When I say I’m a successful entrepreneur running a successful business, you might imagine an ever-active founder who works late into the night and regularly overtime. However, I have built a sustainable passive income stream and am only working 4 hours a day.
As a content creator, I create videos about productivity and brand building. He has also written three books, sells products, and offers courses and coaching. But I don’t want to work 100 hours a week at the expense of traveling, writing, and spending time with my husband and two young daughters.
About five years into my career, I started auditing my time to identify and reduce waste.
Here are 6 time-wasting habits I stopped to improve my life.
1. I stopped attending every meeting.
I live in this wonderful world and many wonderful people want to talk to me, call me, meet me, or hire me. But if you attend every meeting, you won’t be able to do anything else.
When you receive a meeting invitation, you don’t immediately click “yes.” I’d like to know: Do you have an agenda? Is the agenda important to me? Have we discussed this yet?
If you decide that the meeting doesn’t align with your priorities or is better handled by email communication, let the host know that the meeting doesn’t align with your current priorities or that you need a more specific topic to occupy your time.
I love looking at a clean, intentional calendar each day.
2. I quit my job without limiting my time.
If you have to do something, your calendar blocks it. On any given day, I might have a two-hour block to schedule video content creation for the next three months, and a two-hour block to write an article like this.
So I have to prioritize what I focus on and agree to give it my all. I usually do no more than two, maybe three, time blocks a day so I can give everything proper attention. It makes me better and my job better.
3. I stopped saying yes to everything.
I always said yes to podcast interviews, coffee chats, and collaboration requests. I thought that’s what I had to do to build a business. But I was exhausted and work was painful.
Now, when someone asks me to participate in something, I check to see if it aligns with my current goals. Last month alone, I turned down three podcast interviews that would have taken hours to prepare. I used that time to create content for my YouTube channel and write my next book.
As a result, the people who matter most to me have become more respectful of my time, and I have become more respectful of myself.
4. I stopped scrolling on social media.
About two years ago, I realized that I was spending 90 minutes a day mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and TikTok. This gives me 10.5 hours a week to write and spend time with my daughters.
The first thing I did was turn off all notifications. Next, I moved social media apps off my phone’s home screen so that I had to intentionally search for them. Now I don’t leave my phone in my bedroom at night, and the first thing I look at in the morning is a note with my goals written down, not Instagram.
I still use social media for business, but I do it intentionally. I check my feed twice a day for 15 minutes each time and curate my feed to only show content that uplifts me.
5. I stopped starting my day reactively.
I woke up in the morning, picked up my phone, and immediately started replying to emails and texts. By 8am, I was already late due to stress.
Now I start each day with what I call three buckets.
Movement: Stretch for 20 minutes or go to the gym. Mindfulness: Write in your journal or read a book for 15 minutes. Mastery: Spend 30 minutes on what you are trying to master. I’m currently learning Spanish.
This routine takes just over an hour, but you’ll be able to start work feeling energized and focused instead of exhausted at 9am. I don’t check my email until I complete all three buckets.
6. I stopped consuming instead of producing.
Three years ago, I spent all night watching YouTube videos about content creation and business strategy, but I wasn’t actually creating anything myself. I felt stuck and behind.
Now I have strict rules. I don’t consume content unless I’ve already created something that day. Before you can watch anything, you have to write, shoot, and plan the content yourself first.
This change completely changed my mindset. When I consume content now, I see it as inspiration rather than a sign that I’m falling behind. In the last year alone, this habit has allowed me to publish dozens of YouTube videos and write my third book.
Amy Landino is the best-selling author of Good Morning Good Life, a personal brand coach, and the award-winning AmyTV creator on YouTube. She teaches CNBC’s online course “How to Earn Passive Income Online.” Follow her on Instagram.
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