3 Types Of People Who Waste Your Time
Your time and attention are two of your most valuable assets. There are three main types of people to avoid who waste your time.
Where you spend your time is critical. If you use your time productively, you can improve your overall quality of life. You could also decide to waste most of your valuable time by focusing on things that do not matter, such as various forms of entertainment.
Attention goes along with time because you must direct your attention to something. It could be focused on entertainment, the news, distractions, or various forms of external validation. The people you spend time with can take away your time and attention.
You must carefully choose the types of people you spend your time with and give your attention to. The people your time with most often are a reflection of you. That is why it is essential to recognize the three types of people who waste your time.
Your time and attention are two of your most valuable assets. You can then learn time management skills to achieve your goals. Self-management may require you to spend less time with others and choose to eliminate harmful people from your life.
3 Types Of People Who Waste Your Time
Many types of people are time wasters who will drain away your life and time. These are the top three types of people who waste your time.
A Toxic Person
The first is a toxic person. While there are many types of toxic people, a manipulative person who uses you to their end is an ordinary person to be aware of. Someone manipulative may start nice since they may want to befriend and get to know you, but they secretly have an agenda for why they want to connect with you.
A manipulative person is usually skilled at appealing to people's emotions and figuring out what makes a person tick. This particular toxic person is deceptive. They may first come to you saying they can help you somehow. A manipulative person may empathize and sympathize with you, but they are only doing it because they want to use you in some way for their gain.
You want to avoid manipulative people because they waste your time only focusing on things that benefit them. They are not interested in their friendship with you. If you must eliminate one person in your life who is on this list, make it the manipulative person.
The manipulative person can sometimes indirectly overlap with the third type of person on this list. The person may not share your interests and values. They are good at faking it, though, so you believe them, and that is why manipulative people are the worst.
If you know a manipulative person, simply eliminating them from your life is best.
A Negative Person
The second type of time waster is a negative person. A negative person often will suffer from a negative mindset and have a defeatist attitude.
A negative mindset can hold someone back from achieving their full potential. They may have learned this from their friends, teachers, or people they looked up to. A negative mindset compounds the fixed mindset, which is the belief that you cannot improve yourself or your situation. You were born with a particular set of skills, and you cannot learn other skills. You are fixed on where you are in life and what you can do. A negative mindset can contribute to a defeatist attitude.
A negative person is hopeless. This type of person does not think there is any way that they can improve their standing in life. They accept where they are without question. A negative person has likely trained their brain psychologically to follow the process of negative thoughts, leading to upset feelings that lead to unhelpful behavior. They continue to repeat that mental cycle.
A negative person has accepted their place in society without question. They believe that goals are unattainable. They think life is impossible. They infer that they do not matter to others, making them unreachable to people who care about them. A negative person with a defeatist attitude and mindset has decided that what they wanted to do initially with their life is unachievable. They have given up on themselves.
A negative person wastes your precious time because they don’t believe in themselves, are fixed in their ways, and have no interest in self-improvement. You want to spend as little time with negative people as possible because they can harm your mindset and how you view yourself.
A negative person can harm you and make you doubt yourself so that you doubt yourself, practice negative thinking, and adopt a negative mindset just like that person. You want to work to develop the opposite perspective of a defeatist person. You want to learn to practice positive thinking. You want to embrace a growth mindset. You want to be proactive in your life by consistently taking action. You want to work to self-actualize your goals.
Someone Who Doesn’t Share Common Interests And Values
The third person who can waste your time is someone who does not share your interests and values.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t ever spend time with people who disagree with you or who don’t share your interests and values sometimes, but you likely won’t be good friends with them. They may be an acquaintance, and the person could be your neighbor. You may casually interact with them when you go out to a restaurant or bar or when you go out to an event in your community.
You want to spend time with people who share your interests and values because they are most likely interested in the same things and working towards similar goals. You want to surround yourself with people who want to achieve the same things in their life as you do. You may not agree on everything but you want the same things in life. You both are willing to put in the effort to make that goal a reality.
For example, you wouldn’t want to be friends with someone who sits in front of the television all day and eats junk food when you want to exercise and lose weight. You have entirely different interests and values. You value your health and want to work to lose weight to meet your weight loss goal.
5 Simple Ways To Eliminate People From Your Life
You can have a conversation with them, explaining why you want to end the relationship.
This option is only worth doing if they are a best friend, a good friend, or a toxic family member.
Block them across all of your social media platforms.
Block them in your email.
Block their phone number across your devices.
Never talk to the person again.
It is up to you to determine where your line in the sand is to eliminate people from your life. You will feel much better when you no longer spend time with people who drain you of the energy you need to be productive and direct your attention toward them.
Conclusion
Avoid these three types of time wasters at all costs! Your time and attention are valuable. At the very least, if you are uncomfortable conversing about why you no longer want to be friends with them, block them across all your social media and devices. You will feel so much better when these three types of people are no longer a part of your life. You can then better direct your time and attention to productivity, improving yourself, and achieving your goals.
How has one of these three types of time wasters affected your life? Let us know n the comments below!