There are a number of activities you engage in that lowers your productivity at work. Some of them are addictive if done on a regular basis.

It is important to learn how to avoid or minimize engaging in activities which interfere with our productivity.

The following are time wasters which steal our productivity:

1. Social media

Research shows on average, a person spends 50min per day on social media (Facebook, instagram, twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat etc.)This means on average a person spends roughly 304 hours in a year on social media.

Assuming you spent all those hours doing something constructive how much could you have possibly achieved?

Another social site that people spend a lot of time on is YouTube. Instead of spending hours on YouTube you can do something constructive that can increase the quality of your output at work.

2. Smartphones

We spent a lot of time on our smartphones chatting or making long phone calls, or on mobile phone apps.

Some people are so addicted to Candy Crush game that they spent hours per day playing the game.

3. Play station  

A number of people especially men are addicted to play station and spent long hours in their houses playing video games instead of working on something fruitful.

Instead of spending hours playing FIFA on your computer why not invest that time and energy doing your assigned work or do research?

4. Gossiping

This a time waster not only for ladies but also for men. I mean what is the good in spending hours gossiping about other people?

This time could alternatively be put into a better use in aiming to increase one’s productivity.

5. Traffic

This is major problem and time waster especially to Nairobi occupants.

‘Nairobians’ get stuck on traffic for longer hours due to poor and insufficient infrastructure in the city. This leads to time wastage because time spent on traffic could have been invested in doing something constructive.