Should We Waste Time?

I was doing a quick scroll through articles on one of the platforms I frequent, and that is when I saw it...

We Should Waste Time!

It was an Article that wanted to make a Bold Statement!

In a world where we see so many articles about...

• How to get More Done in Less Time
• How to be More Productive
• How to "Hustle"
• How to Never Waste a Fraction of a Millisecond

Here was someone saying the opposite!

• Let's Waste Time!
• It's Healthy!
• Perhaps it is even a Moral Imperative to Waste Time!

But is this True?

Or is there something else we need to be looking at?

Now, I'll be the first to say that "Hustle Culture" itself is VERY Broken and Unhealthy.

It is very clear from scientific data that the Current Workplace is Broken.

You just have to look at the Statistics around Burnout to know it is True.

Yesterday I spoke about how Burnout can quite literally spread like a contagion through Psychophysiological mechanisms in our bodies.

Obviously, "that" game plan toward Productivity doesn't work, and Leaders in Business desperately need a different approach.

But is the better approach really to be "Wasteful" with our Time?

Especially since Time is the only Resource we can Spend and Never get back?

Before I answer that, let's ask a different, and perhaps significantly MORE important question.

What does it mean to "Waste"?

Well, a quick search result gave me the following definitions:

• Use or Expend Carelessly, Extravagantly, or to No Purpose
• Becoming Progressively Weaker and More Emanciated
• Eliminated or Discarded as No Longer Useful or Required After the Completion of a Process
• Not Used, Cultivated, or Built On

Well, let's look at how many Organizations today are approaching Productivity and compare that to these definitions.

Do we know of Organizations that Use or Expend Resources in Careless and Extravagant ways that serve No Purpose?

We actually do - It's called Fake Work.

Overhiring on Purpose, without having any work to give Employees, and without spending any Effort or Time with Employees to know their Strengths or Weaknesses.

In the case of Meta a year ago, supposedly a large percentage of a 20,000-person layoff was due to Fake Work.

An EXTREMELY Extravagant waste of Money and Talent that could have been doing SOMETHING, but at the end of the day served No Purpose.

If you think that Meta is the only Company guilty of it, you'd be wrong.

They were just the Company that got called out for it publically.

Do we know of Resources that are Becoming Progressively Weaker and More Emanciated?

Sure do!

It's called Burnout.

The Psychophysiological State where Humans lose more Energy (Mg-ATP) than they can Create, leading to their bodies LITERALLY breaking down.

80% of Employees are experiencing this, with more on the way.

We can also look at the other Resources!

• Suppliers who are Bullied into Lowering their Prices to Unsustainable Levels.
• Customers who are Pushed to Spend More Money and also Make Less Money at the same time.
• Stripping Land to the point where it becomes unusable.

All of these are becoming Progressively Weaker and More Emanciated.

How about the definition of Resources Eliminated or Discarded as No Longer Useful or Required After the Completion of a Process?

This is frequently done with Employees, tossed aside and eliminated as "No Longer Useful" when Leaders make gigantic mistakes in Strategy.

Often Employees are Eliminated or Discarded before a Process is even "Complete"!

All without the Employees EVER being used to a Fraction of their Potential.

Which perfectly lands us in that final definition of not being Used, Cultivated, or Built On.

Most Employees never receive a fraction of the Resources they need to Flourish or to be Cultivated to their Potential.

They are thrown into situations they are not ready for, not given anything to help them succeed, are barely even told what to do, and then deemed "not good enough" for a Standard that was NEVER Defined.

How can people meet an Expectation when they didn't know one Existed?

They can't, and when Leaders do this they are Wasting so much Potential in Employees and Productivity.

So, I think now is a great time to Revist the Question we started with.

Should We Waste Time?

Well, when I look at the World of Business, I'd say Organizations ALREADY are and HAVE been for Decades.

Our Problem in the World isn't whether we "should" Waste Time.

Our Problem is that we ALREADY ARE and are just Too Blind to See it.

Should We Waste Time?

I would say NO!

I think we as a Society need to COMPLETELY REEVALUATE what IS WASTEFUL!

Is it "Wasteful" to work Employees to the Bone?

YES!

Is it "Wasteful" to allow Employees to Recover, which is a Necessity to Reach Flow States?

NO!

Is it "Wasteful" to Hire Employees without giving them Direction or Discovering their Strengths and Weaknesses?

YES!

Is it "Wasteful" to TRULY Understand how to Improve the Lives of Employees, Suppliers, and Customers, and then Do It?

NO!

We don't have a Problem with Wasting Time.

We have a Problem where Leaders are Playing "King of the Trash Hill" in a Growing Pile of Burning Refuse and calling it "Success".

We need to completely Redefine the Perception of "Waste".

We need to stop creating Trophies out of Trash and attempting to make them "Appear" Desirable without having any Value.

It's not a matter of if we "Should" or "Shouldn't" Waste Time - Most Businesses Already Are Wasting Time!

Future Success will be determined by Businesses that STOP Wasting everything around them.

The Businesses that will Succeed the most will be those that Design Regenerative Legacies.