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Twitter And 35 Other Ways To Kill Productivity

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Here are some quick things that you can do with now that will help you fall further behind in your workload.
  1. MySpace
  2. Facebook
  3. Check your email
  4. Edit your blog design
  5. Check your blog stats
  6. Catch up on RSS
  7. Watch TV
  8. Watch a movie
  9. Take a nap
  10. Drive around aimlessly
  11. Daydream
  12. Window shop
  13. Listen to music
  14. Take a walk
  15. Go to the park
  16. Go out to eat with friends
  17. Spend your lunch break talking
  18. Call a friend
  19. Call your mom
  20. Read a fiction book
  21. Read a magazine
  22. Fly a kite
  23. Sort your clothes
  24. Watch a baseball game
  25. Play a video game
  26. Surf the internet
  27. Read blogs
  28. Write in your blog
  29. Write an email
  30. Text
  31. Chat
  32. Comment
  33. Blog
  34. Sign up for the latest social media craze
  35. Sign up for yet another email address
  36. Twitter

So now this begs the question: Is it okay to be unproductive? How many of these things are we willing to give up, and how many of them are simply not worth the sacrifice?

Joel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.

Joel Wagner
Joel Wagner (<strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/sywtt">@sywtt</a></strong>) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. <strong><a href="http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/">So You Want To Teach?</a></strong> is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.
http://www.SoYouWantToTeach.com

10 thoughts on “Twitter And 35 Other Ways To Kill Productivity

  1. I enjoyed this post. For me, the best time wasters are those that are authentic; that bring me closer to truth or to people or to the earthy reality of life.

  2. The older I get, the less annoyed I get when I realize I’m falling way behind. I guess it’s me developing a deeper patience, but I just don’t really worry about it any more. Sure it bugs me from time to time, but I think it would bug me more if I didn’t have stuff that I really needed to catch up on. Almost as though I’d feel a little less necessary.

    The trick is to find a balance between productivity and enjoying life. Too often we struggle to be more productive, all the while letting life pass us by and slip through our fingers. And any other number of cheesy sayings. :)

  3. Check your email, Watch TV (Depends on what you watch), Watch a movie, Take a nap, Drive around aimlessly (Depends on where you drive, I have driven about a 150,000 aimless miles around North America, I would not trade a mile of it), Daydream, Window shop (Hey, you have to have windows), Listen to music , Take a walk , Go to the park, Go out to eat with friends, Call a friend, Call your mom (One day you will wish you had called more often), Read a fiction book , Read a magazine, Fly a kite
    Watch a baseball game, Write in your blog, Write an email, Comment,
    Blog, sound productive to me. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

  4. I’m with gYM334. Calling your mom is not a time-waster (perhaps if you’re calling multiple times in a short span of time just because you’re bored, not to update her on an emergency or ongoing crisis in either of your lives.) Call your mama & ask her, bet she’ll say I’m right. I can’t call mine anymore, & I should’ve done it more than I did. Several other items in your list sounded more like normal to-dos than time wasters. (sorting clothes, those things don’t jump into washers, closets & drawers on their own, y’know ;-)

  5. I use to be a type “A” personality. Always trying to make sure every minute counted. Always on the go. I worked over 68 hrs a week. There were days in a row when I didn’t even see my oldest son awake (when he was 2) and I wasn’t gone on a trip! I’d be at the office before the sun came up and home after the sun went down. And then you hit a crisis and you realize how precious relationships are. Most of these are not time wasters. It is a balance that you have to achieve. I can’t count how many days I’ve “wasted” getting my wife and four kids together to have a movie or game night. Takes us like 90 minutes just to watch a 90 movie! But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Or taking walks. Or blogging (wish I had more time). Daydreaming! Wow, lot of reflective thinking occurs when I’m daydreaming. I would CRAVE a nap (try taking a nap with four kids!) I agree…the older I get (42), the more I wished I hadn’t rushed around when I was younger. Honestly? Life is not about that. It’s about God, family, and friendships. Everything else is secondary.

    1. Amen, brother! Totally agree.

      I’m overcoming the “Type A” personality thing this year. Twitter helps me actually, because I have to force myself NOT to read everything. It was initially so hard, but now I am starting to embrace the selective ignorance style. It’s just how I roll now. :)

  6. Well, well, that list sounds a lot like a ‘stress buster’ to me. It is the perfect list of things to do to lower your blood pressure and enjoy the world for a while. We all need to step outside the confines of our boxes and just enjoy the world around us. So we waste a little time that we will never get back. We might also use that time to commune with the world and that is ever so much better.

  7. I think facebook and chatting are the the two most popular ways that people are wasting their time. I have seen a lot of people spend hours on facebook…a very list indeed!!!

  8. Facebook has become a craze among people…people spend hours on socializing and playing facebook games….a real waste of time!!!

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