How to Stop Wasting Your Time and Finally Take Control of Your Life

Are you actively owning your time or is it leaking away drop by drop?

Do you stop to wonder why you keep saying you will do this and that but you never get to do it? A day passes by and the next and the next?

On any given day, so many choices are thrown at us. The choice to watch television or the choice to complete that novel. The choice to finally build that lifestyle business or the choice to passively complain about life. The choice to take action and the choice not to.

Whatever your choice is, this is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time, as Chuck Palahniuk aptly pointed out.

With small, daily mindset shifts, it is entirely possible to accomplish most of your goals, to make the most of your limited time and to experience the feeling of being in charge of your life.

Catch yourself and stop the excuses

People are naturally inclined to choose the path of least resistance. The path that is the least painful; one that requires the least effort.

Psychological research shows that even though we generally think that excuse making will save us from pain, discomfort or failure, it does not.

Making excuses not only keeps you stuck in old habits and prevents you from taking action; it also increases your level of dissonance—a constant feeling of stress, disillusionment and under-accomplishment.

Get clear about what you really want

One of the biggest time-sucks is lacking clarity about what you want. It’s all good to have plenty of ideas and to want a plethora of things.

But, what is the number one goal you want to achieve in your life? What is your most significant purpose?

Unless you are clear in your mind about what you want, you will continue to waste your time and your life on things that are not meaningful yet they are eating into your every waking minute.

Stop giving away your time to what you do not want; start spending time on creating what you really want.

Take small but bold action steps

The feeling of overwhelm can stop you right in your tracks.

Just thinking of all the things you need to do, all the yardsticks you need to jump and the miles you have to run just to catch up can prevent you from taking any action, choosing instead to settle in your comfort zone.

Stop. There is no finish line. Do one thing at a time and give it your best shot.

You are bound to live a more fulfilling life when you get into the habit of taking action, no matter how small. The more you train your mind and body to take bold steps, the easier it becomes to act and do what needs to be done.

Automate your life with less time wasting habits

Do you ever wonder why some people (some busier than you) are able to accomplish so much when we all have the same number of hours in a day?

It is the power of rituals. But, to waste less time and get closer to your goals, rituals alone are not enough. It is ultimately important that your daily rituals are serving you and not setting you back.

If all you do is go to work, come home, plunge into the couch and binge on TV shows only to do it again the next day, it is likely that you are missing out on so many opportunities to better your life.

The idea is to maximize your time—to get into the daily habit of spending time on those activities that matter the most.

Do less

Are you caught in rut? Or perhaps chasing your own tail, round and round in circles?

Work, commitments, customers, and deadlines are all important. Yet, ironically, the more you need to do, the less you actually do.

Think about it: would you fully and perfectly serve your clients when you keep taking in more work from different sources? It is likely that you will do shoddy work just to beat deadlines and to get the work out of your way.

Alternatively, the less you take on, the more in control you feel, the more you pay attention, and the less time you waste trying to put out peripheral fires.

Time to Stop Wasting Time

Above all else, you do not have to go at it alone. The guidance of a mentor or a professional can help you experience more synchronicity. More importantly, they can hold you accountable to ensure that you are taking charge of your life at every moment.