We all have things we do to give ourselves a break from our busy lives, but some those things might just be a force of habit. If you can eliminate some of of your unnecessary “me time” commitments, you’ll have more time and energy to put toward productive tasks.
Picture: me and the sysop
Are your “me time” activities a hobby or just something you do because you did them before? It could be something you’ve done since you were a kid, or something a friend got you into. Whatever it is, Jeff Haden at Inc suggests taking a good look at your personal activities can help you free up some time for doing useful things:
I used to play fantasy baseball and football. But when I thought about it, I had no idea why. Sure, I could rationalize it created a nice break in the week. I could rationalize it was a “mental health” activity that let me step aside from the stress and strain of business life. I could, but that wasn’t true. I just did it because I had always done it, and once I start every year I don’t want to quit because, um, I’m not a quitter. (I know that sounds stupid, but I’m willing to bet you do at least one thing for the same reasons.)
Take an honest look at the things you do and see if you have any time wasters that are only a habit. If it doesn’t bring you the joy and down time it should, let it go. It can be tough because we often feel like we owe ourselves something, but you’ll have more time and energy to do the productive things. You’ll also have more time to do the fun things you actually care about. Haden suggests a simple test to help: If you wouldn’t want to do it on a vacation, you probably don’t want to do it that much.
10 Uncommon Habits of Extraordinarily Productive People [Inc]
Comments
3 responses to “Boost Your Productivity By Ditching Habitual ‘Me Time’ Commitments”
I think it’s good advice to consider why you do what you do but maybe we could frame it in terms of finding things you love to do instead of things you are just used to doing and drop the whole being more productive aspect?
Ha, you could say the exact same thing above in relation to exercise. If you’re unfit, and have been for some time, you might consider exercising. Over time you consider it a necessary evil to exercise regularly because you dislike the strict regimen you’ve put yourself in. Begrugingly, exercise becomes a habit. Because you view exercise as a necessary evil, it does not bring you any joy or down time, hence you decide to let it go after careful consideration. It was a tough decision because you feel you owe it to yourself that you should lose a few kilos from your overweight body. Fortunately, though, you’ll now have more time to do the productive things in life that you wanted to do instead (you know, work). As a result of all this you’ll also have more time to do the fun things you’ve always cared about; sedentary activities like gaming, reading and watching TV/movies.
Thanks Lifehacker. That was a compelling argument not to exercise.
It’s also a pretty good argument against lifehacker sometimes