Is wasting time a waste of time?

Sometimes when I’m working on a writing project, I need percolating time. Time in which I am not consciously thinking about the project. Some of my best ideas just bubble up then.

I’m not gonna answer this. Way too busy living my life.

In the mid-90s I bought this T-shirt (click link for image):
Procrastination: Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that some people thrive on ‘busy-ness’ and checking items off a to-do list. Those measures of accomplishment mean nothing to me. I’m just wired differently, and take things at my own pace. Perhaps someone else might consider the way I pass my days as a waste, but I do not have to answer to them. My conscience is clean and my spirit is fulfilled.

“Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time.”

Wasting time is the ultimate luxury.

“I accuse you of a wasted life!”
“Guilty…Guilty…Guilty”
Papillon

Great question. What is wasting time? Is it simply engaging in an activity that we see as less-valuable than other activities? Is it the act of procrastination? Is it time in which we are not mindful of our actions – acting out of habit?

The only activity I can definitively say is waste of time (for me) is when I am ruminating or worrying. Transporting myself away from the present, without conscious knowledge, seems to be the very definition of wasting time. I’d rather be awake and doing any activity, than mindless and engaging in “productive” pursuits.

One man’s passion is anothers “waste of time”

Everything @hominid said! I suspect that I too waste time when worrying, but then even worrying sometimes has a purpose to it… (to try and figure out ways to deal with potential problems, to prepare…I think it’s a survival thing). Most of the time though I think that worrying isn’t productive and I would do well to sit and meditate or read, or something else….

And…in a world where there is soooo much pressure to do stuff, get stuff, earn money, have a career, beat the rest of them, get somewhere… wasting time is precious time.

@nebule I think we all have come out of a movies theater or been on a date and said…HS that was a huge waste of time! lol

I have come out of movies or finished a book thinking, “THAT’S three hours of my life I’m never getting back!” But since I didn’t know until I tried, I shrug it off. I never know when it’s time to cut bait, so I generally put a little more time into “lost causes” than is probably desirable – but persistence and loyalty are also two of my only redeeming traits, so I consider wasted time to be a small price to pay – even with the value of time being high.

Did anyone waste the time to read that!?

@Cruiser good point! :-)

I love wasting my own time – it’s a luxury known as relaxing – but I hate it when something or someone else wastes my time.

When I ask a quick, yes-or-no question but get a 20-minute lecture, I feel like a trapped animal and want to flee. If I attend a badly prepared, unhelpful seminar or meeting, I resent having all that time “stolen” from me. And, of course, there’s the all-time classic – being stuck in gridlock or bumper-to-bumper highway traffic.

@SadieMartinPaul as much as I agree with you I would also argue that relaxing is indeed a luxury and not a waste of time. I love to relax and call that a great investment of my time! :)

Could not agree more about other people squandering my time!

If you enjoyed it at the time, then it doesn’t really matter what you think of it on your death bed. My guess is, a lot of things probably seem like they were a waste of time when you’re on your death bed…but the fear of death probably plays a lot into that.
What I would truly regret, dully noted, that is without experiencing being on a death bed…are things I did that hurt myself, or people I loved. But otherwise if I enjoyed it at the time, then I enjoyed it at the time, and perhaps on the death bed I’ll forget that I enjoyed them, but I did, and that counts. I think back on earlier days in my life when I did things that seem pointless to me now, but I don’t regret them, because I remember them mattering back then and making me happy. I don’t obsess on the past, but it’s still part of me. If anything, in later years from now, I should regret all the drinking I’ve been doing in my current, right now years.
On a brighter note, I love all the video games I play and horror movies I watch on my free time, it is not wasted to me. I don’t care what other people have to say about that, nor do I care about the life lessons they think they need to impart to me about my wastes of time. Just as long as I don’t scold myself about this when comes the time to meet the reaper.

And fuck the reaper, I’ll kick his ass, anyway.

I just realised that, being a job seeker I spend a lot of time filling in application forms which truly is a waste of time. I don’t learn anything new and whilst at the time it serves as a possibility that something might come of it, 99% of the time it is just wasted. Sadly.

Yeah, but if you didn’t fill out any applications at all, you’d probably never get a job, is my guess. (unless you have other job netting techniques which don’t include filling applications or dropping off resumes, and that work)

The problem is that what is considered ‘time better spent’ is very subjective/opinionated. I can only answer this question on a personal level rather than judge what somebody else is doing with their time.

Now if I missed my nephew’s baseball games and practices just to stay at home and get high or drunk then to me I did waste time. However, if I had decided to stay home for the night and play a cool video game rather than going out to a party, especially when I know the types of people who will be there, and what the usualy scenerio will end up being like then that to me is not time wasted.

@Symbeline this is very true :)