I’ve been on a journey to study the lives and habits of numerous successful people by interviewing them, listening to their interviews and reading their books. In this blog, I will share three (3) ways that successful people spend time instead of wasting it. The one thing that is common and fair for everyone in the world, regardless of their nationality, race, skin colour, economic and social status is that we all get the same 24-hours a day. And we all have the luxury of making decisions about how we choose to utilize that time. We can choose to invest it, or to spend it or to waste it. Naturally, people do not wish to waste time but end up doing so unknowingly.

Let me tell you about the ways in which most successful people spend their time wisely or invest it in something useful.

1.Value-Creation Mindset

Not many of us are aware that we are wasting time. There are days when we wake up and go about our lives without real purpose or intention only to realize that the day is now over and we ended up completely wasting our day binge-watching Netflix or going down the YouTube rabbit-hole. 

A simple 2-step solution is to use a ‘value creation filter’. In other words, you must create a mindset that constantly asks “is this creating value for me?”.  And even if you end up making a choice that at surface isn’t creating much value for you, force yourself to find ways in which it can by asking yourself: “how can this be of value to me?”.

Step 1: Ask yourself “is this creating value for me?” - If it is not, then: 

Step 2: Ask yourself “how can I turn this into something of value for me?”

For example, your friends invite you out, you do not wish to go but you end up going due to social pressure. When you come back you regret your decision and start feeling guilty about the time you wasted and criticize yourself for not having created any value from this event. 

Instead, if you adopt the value-creation mindset, then at this social event you seek people and conversations that can prove to be of value to you. Perhaps there is someone at this event who is hiring new graduates and could potentially be your new manager. Perhaps people are talking about an interesting book or documentary that interests you and could be the next thing you read or watch to educate yourself about the topic. 

And most importantly, the value does not always have to be something tangible in the form of a job or new knowledge. The value generated could be building intangible skills such as social intelligence through mere people watching and observation. 

And hence, the time you think you wasted was indeed time spent creating value!

2. Study, Don’t Envy

Do you find yourself scrolling through Instagram or LinkedIn, reading up news about how someone sold their company and became rich, watching videos about how an influencer got a million likes on their posts? Do you happen to feel envious when you see someone achieving the things that maybe you should have done? If your answer is yes, then you are wasting your time.

Let me tell you about another habit that can help you spend that same time wisely on the internet. 

The key is to STUDY and not ENVY. Whenever you come across someone’s success that makes you feel envious or jealous, you start feeling the pressure. You start comparing yourself to them. The comparison deflates any motivation that you had. Stop right there. Do not spiral downwards. The solution isn’t to compare. But the solution is to learn and study this successful person’s journey. 

Envy brings negativity, more trauma, more baggage, pain, stress, and pressure but study brings endless joy and hope because when you study their life, you will realize that your role model who now has millions of followers, also started with zero followers. Their company that is now worth millions was also once worth zero. 

What you need to do is study their journey, their growth, their mindset. Instead of acquiring knowledge about their net worth or how many cars or beach houses they have, find their old interviews on YouTube. Find and read a book about them or their company. Find a documentary starring your role models. The learner’s mindset will convert your feeling of envy into a sense of empowerment. You will feel confident enough that you can achieve those things in your own way.

3. Get a Coach or a Therapist

What do the following successful people have in common: Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Eric Schmidt (former CEO of Google)? They all have a personal coach and a therapist. 

You may ask what is the difference between a coach and a therapist? First and foremost therapists are licensed medical professionals. And in my opinion, therapy is a need in today’s society where the digital influence is eroding our evolutionary habits and growth.  

Therapy helps people make sense of their past and coaching helps people think about their future. No matter who you are, everybody has trauma they need to unpack and this is where help and guidance from therapists come in. At every point in time one needs help from someone more experienced in the field, be it parenting, content creation, learning to ride a bike, or learning to run a multinational company, everybody needs help and this is where coaching comes in. Working with a professional in both areas of therapy and coaching can make a huge difference. Everyone at all stages in their life needs a coach to help plan, help them address their blind spots and get curious about the next 5-10 years of their life. This will help them set a plan for the future and ensure growth.

Success can be achieved by having a success oriented mindset. If you can start changing your mindset, you can start investing your time in things that will ultimately create value for you. Mind you, change does not come overnight. It all starts with small steps and the key is consistency. If you are consistent you will reach a thousand steps in your journey without realizing that the first five hundred steps full of hardships were the ones that let you take the next five hundred with a little more ease. And from there on, your journey keeps growing.

Thank you for reading, for investing your time in your personal growth. If you want to learn more about my work and how my coaching can benefit you in your career, reach out to me at omer@omerqadri.com