Identifying things that waste your time

I recently started tracking the things I do and how long it takes me to do them. I felt like I was breaking my back to get things done and didn’t have nearly as much to show for it as I should. I knew there had to be a way to work smarter. One of my discoveries completely surprised me: about 1/3 of my time online was spent waiting for my browser to load pages, and then re-load parts of them or whatever it’s doing that prevents me from doing what I need to do. (I’m not going to say which browser – some people are finding the latest version very speedy, others very slow. I’m in the latter group, and no one knows why it’s happening.)

So I did some searching and learned that people who scientifically test browser speed were finding Opera to be the fastest browser available. I gave up a few hours to install and learn Opera (I’m a bit of a power user, so I have a lot of questions when I try a new browser). I cannot believe how much it’s increased my productivity. Pages almost always load in a flash, and now I’m getting roughly 50% more work done per hour. That’s incredible.

What’s wasting your time, and how easy would it be to fix? Would spending $5/month more on your internet connection save you a lot of time? Would working at a time of day when no one interrupts you be worth your while? Would writing with a pen and paper actually save you time compared to using a word processor? Would investing in some more up to date equipment allow you to get a lot more done? Would growing a few veggies in whatever soil you have actually save you time compared to grocery store trips? Would ordering dinner in twice a week save you time (and with some thought, you can do this without much damage to your wallet or your health)?

There are so many possibilities, and what saves you time may not save someone else any. Sometimes you have to experiment – if I’d found after all that Opera wasn’t going to fit my needs, then I would’ve wasted a few hours. But when the system I had really wasn’t working anymore, testing other options was the best use of my time.

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