6 Common Time Wasters Holding You Back

It’s in our nature to waste time. Not that we want to. Of course we don’t. If we did, there wouldn’t be so many articles online about how to work more efficiently! How’s that for a puzzler? We all waste time and yet we all wish we didn’t.

The thing is, most of us waste time without even realizing it. That is how ingrained procrastination is in our daily lives – even for those of us with the best intentions.

However, the first step toward fixing a problem is admitting you have one. Or, if you’re oblivious to said problem, simply realizing it!

Here are six common time wasters that may be holding you back:

1. Social Media

I’m getting this one out of the way early since you’ve likely already read about the “time suck” capabilities of social media before. And no one likes to hear the same thing over and over again… Unless, of course, it really is a problem for you!

Even if you think you’ve got a good handle on your social media management, I’d urge you to take another look. Create an Excel file (or simply write up a chart manually on a piece of paper) and log how much time you spend on each of your accounts throughout your day. Each time you log in, make note of the time. Did you really log in and quickly leave? Or did you take a little – or a lot – more time than you intended?

Just as it’s all-too-easy to “feel” like you’ve been productive simply because you’ve been sitting at your work desk, it’s just as easy to “feel” like you haven’t been wasting valuable time when you’re logged into your social media accounts. After all, “time flies when you’re having fun.”

Try scheduling social media updates in advance using a program like Hootsuite. Live updates are great for replies and interactions, but the less time you spend logging in and out to share links the better. You can also manage your followers remotely as well. If you’re an avid Twitter user like I am, I highly recommend using Tweet Adder.

2. Web Surfing

The blame finger gets pointed in the direction of social media on a regular basis; however, Internet usage in general is often a major time-wasting culprit. How many hours per day do you spend aimlessly flitting from site to site?

It’s easy to get trapped in a loop of jumping from link to link, article to article. After all, someone got paid to make those headlines as tantalizing as possible! Why wouldn’t you click them?

YouTube videos are especially guilty of this. After all, you deserve a break, right? Why not check out that five minute video on productivity by your favorite guru? Oh, but they also have another video on how to lose five pounds by next Monday. What’s another five minutes? But, wait! There’s a new upload on why losing five pounds isn’t a good idea after all…

You just wasted a quarter of an hour. That 15 minute increment of your time could have been used for so much more.

3. Slow Internet

All right, I admit it: as modern freelancers most of us need to spend a lot of time on the web. And sometimes that time moves slowly, even when we’re using exceptional restraint and not goofing off in any way.

Slow Internet may be to blame. It could be your ISP. I could be your browser. More likely it’s your user habits – namely how many tabs you have open at one time. According to IT journalist Angus Kidman:

I often hear people complain that their browser is slow and unstable. It’s easy to blame browser developers for using sloppy coding practices and not managing memory correctly, but in my experience there’s a more common element: people who insist on having dozens of browser tabs open at once. That’s an unproductive and pointless practice and everyone should stop it immediately. Open enough browser tabs and it doesn’t matter whether you’re running Chrome or Firefox or IE or Safari or Opera: your system is going to slow down and eventually your browser will crash altogether…

Adjust your browsing habits. Or, if you’re still using the same dial-up + Internet Explorer combo you used back in the ’90s… Hop in your time machine and join us in the future already!

4. Endless Replies

A 2012 research study revealed that we spend approximately 28% of the work week reading and answering e-mails. If you work five days per week for an entire year (365 days), you’ll be spending just shy of 73 days answering e-mails.

Creating canned responses, learning to delete what isn’t actually needed, and keeping your replies concise can decrease the time you spend on e-mails exponentially. We talked more about this in our article “10 Ways to Decrease Your Time Spent on E-mails and Get Your Life Back.” If e-mails are the biggest time-waster holding you back, it’s worth a read. (Just don’t get caught in a clicking loop – not that our other articles aren’t just as fabulous).

Replying to text messages can also take up a good chunk of time. If your friend/family member/client really needs an immediate reply, they can call you. Save text messages for later (think of them as mini e-mails). Or, better yet, turn off your phone – or at least the alerts – while working. Set it to “calls only.”

5. Not Planning Ahead

Would you go on a road trip without a map/GPS? Of course not. You’d waste hours trying to figure out where you were going.

The same goes for your freelancing career – and even your day-to-day life! If you jump in without planning ahead, you’re going to waste time. No buts about it.

Set goals for yourself, both in the near future and further down the road. From networking to career development to your personal bucket list, almost anything can be turned into an obtainable goal. Write it down, figure out a plan (your “map”), and then get down to business.

6. Self Doubt

I can be a bit of a cynic, but allow me to get sappy for a moment: there is no bigger waste of time than the time spent doubting yourself. Go ahead and put that on a greeting card. Or tweet it out.

In all seriousness, freelancers waste an incredible amount of time second-guessing themselves. Impostor Syndrome reigns supreme among freelancers, no matter what niche they’re in. And it’s a waste of time.

You chose to run your own business – to be your own business – for a reason. Don’t lose sight of why you got started, or why you continue to do what you do. Stay confident and don’t waste time worrying about whether you’re good enough. If you’ve gotten this far unscathed I can assure you: you are.

6 Common Time Wasters Holding You Back