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It can be hard to tell where the hours go sometimes. Your day starts off well enough, with only one meeting and a few seemingly achievable deadlines. But by the end of the day, you still haven\u2019t ticked everything off today\u2019s to-do list, and have only added to tomorrow\u2019s. The culprit? One time sink after another, sneaking their way into your day.<\/p>\n
The ramifications of losing minutes, hours, and sometimes even days to a time sink or two can be serious. Unless you stay on top of things, the quality of your work could suffer, you could miss out on opportunities, and your income could stall. It isn\u2019t an exaggeration to say that a time sink that\u2019s deep enough could affect the viability of your business.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at what time sinks are all about, and how you can eliminate them, wrap up unfinished projects, boost your productivity, and ensure your business growth. (Psst: A time-management tool like Timing<\/a> can help!)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A time sink is a distracting or non-essential task that wastes your time and energy. It offers little or no reward or benefit. Instead, your time disappears into a black hole, never to be reclaimed. In addition to robbing you of your time, a time sink can also be a productivity killer. It disrupts your workflow and makes it difficult to complete a task well and quickly.<\/p>\n The average worker worldwide wastes 17 hours out of 45 hours<\/a> per week (that\u2019s about two working days). Even if you think you might be on the lower end of that spectrum, you\u2019re probably still wasting valuable time every day. Losing energy, momentum, and potentially income in the process.<\/p>\n Social Media on your phone can be a huge time sink. Image: <\/em>Timothy Hales Bennett<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n What might be a major time sink for one person could be a non-event for another. But there are a few activities that make their way onto most time sink lists.<\/p>\n So, what\u2019s the big deal? Surely we all need to take a break from time to time? Why is unproductive activity so risky?<\/p>\n One of the biggest pitfalls of a time sink is that it can interrupt deep work<\/a>, and that productive state of focus known as \u201cflow.\u201d<\/p>\n At Timing, we\u2019re big believers in the importance of flow<\/a>. Flow is a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who discovered that people experience the most satisfaction when they\u2019re immersed in a single activity that requires them to be laser-focused and gives them a sense of fulfillment.<\/p>\n Being in flow is often compared to being in the zone, on the ball, or in a groove. It often feels like everything is falling seamlessly into place. Some moments are nothing short of magical.<\/p>\n What kills this sense of flow? Yep, your go-to time sink. It interrupts the focus necessary for you to accomplish excellent work at optimal speed. It also causes you to become distracted and stressed, often leaving you feeling scrambled and disoriented.<\/p>\n Image <\/em>Magnet.me<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n There are two kinds of stress. The \u201cgood kind\u201d that motivates you to finish your task at hand with diligence, and the \u201cbad kind\u201d that causes you to cut corners, make mistakes, and feel overwhelmed<\/a>.<\/p>\n A time sink brings on the latter sense of stress by causing you to fall behind in your workload. It can even initiate a vicious cycle of increased stress and decreased ability to be productive. Ultimately taking down your work day and affecting your well-being.<\/p>\n A time sink doesn\u2019t just waste your time; it also reduces your reservoirs of creative focus and ability. This ultimately prevents you from reaching your professional potential.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re unable to stay in control of your schedule, you aren\u2019t able to think outside of the box, innovate, or create new systems and strategies. In short, you\u2019re surviving, not thriving.<\/p>\n At Timing, we believe in taking breaks<\/a>, but we know that you also need to be strategic about when you allow them, what they involve, and how long you take them for. Breaks should be short and ideally productive in their own right (like going for a quick walk, or preparing a nutritious snack). They should leave you refreshed, and ready to return to work, rather than prevent you from finishing your projects.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s so critical to be prepared with strategies and hacks for eliminating the time sink that\u2019s standing in your way.<\/p>\n Tackling time sinks effectively isn\u2019t always easy. Simply telling yourself to focus or finish your work isn\u2019t enough; you also need to be equipped with the right tools and insights to help you succeed.<\/p>\n Having a firm grasp of your time \u2014 when you\u2019re likely to step into a time sink and what that time sink is likely to be \u2014 can empower you to make the changes you need to make to finish your days feeling accomplished and on-target. The best way to go about this is by making use of an automatic time management tool, like Timing.<\/p>\n If you use Timing, then you already know about the personal timeline in your \u201cActivities\u201d screen, which gives you a detailed breakdown of how you\u2019re using your time.<\/p>\n Your timeline is useful for a number of different reasons. It helps you create tasks, organize your work by category, and check your schedule. But it also gives critical insight into gaps in your day and your distractions.<\/p>\n On days when you\u2019ve stayed laser-focused on the task at hand, your timeline should include a small number of long color-coded blocks. This indicates that you\u2019ve been performing a single task for a sustained amount of time. However, on days when you\u2019ve succumbed to a time sink or two, your timeline will be broken up into a series of small blocks, potentially with gray space in between, indicating non-activity on your laptop.<\/p>\n Checking your timeline is an easy visual way to identify how well you\u2019re currently avoiding time sinks. If you\u2019re not doing so well, harnessing the power of reviewing and setting achievable goals can help.<\/p>\n Now for the second layer of accountability: reviewing what you\u2019ve accomplished in a given day.<\/p>\n When you finish the day and wonder why you didn\u2019t finish your projects (even though you spent 10 hours on your laptop), you\u2019ll want to know what went wrong and when.<\/p>\n Again, your \u201cActivities\u201d tab will come in handy here. Because Timing automatically tracks your activity across specific apps, systems, documents and URLs, you\u2019ll be able to see exactly how many hours and minutes you spent on each activity. So, if you spent over two hours on your email and an hour and half looking for foreign language lessons, you\u2019ll know why you weren\u2019t able to nail the two large projects you had planned to accomplish.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re organized and have created categories for each project or client, you\u2019ll see exactly how much time was allocated to specific projects. For example, if you planned to focus on Client X, but instead you got sucked into an urgent issue with Client Y, you\u2019ll know why you didn\u2019t succeed at your initial goal. Your \u201cStats\u201d screen can also help to give you a comprehensive overview of where your time went.<\/p>\n Reviewing your time usage doesn\u2019t fix the problem of time sinks on its own, but it does give you the insight you need to know where you got distracted \u2014 and how you might be proactive about preventing it from happening in the future.<\/p>\n Sidestepping the time sink trap is ultimately about mastering the art of prioritization.<\/p>\n In the 1960s, former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower spoke about the power of prioritization, knowing that too often, we get caught up in tasks that seem \u201curgent\u201d but that really waste our time. Dwight\u2019s approach to productivity has been summed up in the so-called Eisenhower Matrix<\/a>, a system for dividing tasks into four categories: important and non-urgent, important and urgent, unimportant and urgent, and unimportant and non-urgent.<\/p>\n If you approach your work day with these categories in mind, you can learn to eliminate tasks that are unimportant and non-urgent (also known as time sinks) and plan for tasks that are important but non-urgent in the future. The result? You manage your own schedule; your schedule doesn\u2019t manage you. And in turn, you become a more empowered and successful freelancer or business owner.<\/p>\n Dealing with the time sink \u2014 or time sinks, plural \u2014 that eat away at your day starts with identifying what they are, and taking deliberate steps to address them. Time management is a critical part of this process.<\/p>\n Download Timing\u2019s free trial<\/a> today to shift your time usage from sink to swim.<\/p>\n Still have a few questions? Here, we give some short and snappy answers to regular FAQs (saving time is the whole point, after all).<\/p>\n A time sink is a non-urgent and non-essential task that wastes your time and energy. It can also rob you of your energy and flow, and your ability to be creative and innovative.<\/p>\n Social media, online shopping, gaming, poorly coordinated schedules, and general procrastination can all be a time drain. Be conscious of what affects you the most.<\/p>\n A few hours in a time sink steals time you could be using for busywork. It\u2019s also likely to make you feel lethargic, which means that, even when you emerge from your time sink, you might find it hard to work productively. Over the long term, this could have a serious impact on your business\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n Good question. Time sinks often activate the release of dopamine in the brain \u2014 there\u2019s extensive research on this in terms of social media<\/a> \u2014 which means they can become addictive. And once you\u2019ve broken your productive cycle, one time sink often leads into another, so habit plays a role, too.<\/p>\n Start by knowing exactly how you\u2019re spending your time, and what time sinks you\u2019re falling into the most. An automatic time management tool like Timing is critical for this kind of insight. Then, take steps to make important changes: set Screen Time limits<\/a> so that you can\u2019t access certain distracting apps, and block off parts of your day so that they are meeting-free. Give yourself the space and time to focus.<\/p>\nWhat is a Time Sink?<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timingapp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-time-sink-770x578.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhat are Some Examples of Time Sinks?<\/h2>\n
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Why is a Time Sink Dangerous?<\/h2>\n
A Time Sink Kills Your Flow<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timingapp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/eliminate-time-sink-770x514.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA Time Sink Makes You More Stressed<\/h3>\n
A Time Sink Stands in the Way of Success<\/h3>\n
Eliminate Time Sinks with Timing<\/h2>\n
Identify Gaps in Your Time<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nReview What You\u2019ve Accomplished<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nFinally, the Art of Prioritization<\/h3>\n
Time Sink FAQs<\/h2>\n
What is a time sink?<\/h3>\n
What is a common time sink?<\/h3>\n
What are the consequences of spending too much time on a time sink?<\/h3>\n
Why do we waste time on time sinks?<\/h3>\n
How can I overcome procrastination and avoid getting caught up in a time sink?<\/h3>\n