I am spectacularly good at wasting time. When I am up against something I’m not sure I can do as well as I’d like. Honestly, when I’m afraid I’m going to fail, I find it easy to be distracted. Self-sabotage at it’s finest. But that is just one of the reasons people waste time. It might be due to feeling overwhelmed by everything going on in life. It could be as a response to grief and the need for a distraction. In sum, people waste time for lots of different reasons, and once that time is wasted, it can never be regained.
Yesterday, in a brief informal survey, I asked how people waste their time. The responses were utterly unsurprising.
Social media, Facebook, “games on my phone”, and video games were the most popular answers, followed by surfing the web and Netflix (Two of you stated, “Answering Surveys”). All of these options are designed to draw us in and keep us clicking, like a rat in a maze begging for a food pellet, and they do a great job helping us to be unproductive.
Throughout Proverbs 12, there is a continued stream of wisdom pitting wise thoughts and behaviors against folly, but one verse specifically speaks to the issue of wasting time.
“Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.”
Proverbs 12:11 (ESV)
This verse more than any other has impacted me with regard to how I spend my time. If I focus on worthwhile work, I can reach my goals and, from my perspective, fulfill my calling. If I waste my most valuable resource (my time) on “worthless pursuits” then I run a much greater risk of coming to the end of life feeling like I wasted it, and Solomon is direct in the reason why. The person following worthless pursuits “lacks sense.”
We have a word for someone who lacks sense – idiot.
As I read through this verse, I realized that it had the potential to really help me moving forward. So, to keep it in front of me as a reminder, I actually typed it up, printed it out, and taped it to the bottom of my laptop screen. In this way, I have an easy visual reminder to help me steer clear of distractions.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still play a few games (I’m looking at you Fortnite), but I do those things intentionally to have fun, usually with one of my sons. Since I put that verse at the bottom of my laptop, I have significantly reduced the amount of time I spend on social media and other time wasters.
My question for you is, “What can you do to waste less time this week?” Need to post a verse like I did, or perhaps delete a particularly distracting app from your phone? What can you do to stop following “worthless pursuits”?
drbillduvall.com 