Do You Spend Your Time Differently than the Majority?

Here’s an interesting question I came across on Twitter the other day:

What do you see as unimportant and don’t spend time on that a lot of other people see as important and spend a lot of time on?

I love these kind of questions as they let me reflect on the way I behave and perhaps find things that I should change. This is quite a loaded question and is framed within the context of the lives of the majority of people living in the West.

Here’s my list:

• Social media (except for Twitter ~10 mins a day)
• Religion
• Discussing mainstream news
• TV (I do watch a few thought-provoking series though)
• Celebrity culture
• Daily stock/crypto prices
• Politics
• Group discussions (I prefer deep 1-1 conversations)
• Commuting during rush hours

On the other hand, there are also a number of things that I spend a lot of time on that a lot of other people probably don’t. Here’s a few I thought of:

• Researching restaurants to try out
• Practicing sports (mostly training and playing padel)
• Health (education, check ups, physiotherapy)
• Travel
• Learning languages
• Reading
• Meditation
• Education
• Blogging
• Journaling
• Tidiness (keeping possessions organized and clean, data backups and organization)

On occasions when I want to make a major purchase I will spend an inordinate amount of time on research, which might not be that optimal. On the other hand, I do enjoy the process of research and educating myself about the product I’m planning to buy, and I feel it makes my appreciation of the product I end up getting.

Perhaps after spending some time reflecting on this question, it’s worth reading about the five most common regrets of the dying.

Here’s what the majority say:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so much.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

I guess it’s well worth rethinking how you spend your time in the light of these regrets of the dying.

What would your lists look like?