I just read a history of John Neumann John Neumann - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and one of his philosophies was that he was committed to never wasting a minute of his life.

That got me thinking.... how much time do I waste? I do need some down time every day to recharge my batteries, but when does down time turn into wasting time? Is thirty minutes surfing the web ok for down time... but an hour and a half is wasting time?

I feel like I do waste a lot of time doing fruitless things. For example, I have wanted to buy the kids Sigg cups for drinking for a long time (and throw out all our plastic cups). So, literally, for the past two months I have off and own spent hours searching for the cutest cups, the best deal, free shipping...and still I have no cups! That has to qualify as time wasted. Research is fine, but not moving in a timely manner seems wasteful to me.

And I think: if I could have all that time back- then what I could have accomplished?

John Neumann spoke eight languages, founded schools and did a zillion other things that I probably will never do. But he probably wouldn't sit at a computer desk as much as I do, either.

Maybe I'm just lazy by nature... but I could reduce stress in my life quite a bit if I would get out of this chair!

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I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them

I waste a lot of time. I hate that about me. I truly do. I'm wasting time, now, as I type this. I get off of work in 12 minutes, and here I am, wasting those 12 minutes when I could be scheduling next weeks' meetings (which I HAVE to do before I leave, beacuse I am off tomorrow). I waste quite a bit of time here at work, but really, most of the time I am here, I just don't have tasks here to worry about. I could, however, be bettering myself and my career by reading up with the latest technology, researching different things, but nope. I'm here, not that it's a bad thing, this site is my latest obsession. I love it here. But I do think I need to spend more time in actual "work mode" than "website" mode. Ok, no more mommysavers today....until I get home of course..lol
10 minutes........tick tick tick.

Is it really wasting time, or just reorganizing how you use it? I mean I could be writing a letter to send to my PM so he'd do something to stop land mines, however I find myself typing on a message board about wasting time. I would not say research is wasting time, think of all the stuff you learn't while researching it, you never know when you might need to know that information again. I mean it is your time, you should choose how you use it. I figure time could be used more wisely but wasted time, hah I didn't find that by writing this post I wasted anytime. Maybe I helped someone or invoked a thought in someone else, plus I also made myself glass of icetea that I wouldn't have done had I not sat here and wrote this.
Cheers

Hmm. I am lazy and waste too much time (especially online). That books sounds very interesting and inspiring. I am going to get off the computer right now and go pack.

I find that I have to force myself to stop, grab a coffee and regroup. Otherwise I end up losing focus on what needs to be done. I'm bad for starting a chore, then finding another and starting that. Now I have 2 unfinished jobs!

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Children Learn What They Live, And Live What They Learn.
What have you taught your child today?
When life throws you a curve ball...it's up to you how you catch it!

When you look at how you spend your time, you know when it is really wasted. Deep down, WE KNOW. What ever you are doing is either working for you or not. We get good results from reading this forum or we wouldn't be here. But is it better than some other activity? I don't like to do things that leave me really negative feeling. But things like sitting on the porch and watching the night sky is really very positive. Not wasted time at all.