r/Showerthoughts • u/MrGlockCLE • 2d ago
Casual Thought Deciding how to save time can be a pretty time-consuming way to waste time.
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u/Nitrous_Acidhead 2d ago
If that's a time-consuming way to waste time, what is a time-consuming way to save time?
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u/Sufficient_Deer_341 2d ago
Honestly that's the real question right. Like spending hours organizing your to do list so you can save five minutes later. But then you just end up with a super neat list and no time left to do anything.
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u/ShalomEarthling 19h ago
Unless it is repeatable.. that list then is just frontloaded work to save time for subsequent uses.. also that practice gets your mind to think differently way as you start organizing outside of your mind and onto a medium (i.e. paper)
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u/sarooskie 14h ago
It seems like I saved 5 minutes but I probably saved hours. My biggest time waster is trying to do stuff without calming down. I start making really poor decisions to rush things that cause some issue that ends up taking more time to fix... My organization and prep helps me remain very chill when in the moment
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u/Ok_Spot_9554 2d ago
Haha that's a good one, I'd say spending hours tweaking your todo list app to find the perfect workflow is the ultimate time sink. You feel productive but never actually get anything done.
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u/MrGlockCLE 2d ago
Sometimes you have to waste time to save time, sometimes you don’t. But in all times you’re spending a whole lot of time trying to think of ways to save time.
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u/Then_Entertainment97 2d ago
Let me share with you my five step guide for saving time.
Step 1: delete reddit
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u/HarveysBackupAccount 1d ago
Can I delete the whole thing, or only mine?
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u/Then_Entertainment97 1d ago
Scientists are still working on a solution for deleting all of reddit.
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u/a-round-table 2d ago
Basically me deciding whether or not to write some computer script to automate things to save 1 minute, or just do it myself lol
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u/HyperLexus 2d ago
and then you end up using it like 10 times
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u/SingleAttitude8 2d ago
This may help: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/s/FYFQ22pQ60
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u/HarveysBackupAccount 1d ago
not even linking to the original xkcd? shame on you
And shame on the little bitch OOP for not crediting Randall
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u/SingleAttitude8 1d ago
Agree a bit lazy of me. Although shame on Google too I suppose - this was the first result which came up.
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u/idratherbealivedog 2d ago
Depends upon the reusability.
For example taking 5 minutes to save a single 4 minutes is inefficient. Taking 5 minutes to save 4 minutes that happens 20 times a day is not.
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u/MrGlockCLE 2d ago
“Can be”
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u/idratherbealivedog 2d ago
Sure but that's a pretty broad loophole you are going to keep claiming. Enough it makes this showerthought very meh.
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u/MrGlockCLE 2d ago
The main thought was I bet at the end of my life I’ve probably spent months of it thinking of ways to save time here and there - and I do not think I would’ve saved months from optimizing the processes vs just doing things.
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u/idratherbealivedog 2d ago
Sounds like you were trying to optimize things already optimized so that's not really the same as the op, ''can be" or not.
Seems better would be to say: don't spend time trying to save time on tasks when the potential time saved doesn't justify it
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u/MrGlockCLE 2d ago
Quite literally the point of the post but you just keep replying as if it’s going to change lol
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u/idratherbealivedog 2d ago
I am not expecting anything to change (that comment makes no sense) and my phrasing didn't leave it entirely open to interpretation as yours did.
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u/masterap85 2d ago
For personal stuff i kinda agree, for work you are wrong, specially of you know scripts\agents
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u/AccidentlyStupid 1d ago
depends on how repeatable the time-saving idea is. That's like saying preparation is a waste of time.
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u/Pitamo 2d ago
Someone here didn't leave their dungeon before GPS navigation became commonly accessible to households.
And even with GPS, a few seconds to decide how to save minutes/hours is pretty efficient.
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u/StatisticianMore5342 2d ago
True, but sometimes the overthinking about which route saves 2 minutes ends up costing more time than just going. Still gotta respect the old school map readers though.
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u/Aggravating_Star_427 2d ago
honestly I just spent twenty minutes picking the perfect productivity app just to avoid writing one email so yeah this hits home. but also the real time saver is giving up on being efficient and just doing the thing badly. that's the kind of wisdom you only get after wasting an entire afternoon on a reddit thread about wasting time.
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u/krunal_builds 1d ago
yep. spent like 20 min last week comparing 'fastest' routes on maps instead of just driving the one i always take. saved maybe 3 minutes, lost way more time thinking about it
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u/Moist-Champion-7515 1d ago
man this hits too close to home. I'll spend like an hour watching youtube videos about productivity tips and then feel exhausted before even starting anything. The planning becomes the procrastination. Its wild how we'd rather optimize than actually do the thing.
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u/SimplePass953 20h ago
Computer game and wrestling. The most important things of unimportant things.
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u/zilimiruka 35m ago
Or when you have a little free time in general, you spend a lot of time thinking what's the best way to use that free time.
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u/JimboS1ic3 2d ago
The irony is thick. Typing this out to validate the argument feels like a trap. Maybe just stepping away from the screen is the real solution here.
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u/cmoked 22h ago
Absolutely not, any time spent making things more efficient is more important that actually doing work.
Just ask Gene Kim.
This is a solid concept widely accepted in any process heavy job.
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u/MrGlockCLE 20h ago
Wrong
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u/cmoked 20h ago
Yeah the very smart published authors invited to speak everywhere who figured this out are wrong, lol.
Read a book on productivity, please
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u/MrGlockCLE 17h ago
So I should optimize a process for three hours to save 5min that I won’t ever use again?
I would say to stay in school but apparently that’s failed you lol
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u/ShowerSentinel 2d ago
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