What is a Waste of Time & Are You Wasting Time on These Things?

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Today, as my wife and I were getting ready to head to Walt Disney World, I was reminded of how much some things are a waste of time. As humans, we are often caught wasting time when we don’t even realize it.

What sparked this post today?

Believe it or not, the opening of a new Aldi Grocery Store. Yes, I am writing this post due to a grocery store grand opening.

As we were leaving to head to the park before 9am, we passed this brand new Aldi store. It was so busy; people were parking their cars in the grass on the street near the store.

My initial reaction was simply, why?

What could a grocery store be giving away or selling for a discount to cause such a crowd? These people couldn’t be lining up just because Aldi opened a new location 25 minutes down the road from two other locations?

What a Waste of Time, I Thought

As we drove past and I saw the line of shoppers curling around the cart bay, I thought to myself, “what a waste of time.”

My mind went to the $0.59 eggs I bought at another location a few days earlier. I wondered if they were giving away eggs and that’s what caused this massive crowd. Would people really line up for a free dozen eggs? Yes, I’ve seen it before and it’s ridiculous.

I couldn’t let it go, and I had to know why. Yes, the curiosity was getting to me.

When we arrived at the park, I looked it up. It turns out; the big draw was over $100. Not a guaranteed $100, mind you, but a chance to win $100.

Aldi opened that morning at 8:25am (we drove past around 9am) with plans to give the first 100 customers a chance to win a golden ticket worth $100.

Would you show up early to be one of the first 100 people for a chance to win $100?

Wasting Time as Only Humans Know How To

This post is one of a series of blog posts I have planned on wasting time. In fact, this post is going to serve as my introductory post, and as I create new posts for this series on wasting time, I will link them in one of the sections below.

What’s a Waste of Time in Your Life?

Humans waste more time than any other species on the planet, except for maybe sloths (those guys just spend all day hanging around). We waste time for many reasons, which I will get into in another post, but let me just list a few of the ways we waste time below:

• Playing the Lottery/Gambling
• Camping out for a Store Opening
• Discounts on Black Friday
• Other so-called big discounts we line up for
• On Social Media
• Watching Too Much TV
• Lining Up for the Opening of Just about Anything
• In Traffic
• Commuting to Work
• Playing Games on Phones
• Paying Attention to the News
• Falling Down the Rabbit Hole of YouTube
• Binge Watching Anything
• Waiting in Lines
• Waiting for Things to Happen
• Reading Emails
• Answering the Phone
• Following (idolizing) Celebrities/Athletes
• Going to College for a Bad Degree
• And More! (I will add more as they come to me)

You may look at some of these things and think, I do that, why is it a waste of time. I plan to cover each of these ways we are wasting time in a separate post, but I will give you the basic way most things we think are not a waste of time are actually a huge waste of time.

Understanding the Value of Time (& Not Wasting Time)

Most people trade time for money, so they can easily assign value to their time. Some of us cannot do that as we put in a ton of hours for something that may not pay off for a few years, such as starting a blog.

As humans, we find multiple ways to assign value to time. For my example, I am going to use an hourly wage of $15.

If you earn $15 (or any other amount) per hour, the value of your time is $15 per hour. This is the simplest way to assign value to your time because you have agreed to trade one hour for $15 with your employer.

If this is the case, then anything else you do need to pay you at least $15 per hour, if it’s not considered leisure, obligation, or another category I cannot think of at the moment.

Those willing to go to Aldi for a chance to win $100 (a 1 in 100 chance, not great odds) only make out if they win. The majority (99 + those showing up after the first 100) are completely wasting time. In fact, the winner is even wasting time as they are showing up early to a grocery store hoping to win.

Sure, you can make a case for the person that needed groceries anyway, but they are still wasting time. The store was so busy; they were letting in people as others left. It would take twice as long as normal to grocery shop in this busy store, hence, as a waste of time.

More Giveaways from Aldi & All are a Waste of Time

I also noticed this Aldi store is going to give away free produce for a year to someone tomorrow. The fine print defined it as $10 per week of free produce for a year, so $520, and it will be given away in gift cards.

Now, to win this, you have to enter, which means you won’t have great odds as anybody can enter if they show up tomorrow. Again, the lines will be long, and plenty of people will be wasting time at Aldi tomorrow in hopes to win a few hundred dollars.

Even if you value your time at $100 per hour, these types of contests are a complete waste of time.

The final giveaway from Aldi is one I actually like, but it’s still a waste of time. Even though everybody will get something (while supplies last, of course), it’s a waste of time.

This giveaway is an eco-bag for groceries, which will happen in two days. These bags are sold all over the place for a couple of dollars, so wasting more than a few minutes in line for one of these bags is a waste of time.

There are Better Ways to Spend Your Time (Instead of Wasting Time)

I know, this may sound harsh, but wasting time isn’t something any of us can truly afford. We don’t have many resources in this world, and the most precious of our resources is time. It’s the one thing we cannot get any more of and the one thing we cannot get back if we lose it.

Once your time is gone, it’s gone, and there’s not changing it. I have lived on this earth for 38 years and not a single one of those years can I get back. They are gone. All I have are the years left on my life, and really, all I am guaranteed is this very minute right now.

Spend your time wisely. Don’t waste your time and don’t sell your hours too cheaply.

One of the best ways to spend your time is working for yourself. I believe blogging is a great use of time if you have a plan, and you follow through. A well thought out blog post is never a waste of time, especially if it’s authentic.

This post was sparked by some of my strange thoughts from a line I saw from before heading to stand in line at a theme park. You might think this makes me a bit hypocritical, but waiting in line for a ride at a theme park with my wife is quality time with her, and I find it very enjoyable to do the rides.

I really doubt most of the people in the line at Aldi really enjoyed it or were spending quality time with someone. They were there in hopes to win $100 or out of curiosity for the new store. Some were probably there so they could say they were one of the first in the store, while others may have just shown up on the wrong day to grocery shop.

Don’t waste your time. Bookmark this post and come back regularly as I will be linking the ways humans waste time above as I create new posts for this series. Of course, you can also subscribe above in the sidebar to the right and get notified every single time I release a new blog post.

If you want to start blogging and stop wasting time, check out my Start Here page. You’ll find a quick start guide to get your blog up and running today, along with a 10-day Free How to Become a Blogger course perfect for those looking to become successful online.