6 Time-Wasters Successful Women Avoid

6 Time-Wasters Successful Women Avoid

The discipline of minimizing time wasted is essential to improving your life.

You may do all the right things-schedule your tasks in time blocks, wake up early, create a daily routine, etc.-but there’s more to living the life you want than just those habits.

Successful women don’t fall prey to the common time-wasters that prevent so many other women from having more.

Freedom
Time
Joy
Purpose
Money
Success

Let’s talk six time-wasters successful women avoid.

6 Time-Wasters Successful Women Avoid

They Don’t Waste Time on Perfectionism

Believe it or not, perfectionism, or shall I say, striving for perfection, can actually hinder success.

I have personally seen perfectionism become an obstacle for women in a few different ways.

Perfectionism looks like trying to fill a void where self-esteem issues need to be addressed. This is done by going above and beyond to be perfect in your work, and maybe even nit-picking others when they make a mistake.

I’ve been in a working environment where a co-worker went out of their way to ensure other employees knew when they made a mistake, even a very minor one.

As a result, this person, who was great at their job, wasn’t taken seriously enough for a promotion.

The lesson here is that perfectionism is often used as a crutch to cope with insecurities. It is also used as a false justification of worth to one’s self.

Perfectionism also looks like never releasing a final version of a project out into the world because you continuously scrutinize it until it’s “just right.” The more you delay releasing a project, the more you delay your success.

The best example I can give of this comes from my working knowledge of email marketing, digital marketing, and blogging. Some people are so concerned with making their emails, website, or digital products look perfect that they delay putting the product out into the world, or it never happens at all.

My website, emails, and content are far from the best of the best, but I put it out there, and I use the feedback of my readers to tweak and improve my content.

Successful women know a project will never be “perfect,” and release it anyways, They know the feedback they will receive is much more valuable to the success of their project than wasting time perfecting it prior to its release.

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They Don’t Waste Time on Social Media

Social media has its advantages, sure. But it has more than its fair share of detrimental effects on our lives.

For one, it is far too easy to fall down the rabbit hole of scrolling through your feeds. Before you know it, 5 minutes becomes 50 minutes, and you’ve wasted almost an hour of your day.

And for what? As I like to say, when you’re on your deathbed at the end of your life, thinking about the moments that mattered, you aren’t going to think, “there were all those wonderful times I spent scrolling through Facebook!”

As I said-there are some advantages to social media, but at the end of the day, it’s wasted time you won’t get back.

And successful women spend very little time on social media.

Instead of being reactive (scrolling or posting on social media), they are being proactive, engaging in things that improve their lives: producing work, engaging in healthy habits, spending quality time with loved ones, etc.

On that note, many women are prone to the comparison trap, and spend hours scrolling through social media, comparing themselves to other women.

Not only is this a waste of time, it is harmful to your well-being. When there is a void within you, there is always going to be someone who you think is skinnier, prettier, more successful, or has something else you want.

And on that note, there’s probably another woman who looks at you and wishes she had something you had.

Comparing yourself to others is human nature. At one point in the early stages of evolution, the strongest person was chosen to go out hunting and gathering. Comparison was useful during this time. But at this point in time, it is no longer useful.

Why not fall in love with your life and instead of wasting time comparing yourself to other women, work on being the best version of you?

There’s only one you, and you have the power to cultivate a life you love that is unique to who you are.

Embrace it.

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They Don’t Waste Time Being Disorganized

Disorganization and clutter will waste your time and cause you unnecessary stress.

How many times have you wasted time trying to locate something you misplaced?

Or had to go out and buy something you misplaced, only to find it later?

How many times has the clutter in your house taken residence in your mind and distracted you?

Successful women don’t waste time being disorganized. They keep their house and office clean and organized, and don’t allow clutter to accumulate. All their belongings are in order and they know where to find them.

Decluttering isn’t just something you do during spring cleaning-decluttering is a lifestyle.

Get good at decluttering. Schedule time to do it. Start with one drawer or one bookshelf.

Having a clean and clutter-free home not only frees your house from clutter, it frees your mind from it, too.

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They Don’t Waste Time on Energy-Draining Relationships

Successful women don’t waste time on energy-draining relationships.

They are able to discern who to spend their time with, who to keep at arm’s length, and when it may be time to sever ties.

Take a few minutes to observe your closest relationships. Jim Rohn famously said, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Think about those five people.

Do they contribute something meaningful to your life?
Are you challenged to be a better version of yourself?
Do they support your dreams and goals?
Are they preoccupied with ideas and improving their own lives, or gossip, drama, and the lives of other people?
Do you feel better for having spent time with them, or depleted of your energy?

Be mindful of what your relationships contribute to your life. You don’t have to sever ties with friends or family members necessarily, but watch the way people make you feel, and spend your time accordingly.

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They Don’t Waste Time Being Concerned with What Others Think

Successful people don’t waste time being prideful or caught up in what others think-they’re too busy just simply living their life on their terms.

I don’t have much else to say about this except that caring what other people think will stop you from stepping out and trying new things, which prevents you from living your best life, and, ultimately, success.

One example from my own life is I wasted several months before debuting my website because at first, I cared too much what others would think or say about me.

I came to realize people talk regardless of what you do or don’t do. Some people are going to love you and some won’t. That’s life. The sooner you can get past it, the better off you’ll be.

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They Don’t Waste Time on Procrastination

Procrastination always feels good in the moment. It is self-gratification at its finest.

A lack of focus often contributes to procrastination. When you’re unfocused, it’s easy to want to not take action or remain indecisive.

But getting good at decision-making and taking immediate action is something successful women understand is imperative to their success.

There is really no “wrong” decision, because even a wrong decision takes you one step forward and helps you figure out something isn’t working for you. So you know to try something different until you find something that works.

In a sense, decision-making is essentially feedback that helps guide and direct your life. Something didn’t work, so you try something else until you find what does.

When you delay making a decision, you’re wasting time and you don’t progress further until a decision is made.

On that note, procrastinating on a project or other work is another big waste of time. Again, self-gratification wins out.

But successful women know the work will still be there later, so it’s best to maximize your time, fight the resistance, and get it done.

Delayed gratification > immediate self-gratification.

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Before You Go

Successful women have an understanding of the time-wasters listed above and that they are detrimental to a life of purpose, fulfillment, and joy.

Get good at minimizing time wasted, and you’re sure to see a major improvement in what you can accomplish.

What are your tips for maximizing your time management? I read and respond to every comment, so let me kno

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Lisa

Hi! I'm Lisa. I help women live purposeful, fulfilling and joyful lives. I'm happily married and a fur mom to two boxers and two rabbits. I love Jesus, freelance writing, fitness, personal development, reading books, football, cross-stitching, and video games.

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Kristin

February 22, 2021 2:05 pm

So good! One thing I’m trying to do now is focus on larger projects in the morning so they are more likely to get done. Before I would get all the little things done and then have the large project looming at the end of the day.

Author

February 22, 2021 6:07 pm

Reply to Kristin

Hi Kristin,

That is such a great idea! It’s so nice to get the big projects done first thing so they are out of the way. Thanks for reading!

<3 Lisa

Sara Gray

February 22, 2021 4:00 pm

Good morning,

I appreciate you taking the time to write this article! I have all the time waster written down so I can effectively work on longer wasting time and start producing my life on my terms. I do not worry about what other people think and I know I do not care about perfectionism. I do waste time on social media, I try to be organized, and the people in my life tend to be energy suckers so I will very much have to focus on righting the wrongs there.

Thank you,