Save Hours a day by Getting rid of Time Wasters

I hate wasting time.

I didn't used to hate it...in fact, I used to love wasting time. I was addicted, and I couldn't get enough of it. And I bet you love wasting time too.

I bet you always say "I just don't have enough time". Uhh, yes you fucking do. You have more time in your life than Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and a whole host of phenomenal people did. You have the time, you're just not using it the way you should. You are spending a whole chunk of time on stuff that is pointless (time wasters) instead of what you should be spending it on.

We give "time wasters" different names, of course:

1. "I'm staying informed"
2. "I'm just relaxing"
3. "I love this show"
4. "I worked all day long"
5. "I don't want to miss something"

And there's of course a hell of a lot more. Here's the breakdown of some timewasters

1. Watching the news
2. Reading pointless e-mails
3. Deleting unwanted e-mails
4. Watching TV
5. Checking Facebook
6. Reading news articles
7. Reading internet comments
8. 4,264 other things

Watching the news is not staying informed, it is mental masturbation. If something truly important happens in the world, I promise you will hear about it. Someone will tell you about it. "But Paul, I love politics". Politics is pointless - you don't need to follow it unless you are a true uninformed, undecided voter. You aren't going to change your mind, and you aren't going to change other people's minds.

Reading pointless e-mails - People do this to feel busy. They want to feel like they are accomplishing something. You know how many e-mails I get in a day? 5-10, and they are all relevant to me, and I actually desire to read them all. 

But DON'T just delete the e-mails, unsubscribe, so that you don't spend time and decisions every day to figure out whether to delete an e-mail. Don't worry, if you really miss the e-mails, you can easily resubscribe. 

If you have to login and do work to unsubscribe, just filter it out with your e-mail program.

Watching TV - This is okay, but you must make the conscious decision that you are watching TV. This actually makes the experience better - you are giving yourself permission to watch TV. I highly recommend, however, deliberately choosing a TV show that you will watch. If you give yourself permission to watch a TV show, you will realize that you are not wasting time, but are consciously deciding to relax, and give a mental break. (Just don't let this turn into 4 hours of channel surfing). 

Here's a tip that people somehow don't realize (I went 18 years without realizing this) - It is okay to have the TV off

Checking facebook - You can go on facebook, but don't use facebook as a random excuse to spend time. You need to have a reason to check facebok.

Reading News Articles - See "Watching the News". You don't need to read pointless articles unless there is a real justification. If you are researching something, then sure, read the articles, but be aware of the moments when you are simply doing something to use time. 

Reading Internet Comments - It's an easy trap. Don't fall into it (I still do sometimes). We want people to validate our beliefs, and we want to argue against people that don't agree with us. Don't do this - it's a stupid waste of time, and you are better than that.

So what the hell can I do with my time?

Okay, so it can suck to have actual free time. You know why? Because people don't know how to spend their time. They don't know how to be productive instead of just using up their minutes until they die.

Sit there and think

One super easy thing to use your free time for is to sit there and think. Some of the most successful people in the world do this (Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, etc.) Sit down, get comfortable, and just allow your mind to wander. You'll be amazed at what you realize, and how much clarity you can find in your world just by allowing your mind to find the clarity.

Start a business

So...do you want to start a business? You don't need to get to Point Q, where you have established processes, offices, products, etc. You need to start at Point A, which is the idea...or Point E where you are actually validating your idea (See NevBlog for more information)

Clean

Uhh, I don't know a single person in the world who couldn't stand to clean up some of their shit. Either mentally or physically, clean up your life!

Improve yourself

You could watch videos about productivity, learn a new task, learn a new skill, read a book, spend time with your kids, or even try to begin automating your life.

Speaking of videos...stay tuned for a video by me about this very topic!

Welcome to the New PADOREC

I changed the name of my blog.

It used to be "Life in 30 days" which I LOVED as a name. I had business cards made up (okay, I printed them myself) with the name of the blog, the link, and a QR code (those are those crazy squares that you can scan with your phone that about 14 people have ever scanned)

So why in the world did I change the name of the blog??? It was such a beautiful name, such an elegant concept. Here's why I did it: It was super super focused. It was a blog about one thing, and one thing only, and that's 30 day challenges for self-improvement and general merriment. It's a fantastic motivational tool but as a blog, it can get old quickly.

And here's the kicker: if I were to write about another motivational tip, or a great recipe, or a cool book I read, then it would not fit the theme of the blog. That does not make for good reading, and it gets confusing. So here's the deal - I have not reached monumental blog status yet where a name change is a major issue.

A blog about photography: Great
A blog about photography of the Pacific Northwest in the Winter: Gets old fast

"But Paul, it's good to hit a niche"
I agree - niches are good, but a super niche is not always the right thing for blogs. (Yes, I just invented the term super niche...that's what Shakespeare and I have in common...we both invented words) And here's the issue with a single Niche - my interests are not a single niche, and NEITHER ARE YOURS! I like to read about motivation, I like to read about science, I like to build things, I cook, I brew beer, I start businesses, I do a whole lot of things. Ever heard of the Singularity? Well if I kept this as a 30-day concept, then you never would!!! What knowledge would be missed.


"Okay, I get it, the 30-day concept is dead"
Not at all. I will still do 30-day experiments, and you will still hear about them, but it won't be the singular focus of this blog.

"Okay, so then what the hell will you write about?"
Well, I can write about anything. This blog doesn't have an incredibly concentrated theme. I will find A theme, but I am not going into this blog looking for a single theme which I will write about. I'm going to feel around for a while, and see what comes out of it.

By opening up the reach of this blog, I'm going to allow myself the freedom to write more often. I know, this isn't supposed to be all about me, it's about you. But until I find stuff I like to write about, I can't deliver any valuable blog posts to you.

The reason for the name? Well, I was impacted by Steve Pavlina in his post "Branding is Fear Based B.S."

"Note that I write at StevePavlina.com, not FakePersonalGrowthBrand.com. My company name is Pavlina, and I really don’t care what that means to anyone. "

PADOREC is my brand. It's a unique name, and it is me. I won't tell you why - you can figure out the puzzle.

So there you have it. There is a new game in town, and it's called PADOREC. Lifein30days.com will point to this blog for a while, but eventually it will disappear. 

Look forward to great new content, and awesome, superfantastic, helpful tips on motivation, personal development, new science, and puppets.

Paul

P.S. I probably won't write about puppets, but I could.

Why is Paul not Finishing these things?

Hey, wasn't that 30 day motivation idea awesome?
Didn't you just love that idea?
I thought there would be so much value in that experiment!
Then why did that bum not finish it?

I clearly just got lazy, unmotivated, and didn't want to do anything ever again, so I couldn't even finish a simple 30-day motivational challenge, right?

WRONG!

I ran into a problem of being too motivated. I couldn't contain myself!!! I thought I would learn lessons on how to keep myself motivated, and I did (to a certain extent), but when you are at your peak motivation, then how do you keep yourself from running wild!!!

I've been finding lifehacks, entrepreneurial tips, productivity tools, and have been improving the quality of life. I've found out how to get rid of a lot of the useless crap that used to consume my life, and am now running much more efficiently. With efficiency comes extra mental RAM space (See David Allen's Getting Things Done) and that leads to happiness, and the ability to think clearly. This is all good stuff!

Another issue I encountered - I set too lofty of a goal. I aimed to write once a day for 30 days. Guess what...shit happens! If I asked you to write once a day for 30 days, it sounds easy, if you can write about anything you want.

Here's the issue: I was writing once a day for 30 days, which was a 30 day challenge, and also I was trying to motivate myself once a day for 30 days. I had a 30 day challenge x2. I was trying to cram 60 days of challenge into a measly month! This was just too much for me to handle. On top of that, I had work (we just kicked off a new project, dontcha know) and all of these entrepreneurial things to tend to, that I could barely handle 15 days of challenge in 30 days, much less 60!!!

    Write once a day for 30 days
+ Self-Motivate once a day for 30 days
= 60 days of motivation needed
- 15 days of challenge that I could handle that month
= -45 days of challenge

I was at a 45 day deficit!!! You just can't argue with that math ;)  <<<That's a winky face for those who don't know

So here's my new formula for this blog:

30-day challenge = AT LEAST one post per week.
That's right, you are only guaranteed one blog full of juicy information once a week. I might post more, I might not, but I can safely commit to once per week

Another Change
I know, I know, I'm changing up the frequency of the blog, what else could I be doing?
I may be changing the format of the blog. I love the 30-day challenge as a motivational tool, it's truly a great concept, but I feel constricted. Sometimes, I just want to write about something else. I like to learn about a lot of subjects, and they don't always lend themselves to 30-day challenges.

I'd like to move to a format more like a typical blog, with 30-day challenges thrown in. I could see it being more like Steve Pavlina's blog (www.stevepavlina.com) which has lots of juicy information, and he'll go on different challenges from time to time (My favorite to read was the Polyphasic sleep experiment)

As for the motivation challenge. Well, I didn't finish it, but I'm still riding that motivational high from weeks ago. I'll have a follow up post about that in the coming days, with summaries and tips and all that juice information that I know you're all craving. It's coming, don't worry.