Stop Wasting Your Time

The majority of people waste the majority of the lifetime that was given to them. Most people have different opinions about what “waste” means in this context. My understanding of waste entails

1. spending your time serving someone else’s life goals instead of your own,
2. acting on any aversive, craving, or addictive behavior pattern you have adopted or
3. consuming your time for purely sensory experiences without creating anything productive or significant.

The premise here is that creation is the fundamental aspect of existence, in whatever form. If you believe that the main reason for existence is sensory experiences in itself, you can stop reading right here because your bodily and instinctual desires will automatically direct you to whatever pleasurable experience is craved in the present moment, without the need for support or direction. In this case, there’s no factual difference between aimlessly scrolling through social media and reading a book, as long as your desire for sensory stimulus is satisfied.

If you share my perspective about waste, on the other hand, let me tell you right off the bat that the most important thing you can do with your time is to simply appreciate your existence. Just be. Don’t do anything. Let the present moment educate you, relax you, and reveal its most hidden secrets.

If simply enjoying your sheer existence is not for you, here’s a list of purposeful activities you can do instead of wasting your time:

Low Time Investment

1. Make your bed.
2. Read a book. Don’t know where to start? Order a Kindle and get one of my favorite reads of all time with the press of a button.
3. Stretch your body/do some Yoga. You can find tons of follow-along instructions online, e.g. from Tom Merrick, Breathe and Flow, or Yoga With Adriene, or download an app like Asana Rebel (Apple App Store, Google Play Store).
4. Learn a language. You can download Memrise (my favorite, alternatively Babbel or Duolingo) to make it as low friction as possible.
5. Meditate. Don’t know where to start? Check the Osho Dynamic Meditation technique. Beyond that, just slash “meditation” into the search bar of your browser and you’ll be presented with countless concepts, instructions, and guided meditations. The trick is to just get started. Soon you’ll start to understand what suits and serves you best.
6. Read through your saved web articles. Don’t save web articles to read later? Get Matter, my favorite reading app for articles and all kinds of stuff I come across online, and start saving for later what would otherwise distract your focus.
7. Practice your instrument if you have one. Don’t have an instrument? Just pick up a simple acoustic guitar and start playing around. Or get Justin Sandercoe’s famous JustinGuitar Beginner’s Course and songbook or check out his free online courses.
8. Write a bucket list.
9. Pick and start acting on an item from your bucket list.
10. Spend time with your kids. Play, discover, and discuss with them. Talk to them, read with them or simply be around them providing your parental presence.
11. Practice breathing. Don’t know how? Check out the Wim Hof Method, my favorite effective and simple technique.
12. Practice typing on a keyboard. Check out Typingclub and 10FastFingers.
13. Watch the night sky, the ocean, or the rain.
14. Write a diary.
15. Brainstorm a business idea.
16. Go over your to-do list and calendar, and plan the next day or week.
17. Sit down with a blank page of paper and write down any thoughts that come into your head.
18. Call a friend and nurture your relationship.
19. Call your mom, dad, brother, sister, or other close family member and tell them that you appreciate them.

Medium Time Investment

1. Go for a walk in nature.
2. Practice intimacy/have sex with your partner.
3. Cook a nurturing healthy meal. Don’t know where to start? Check out Pick Up Limes.
4. Go to the gym. If there’s no gym, get into calisthenics. Don’t know where to start? Check out ATHLEAN-X or THENX.
5. If your body needs rest, lay down and rest. Don’t do anything else.
6. Get rid of unused or burdening physical possessions. Sell online or dump.
7. Create a piece of art. Draw, paint, photograph, film, write, sing, etc.

High Time Investment

1. Go for a hike.
2. Go for a bike ride.
3. Spend a full day without the use of electricity. You wake up whenever you wake up. No phones, no computers, no TV. If you wanna blow your mind, no artificial light. Go to bed as soon as you start feeling tired.

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