4 Overlooked Areas You Could Minimalize

PeaceI have a love/hate relationship with excuses. I, like most people, love to make them, but hate that I do. I have been trying and, for the most part, stopped making excuses for quite some time now. But here and again, I fall into the trap of blaming everything and everyone but myself for lack of productivity. When I get into the lull of being unproductive, I tend to focus on the aspects of my life that I think take up the most time, whether useful or not. I have come to the conclusion that being so narrowed minded has just led to more unproductive actions. So, I began addressing other areas few of us tend to analyze and I have found there are many overlooked areas I must address to completely change my habits.

The following are 4 of the major overlooked areas I have tried to focus on recently…

  1. Sleep – Many of you may love sleeping for 9 hours straight. I won’t lie, there are times I feel the same. But there are many times I could do just fine with 6 hours of sleep and get a lot more done before the sun rises. When I am in great physical shape, I tend to sleep better and less. Try becoming more fit and you will gain a few more hours in your day by sleeping less.
  2. News – I like to be updated on the going’s-on around me and in the world a lot. But watching local and, in America, world news is just a plain waste of time. I can get the headlines and updates in 5 minutes of Googling and do not need to waste another 25 minutes on drama,salacious information, and useless personal stories.
  3. Showers – Not only do I waste about 5 extra minutes in the shower everyday just standing there enjoying the warmth and comfort of clean water, I always think about the kids around the world who don’t even have clean water to drink. I really need to minimalize my consumption of not just the finer goods, but things like food and water because they too are a finer good I take for granted. Plus that extra 5 minutes could clear my inbox.
  4. Dwelling – I just need to act and not dwell. The more I dwell, the more likely I could have gotten the project done in that time.

David Damron
The Minimalist Path

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  • admin
    Great thoughts John!

    I used to sleep very few hours in college (5-6) and wore myself out. When I started eating better, drinking less (alkie), and working out at my peak level, I was able to sleep just 5-6 deep sleep hours and be great. I think a major part of it is the lifestyle you are living.

    Dave
    TMP
  • Sleep is something I have been thinking about a lot. I generally sleep 8 or 9 hours per day but it is probably too much because I still feel tired. Optimum is probably around 6 or 7 hours a day to maximize alertness throughout the day.

    However, the more I workout, the more sleep I need. I used to exercise 2 to 4 hours a day and I found that I definitely needed 8 or more hours of sleep. Now that I workout less, I can probably cut back my sleep time.

    Another key factor is how deep your sleep is. It is best to go to sleep completely exhausted. Four or five hours of deep sleep can be much better than 8 to 10 hours of light sleep. That means heavy exercise early in the day and no caffeine or sugar later in the evening.
    .-= John Bardos - JetSetCitizen´s last blog ..Interview with Brian Peters of NoDebtWorldTravel.com =-.
  • admin
    Hey Andrew---

    I have taken to the liking of a nap here and there. The rejuvenation propels my productivity. In other words, I agree with your point about relaxing to be more productive.

    David Damron
    The Minimalist Path
  • I agree with you that those areas are often overlooked. I am also feeling bad about spending too much time in the shower, not only because of the water wasting, but also losing the valuable time. I eliminated the news problem and I don't sleep too long though.

    Dwelling and daydreaming are taking a big part of my time each day, but I noticed that relaxing and doing nothing often helps me (or my subconcious mind) get better ideas.
    .-= Andrew Jakubowski´s last blog ..Naturescapes being featured by Apple, price drops to $0.99 for a limited time =-.
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