7 habits you can change to stop wasting time

We often complain about the lack of time and say that the day is not long enough for us to do all our tasks. On the other hand, we are the ones who not only procrastinate what we need to do, but waste time on countless nonsense. Then it gets really hard, huh!

Inc columnist Chad Halvorson has put together some habits that make us waste time without even realizing it. If this is a concern of your life, it may be time to reevaluate how you enjoy your day and thus rearrange essential priorities and tasks. According to the publication, you must stop:

1 - Check emails and messages frantically

A 2013 US survey found that 32% of people respond to an email within 15 hours of receiving it, while 23% of people respond within 30 minutes. This speed is not always about efficiency, but about the modern craze of constantly checking emails and messages.

If you don't work directly with email all day, there's no need for this frantic check. Who stops from time to time to see if there is anything new in the inbox ends up wasting a lot of time and, worse, without even realizing it.

To solve the problem, the tip is to turn off notifications, at least while you're busy with work or some other activity, and develop a scheme to check your inbox only once or twice a day.

2 - Trying to be a perfectionist

As much as a perfectionist tends to always do everything as well as possible and that is a good thing, sometimes, waiting for everything to go well, we are paralyzed. Instead of wasting too much time waiting for things to go perfect, try to understand that some tasks just have to be done, not done to the perfection you demand all the time.

What's more, spending too much time trying to perfect tasks that don't need so much perfection is sometimes a sign of procrastination, not a job well done.

3 - Being multitasking

We are almost proud to say that we can do several tasks at once when, in fact, not only is it impossible, but it gets in the way more than it helps. Although the corporate environments and the excess information we are constantly exposed to make us think that we are capable and that we should do everything at once, the human brain is programmed to handle only one task at a time.

When we change tasks all the time, our brain loses its ability to stay focused, so it is quite possible that we will eventually make more mistakes than hit. The ideal, painful as it may seem, is to do one task at a time.

4 - Wasting time on everyday distractions

Research has shown that modern workers have their attention interrupted every 11 minutes, which is terrible. If your study or work environment is overstimulated, you will need to change some habits - or stop complaining that your time does not yield as it should.

Minor changes can make a difference: it's worth keeping your phone out of reach to avoid checking notifications; improve your work environment on the visual aspect of the thing; bet on headphones and instrumental music if there is a lot of noise around you; and avoid conversations that don't involve chatting and the like - just to name a few examples of what can be changed. The important thing is that you find a way to lessen the impact of anything that distracts you.

5 - Be disorganized

It's no use: your room can be a chaotic environment, your kitchen can be an eternal mess, your bathroom sucks, but your work or study environment needs to be organized. Working through chaos is a great way to waste time as you are always looking for documents, folders, books, pens, and things that, if organized, would not be hard to find.

Placing order on your table is a wonderful thing. What's more, you can organize documents into folders, always being careful to tag what can be tagged, so that in the future you know the place of everything well. If you're the forget-it-all type, bet on post-its and colorful markers. The important thing is to keep everything always organized.

6 - Thinking you can do everything yourself

There are a lot of people out there who prefer not to ask for help or delegate tasks to others simply because they think they won't do it the right way. In this desire to solve everything your own way, you may end up committing to do something that you do not master, out of sheer tantrum and mania of always being in control.

Asking for help is not any demerit. In fact, when you admit that you are not good at all - no one is - you become a person that others will have no trouble working with and, moreover, you will stop wasting so much time doing everything yourself. Teamwork can be a good idea, and you only have to gain if you accept it.

7 - Not knowing how to say no

The truth is, sometimes you don't have to accept attending a firm meeting or new project - and there's nothing wrong with that. If it is clear that it is optional, and if you are overloaded with tasks, explain that, at that moment, it is better to stay out and solve what needs to be resolved efficiently and quality.

When you are already full of things and end up accepting new tasks just for fear of saying no, guess what? Possibly something will go wrong, you will get stressed out, you will do everything running smoothly and the end result may be quite different than expected. Once you find a way to say "no" without fear of looking lazy, your life will be greatly improved. And that goes for all aspects of it.

So what kind of things make you waste more time? Comment on the Mega Curious Forum