls makes us feel busy, but we’re not necessarily actually moving important work forward, and these passive, often unforeseen tasks don’t easily lend themselves to a measurement of “progress”
- **7.  Routines**
- removing the need for thought, these automatic responses stop us from being completely conscious of the ways we spend our time.
- **8.  Working on the wrong priorities**
- **Unless you’re working on your most important task, you’re not making the best use of your time. Tons of us waste time as a result of poor prioritization, working on tasks that make us feel busy without actually helping us progress.**
- **9.  Being too available**
- The way you respond to distractions and present your availability give other people an idea of whether they can approach you at any given time. Boundaries like headphones, working in a side room, or setting “availability hours” help establish when you can and can’t be interrupted.
# How Do You Unconsciously Waste Time?

![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article4.6bc1851654a0.png)

## Metadata
- Author: [[memory.ai]]
- Full Title: How Do You Unconsciously Waste Time?
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://memory.ai/timely-blog/how-do-you-unconsciously-waste-time

## Highlights
- Break big projects into smaller tasks
- Create a productive structure each day
- How to stop wasting time
- Time blocking your day into set, finite units is a great way to go about this
- Completion bias can be hacked to benefit your most important big tasks simply by breaking them into more achievable ones
- Use technology to track your progress
- Automate low-value repetitive tasks
- Reclaim unproductive dead time
- Manage entitlement to your time
- Take constructive deep breaks
- When you need to take a break, make sure it isn't frittered away on passive social media scrolling and doesn't introduce new stresses
- Productive deep breaks have a time limit and let you take a cognitive breather without distracting you with new problems.
- Ultimately, to stop wasting your time you need to be completely aware of how you use it and be intentional about how you want to use it.
- Identify incidences of “trapped time” in your daily schedule, like commuting, waiting for a morning stand-up or your post-lunch food coma, and use it to get through useful small tasks.
- Ways we unconsciously waste time
- We don’t deliberately set out to waste time. In fact, many of the ways we waste time actually masquerade as work itself. So in order to become more productive and put our time to best use, we need to be able to recognize the ways we unconsciously misuse it. The most common include:
- 1.  Small task addiction
- A lot of us suffer from completion bias. It feels good to finish a task, so we prioritize work we can easily write off to get our dopamine fix
- 2.  Multitasking
- Dividing your attention between too many tasks at once can also kill your net productivity
- Context switching comes with a cognitive cost—you need time to re-focus each time you switch to a different
- 3.  Unnecessary meetings
- 4.  Doing other people’s work
- you shouldn’t be routinely doing somebody else’s work or solving problems within their power to solve. If a task doesn’t serve your own goals and isn’t your responsibility, it’s wasting your time.
- 5.  Procrastinating and precrastinating
- No one sets out to procrastinate; it just happens—like brief relief from a difficult task or a break between tasks.
- so many minutes are lost to empty, directionless  web browsing and passive social scrolling which we package as a “reward”
- 6.  Passive work
- Time spent reactively answering emails, slack messages and phone calls makes us feel busy, but we’re not necessarily actually moving important work forward, and these passive, often unforeseen tasks don’t easily lend themselves to a measurement of “progress”
- 7.  Routines
- removing the need for thought, these automatic responses stop us from being completely conscious of the ways we spend our time.
- 8.  Working on the wrong priorities
- Unless you’re working on your most important task, you’re not making the best use of your time. Tons of us waste time as a result of poor prioritization, working on tasks that make us feel busy without actually helping us progress.
- 9.  Being too available
- The way you respond to distractions and present your availability give other people an idea of whether they can approach you at any given time. Boundaries like headphones, working in a side room, or setting “availability hours” help establish when you can and can’t be interrupted.