One of the exercises we sometimes use in workshops is to identify your favourite time-wasters. So, in the interests of participant observation, here are mine, in no particular order:

1. TV – I know, it’s so uncool, and sometimes it’s just me channel-surfing, but as a time-waster, it’s still the king.

2. YouTube – It’s kinda TV, but not TV. Who here hasn’t had the experience of trying to find something you never thought you’d see again, and watching it, just because you can?

3. Googling stupid stuff – When I’m really bored, okay, no, I mean, when I really have a lot to do, I turn to Google to find out information on things I don’t really care about or need to know. Not really sure I need to know, right now, the altitude of the third-highest mountain in the world — Kanchenjunga, at 28,156 feet — but now I know.

4. Daydreaming – If I spent as much time doing the things I think I could do instead of thinking about those things, well, I would have done those things by now.

5. Blogging about procrastination – And reading blogs about procrastination. And, well, reading blogs generally. I could say that reading about procrastination is professional development, but come on, who am I kidding? (See more on this here.)

(For the record, I think I have conquered that urge to stare at Facebook and keep refreshing until something new has happened to one of my friends. And it seems, for now, that I have not relapsed in my brief addiction to Wikipedia. I can quit using it anytime I like. Honest!)

Anyone else wanna share?

CG